Dragon's Rise
by AbyssalDragon66
Summary: What if the history of Remnant had a dark secret? Hidden away from the world, buried deep within the Faunus history books. A team transfers into Beacon academy, with scarred histories, all of them running from their past. Will they find refuge at Beacon or will fate have other things in store for them. Multiple pairings, mainly Ruby x OC. Rated M for eventual darker themes.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: So it begins

**Author's****Note PLEASE READ: **

**I've been working on this story for the better part of two years. It's the first fanfiction that I've ever actually bothered to carry beyond the first twenty-thousand words and the first one that I'm ever uploading. M**

**I'll be uploading chapters periodically once they've gone through some intense editing so don't expect regular updates. The story is essentially a slightly AU timeline of RWBY based on a series of 'What ifs'. There's going to be a mountain of things that aren't canon, especially my pairings because I wanted to take my story down a different path from the current RWBY plot i.e a bunch of minor variations in timelines and events that occur. Some pairings that are planned but won't be the main focus are Blake x Sun and one of my OC's, Nitro x TBD. Love Bumblebee but for the sake of this story Yang will be paired with one of my OCs, also I feel like they did my boy Sun dirty and he deserved some more love.**

**I have full character Bios with backstory written but I won't be uploading those as I'd prefer to reveal their stories and details over time. If there is a request for it, I could always release concise, non-detailed versions with basic information.**

* * *

**SUMMARY: Team ASHN, consisting of the dragon Faunus siblings, Nova Alexandrite Flareheart, Luna Sapphire Flareheart, and the human siblings, Hex Magenta Zephyr and Nitro Zephyr, students from Haven Academy fake their documents and transfer to Beacon Academy in an effort to keep a low profile and start a new life for themselves. But how does a team of highly sought after individuals hide themselves when they encounter a certain all-knowing Headmaster and a very overly friendly team RWBY? Mysteries behind the Flareheart siblings become unraveled and team RWBY and ASHN find themselves entangled in the threads of destiny. Their goals couldn't be any more different but for some reason, fate decided they would end up being one and the same.**

**Ruby x Nova is the main pairing that will be focused.**

**I don't own RWBY or their plot, those are owned by Rooster Teeth (as if you didn't already know). I just my OCs and the unique stuff that I added.**

* * *

**Prologue**

We are Remnants, born from a forgotten past. Man, born from dust was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. Creatures of darkness and destruction. Grimm, threatened man and man's creations. These forces clashed, the darkness was bent on returning man and his brief existence to the void.

Mankind has created many tales throughout history, one of the most beloved, is the tale of the four maidens.

Four Maidens who held power over the elements, without the use of dust. Set to protect humanity from the darkness of the world. These maidens, named after the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, watched over Remnant and mankind.

A wondrous fairy tale to be sure… but as we know, all fairy tales hold some truth, based on history… and all history has a few lost chapters.

Another tale lost to nearly all of humans, yet told to the Faunus children whose families were old enough to remember.

Legend tells that the Faunus, born in the dark continent of the world were created alongside humans to be the Gods' elites. The bridge between animals, the purest of the God's creations, and the humans, the most complex creations.

Alongside the four maidens were the Aspects of Remnant. Powerful Faunus who, like the maidens, wielded powers of the elements, charged with protecting the Shards of Remnant, fragments of the gods that balanced the natural elements of the world, in their time they were commonly referred to as the Aegis, the Shields of the Natural World. They were born from the original families of the Faunus tribe. Children born with these gifts were marked by a symbol on their left shoulders, a birthmark that represented their Aspect.

The humans and the Faunus of today, only know of 'The War of the Four Kingdoms,"... but what if there was a fifth? Erased from history? The Kingdom of Gaia, upon the dragon-shaped continent, where the Faunus people lived and thrived. A kingdom that never took part in the world war because they were struggling against a different enemy on their own, some say it was the Grimm threat, some say it was civil war... some say both.

After the Great War of Pandora, most of the original Faunus clans were wiped away. Only four pure-blooded clans remained, The White Dragons, the royal family of the Faunus, known for their shimmering hair and manipulation of Fire, most of their Aegis were fire-born. The Black Cats, their stealth and observation skills made them adept assassins, their Aegis were shadow. The Golden Lions, the proudest of the four clans, they were masters of combat and lived for war, their Aegis were light-born. The Grey Wolves, the most loyal of the four clans, they served as the protectors of the crown, their Aegis were aqua-born. Elements of Air, Earth were lost, believed to be gone forever.

The families dispersed themselves throughout Remnant, abandoning their home only to be caught up in the War of the Four Kingdoms... a dark time in their past. Further down the line, the Faunus Rights Revolution happened, the race who had been scattered so thinly had abandoned their monarchy and adopted a new lifestyle in Menagerie. The White Dragons integrated themselves into a political council with the other families and such is life as it is today.

Such is the lost tale of the Faunus people. Some know it as merely a fairy tale told by old families… but some refer to it as History's Lost Chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 1: So It Begins...**

_The fire had spread to all corners of the house. "You need to get out of here now! Take your sister and run, run as far as you can and never look back! Trust no one, just get as far away as possible, you two are all that is left of this family and I will not lose you!" Quartz Flareheart shouted over the sound of the raging inferno. He shoved a young Nova and Luna out the hidden trapdoor in the cellar. _

_"__Uncle Quartz but-!" "NO YOU GET OUT OF HERE NOW GO!". Nova could only watch in horror as the flames engulfed around the old man._

Nova woke with a start, cold sweat thick on his forehead as his chest quaked from the rapid beating of his heart, turning up his wrist he checked his wristwatch, 10:00 p.m. They didn't have much time. He quickly roused the other three members of his team.

"Come on wake up, we have to get to Vale before the sun rises," he said.

"Uh… five more minutes…" the smallest one, Luna, said, she knew better than to go back to sleep however.

The city's lights gleamed brightly over the horizon. Like a shining ray of hope akin to a sunrise amidst the pitch black of the forests surrounding it. The four cloaked figures traveling on foot, moving effortlessly and silently through the dense forest.

"We must move quickly, there's no telling when they may catch wind of us," The tallest one said. Sneaking their way over to the borders of the city, they approached the gates, large gray steel doors that separated outside threats from the peaceful city. The great walls that surrounded Vale imposed an image of a pristine society... though not nearly as high-class as Atlas. The wind zipped through their hooded faces, the icy chill of the night air freezing their skin, as they reared their heads to gaze at the security battlements.

They stood at the gated border where they were approached by two guards, spotlights trained on them. "Halt! Who are you and what business do you have?" A short stocky policeman inquired.

The team leader spoke "We are exchange students from Haven Academy, we wish to enter the city," the team members each drew out solid ID cards showing their legitimacy.

The policeman eyed them cautiously, "These could be faked, students wouldn't be arriving at this hour of the night especially on foot and with all the Grimm, you four are coming with me," he said aiming his rifle at them, other guards had formed a line of defense around the gates, their weapons trained on the four as well.

Before he could make a move, a feminine called from behind him, "Ah Team ASHN (Pronounced Ashen), welcome, we were expecting you, Mr. O'Brian there is no need for any of that, these kids are here under Beacon's request," A tall woman with blonde curled hair and glasses stepped up to the policeman.

"Ah Professor Goodwitch, my apologies, it's just suspicious that students would be arriving at this hour of the night, not on any transports or groups." the policeman voiced his concerns.

She sighed, pushing up her glasses, "Your concerns are understandable; we were just as surprised as you when we received word from Headmaster Lionheart," Glynda said pushing up her glasses, she was clad in her standard white blouse with a black skirt and high heels.

"Team ASHN due to your unorthodox arrival, Bullhead transports to Beacon won't be operational until eight in the morning." she checked her watch, the time was 1 a.m. She wouldn't even be out this late had it not been for Ozpin receiving a last-minute email from Haven Academy stating they would have some students arriving at this time on the transfer, why this hour of the night she had no idea. Those details were left on a need to know basis from Ozpin.

"Couldn't they make an exception?" Nova asked, unrealistic as the situation seemed, he was hoping to get settled in quickly. Glynda eyed him, "Alexandrite Lucius, team leader, I presume?".

The boy nodded affirmatively.

"We haven't fully prepared your living arrangements yet since we received your information just yesterday, but you can rest in a hotel, I will see if I can…" she was cut off by the team leader, "No need, we won't be sleeping tonight, we spent the entire day sleeping to make night travel on this route to avoid they daytime Grimm in the Emerald Forest,".

"Where are your bags?" She asked glancing around them as they stood in the spotlighted asphalt. "Hex has them in her pack," The second tallest one there spoke up.

"She fit bags loaded with clothes into that tiny pack?" Glynda gestured her riding crop at the fairly average black backpack that the tallest girl had on her, the look of skepticism on her face was clear even in the dark of the night.

"I have my ways, though fitting Nitro's stuff was a problem," she replied, earning a semi-loud yell of agitation from the boy who stood a few inches shorter than her.

"You sure you don't want me to find you a room for the night?" the professor looked them over again, their clothes and features hidden under their heavy cloaks, the only thing visible were their faces and even that was limited to the two taller ones. The leader and the short girl had masks over their mouths and noses.

"Thank you for the offer again Professor…" Nova said not knowing her name.

"Goodwitch, Glynda Goodwitch." She finished for him.

"Yes, thank you Professor Goodwitch but we'll be fine." He corrected his reply.

"Suit yourself," She said and walked off with a wave of her riding crop, her mind wondered at their story. _Daytime Grim? Weren't most Grim active at night? What's with the masks on the leader and the short one?_

Team ASHN was also left wondering just what type of peculiar teacher rolls around with a riding crop for a weapon. Especially one that looked that good.

* * *

"Come on guys we have to get there before they close" squealed a hyperactive 15-year-old black-haired girl to her exhausted team.

She stood around 5'5 wearing a black gothic style top with a similarly styled red hemmed skirt. She sported black combat boots and a red hooded cloak and a belt with a rose symbol around her waist.

"Ruby, the store can't possibly close until like six in the afternoon you dragged us out of bed at seven in the morning on a Saturday for reasons we aren't even aware." A snowy-haired heiress spoke to her young leader. Her white dress with a skirt that went to her knees, and matching jacket blowing behind her as they hustled down the sidewalks of Vale city.

The other two members of her team, a fiery-tempered blonde with light-purple eyes and a personal motto of 'punch first ask questions later' and a black-haired girl with a calm personality hung back. The blonde had a lion-like mane of hair that draped down to her waist, she wore a khaki tank top and similarly coloured short-shorts, around her neck was an orange scarf. The girl wore a white jacket and blacktop matched to black long pants. A black katana strapped to her back and a bow on her head, making her look like a ninja cat.

"Honestly couldn't this have waited for a few more hours, sleep is an integral part of being a Huntress you know!" The blonde, Yang Xiaolong said in an irritated tone. She looked to her partner for input but the black-haired girl, Blake Belladonna, simply shrugged. Her concept of sleep was mid-day naps.

"Integral? Yang I wasn't aware you knew words like that?" Weiss mocked. Yang just shot her an offended look.

"Listen this is life or death, if I don't get to the store in time, I could potentially explode...okay not really but this is important!" Ruby shouted while waving her hands in the air. "Think of it as a team-building exercise? I mean we did get formed a couple of days ago," Ruby placed a finger on her chin, the others just groaned at their young leader.

All members of team RWBY minus the leader were about ready to drive their heads into a wall.

Weiss, practically fuming said "You…dragged us out of bed….at 7 a.m… for a new MOD SHOP?!"

"Okay okay I know it sounds bad but this place just opened and they put out an ad a few days ago that opening day they would have a 50% discount on all long-range weapon mods and we need to be here before they get sold out!" Ruby tried to appease her partner.

"Look we are already here we may as well give the place a _shot_" Yang said attempting to be a voice of reason. The punster only managed to get Blake to laugh while Ruby was already dragging Weiss inside the crowded store.  
"I'll stay out here, the crowd in there makes me uneasy," Blake said. Yang nodded understanding, "Okay we shouldn't be too long!" Came a faraway response.

The store was huge to say the least. It may as well have been the size of a small mall. Titled Hunter's Emporium in bold red letters above the entrance, the store was brand new to Vale, having their only other branches in Atlas and a small branch in Vacuo. Inside the store was lined with shelves and cases loaded with guns, swords, dust, weapon modifications, parts, and more. Using her Semblance, the hyperactive girl became a blur of red petals dragging a poor unfortunate Weiss with her around the store. They finally reached the isle labeled as "Sniper's and Artillery" only to find out, the majority of stock had been depleted.

Needless to say, Ruby Rose was a little disappointed. Deciding to have a look around at whatever was left she instantly perked up after spotting the very thing she needed. A high capacity dust loader, designed specifically for loading .45 and .50 caliber bullet casing with dust inside a sniper rifle while allowing the empty shells to be refilled with dust cartridges attached to the side. Instantly her hand sprang for the item only for it to collide with another.

"Oh sorry, I really want this so ca-…" Ruby's brain almost shut down when she looked at the owner of the hand. He stood 5'9 with mismatched eyes, his left was red while the right was black, jet-black hair lay flat under and red and black hoodie. He wore blue jeans and black combat boots. His mouth and nose were covered by what appeared to be a black ninja mask. The hoodie covered his hair creating the illusion of an unrecognizable face. His gaze was strong and matched Ruby's stare, both of them had widened eyes and raised brows. Ruby could tell something was off about him, not in a bad way, but as if he were wrapped in mystery, a mystery she wanted to solve. The scar that crossed his left eye from the upper left corner to the lower right corner didn't look too bad either, it gave off a battle-worn aesthetic.

He was the first to break the moment, "Oh uh… no need to apologize, I wanted this loader for my weapon but it isn't a total necessity, it's yours if you want" he chuckled slightly, his facial muscles forming what appeared to resemble the face of someone smiling. He had a semi-deep voice, one not surprising of your average 16-year-old.

"Ah…. Thanks, you're a huntsman," It wasn't a question, no other reason for a person to be in a weapon mod store specifically for huntsmen if they weren't one themselves.

"Indeed, I am, well Huntsman in training, I'm still 16 after all," He said.

"A year older than me huh., are you new in town? I've never seen you before, I'm from Beacon Academy, Ruby Rose at your service," She stuck out her hand in the form of a handshake.

The boy took the hand and shook it firmly "N- Alexandrite Lucius, I'm one of the new transfer students from Mistral, you have great taste in weaponry if you plan on making use of that mod." He almost used his real name when he answered. She was just so friendly that Nova felt his senses dull. **(A/N: From here on Nova and Luna, as long as they are in disguise, will be ****referred to by their alias' both in and out of conversation. Whenever you see me use their real names it means, if it wasn't previously stated, that they're either not in disguise or it was ignorable. You'll be able to tell in context, this is just a heads up.)**

Weiss stood off to the side, her existence long forgotten as she had her arms folded in irritation, her left eye twitching and finger tapping against the side of her forearm. She could feel whatever ounces of patience she still had, wearing thin when she realized the direction of this conversation.

"Oh, you bet I do," Ruby took Crescent Rose from behind her back and unhinged it to its sniper form. "This is Crescent Rose, a foldable scythe and…" "And a .45 caliber high impact sniper rifle?" Alexandrite finished for her. "Yeah how did you know?" She turned to him to see his eyes gleaming with excitement. A sweat bead formed on her head, she wondered if that was how she seemed to her friends when it came to guns. "May I?" he gestured towards it.

"Sure, I guess…." Ruby awkwardly handed over the weapon, a bit uncomfortable allowing a stranger to touch it. "Wow high-pressure dust chamber with dense rubber, shock suppression grip this thing is gorgeous!" Alexandrite was as into the weapon as much as Ruby was. He handed it back to the baffled girl.

Her eyes had widened at his accurate analysis of her weapon, "RIGHT?! And check this out" Ruby took Crescent Rose back and unfurled it into its scythe form, causing the nearby store shoppers to recoil in shock at the size of the weapon. Alexandrite admired the scythe in all its glory. "Beautiful scythe indeed, you truly do have great taste in weaponry." Alexandrite turned revealing a 25' length, black scabbarded katana at his waist, the hilt was oddly shaped, carrying a more mechanical look than the traditional wooden grip, it posed a gold dragon design on the scabbard and a trigger mechanism on its sheath near the hilt of the sword. "This is called Asura, she's got a few features up her sleeve like also being a semi-automatic low recoil sniper rifle," Alexandrite wanted to explain more but was interrupted when a certainly irritated heiress whose existence seemed to have been forgotten about grew too impatient.

"Ruby Rose if you don't get your thing and leave in the next 5 minutes, I will freeze your bed solid during the night! You can finish your little gun convention some other time, I have important things to be doing," Weiss said with a huff as she dragged the red hooded teen to the cashier. Ruby waved to the young man "See you at Beacon byeeeee," she said quite loudly as she was being dragged off.  
Alexandrite stood chuckling a little, he couldn't help but think that the upcoming tournament had a bit more to look forward to now.

Alexandrite walked out of the store to meet the displeased faces of the three people he had the pleasure of calling family.

"You certainly took your dear sweet time," A tall dark-skinned girl with light hazel eyes and bouncy purple hair said with her hands on her hips. She wore a long purple tail-coat unbuttoned with a black shirt and pants underneath, two purple mechanical looking blade sheaths were attached to her hips.

"Hex please, I'm sure he had a good reason for having us stand outside for this long," said the red-haired young man as he stood next to Hex with his arms folded. He wore a white jacket over blue undershirt with camo-style parachute pants and boots, chrome mechanical bracelets were seen on both his wrists.

"Guys we all know he just lost track of time fangirling over some new piece of gear, I swear my brother eats, sleeps and dreams sharp objects," A short young girl, around 14 years of age wearing gothic style clothes with dark blue accents and a navy blue hooded cloak, her hair was pink with cyan blue eyes. As she spoke a single fang tooth could be seen.

"Come on Luna, it wasn't like that," Alexandrite attempted to appease his little sister. She swatted his arm as he placed it on her head, "Stop using my real name in public 'Nova' or should I say Alexandrite, call me Sapphire remember" she huffed angrily her cheeks puffing in a pouting form.

The older male teen of the group, Nitro, raised his eyebrow, "I couldn't help but notice a certain girl who was leaving the store a few minutes ago waving good-bye to you," He nudged Alexandrite with his elbow. Hex placed her hand by her mouth and grinned while making a flirty noise from her throat.

Sapphire looked at him mouth agape, "My anti-social brother? Talking to a girl?!" she wiped an imaginary tear from her eye, "They grow up so fast,". The three of them started laughing uncontrollably while Alexandrite stood there feeling attacked.

"Look I was just killing time we aren't supposed to show up to Beacon for another…." He looked at his watch "Oh shit we're late!"

* * *

A bespectacled man, clad in a black suit accompanied by a dark green undershirt, a similar coloured scarf wrapped around his neck, a single cross-shaped pin sitting neatly on its front. This was none other than, Professor Ozpin, who sat at his desk skimming through what appeared to the student profiles of the new transfer students.

"Alexandrite Lucius, sixteen years old, team leader, joined two years early at the age of fifteen, Semblance Adaptation, the ability to use aura flexibly to overcome any adversity up to three times your physical capabilities. Sapphire Lucius, the youngest student to ever be admitted into a Huntsman Academy at the age of fourteen, soon to be fifteen, Professor Lionheart must have seen some serious potential in you if he allowed you in so early." Ozpin noted causing the young girl to attempt to hide her face in embarrassment.

"Semblance… Iron skin? Incredibly high defense that isn't dependent on aura levels, interesting." He rubbed his chin in thought.

"Hex Magenta-Zephyr, seventeen, adopted sister of Nitro Zephyr and the Zephyr family. It says here you are a licensed Technology Specialist. Impressive for someone so young. Semblance Signature Mimicry, the ability to copy the signatures of anyone you know, whether that be handwritten, biological, DNA, handprint, Retina shape, fingerprints," He continued. Hex felt her brow furrow… she didn't put that on the profile…

Before she could think further Ozpin pulled up the final form, "And Nitro Zephyr, seventeen years old, heir to the Zephyr Security Corporation, Semblance Friction Control." They felt like deer in headlights, struck with shock incapable of moving. Most of this information was accurate, the documents were forged. Hex used her semblance to forge Lionheart's signatures on the documents and hacked the school's email to reroute all conversations between Ozpin/Beacon and Haven/Lionheart to her. She was incredibly meticulous in hiding their traces so how…

"You are all students from Mistral's Haven Academy, transferring to Beacon on our exchange program. You certainly have a record, eight successful Grimm hunting expeditions, no casualties, and relatively good grades except for Mr. Zephyr," the professor said, continuing to play along, knowing the effect he was having on them. Alexandrite made a smug smile while his sister swatted him over the head for not being humble., they were determined to force the act.

"Thank you, sir, we ho-" Ozpin raised his hand to cut off Alexandrite.

"Highly prone to disobeying authority and straying from objectives. Numerous accounts of damage to public property and overall reckless abandon," Ozpin laid the papers back onto the table. Alexandrite could only hang his head in shame and embarrassment. Hex facepalmed.

"Overall, you are an exceptional team of student hunters and huntresses minus a few kinks, I certainly hope you can back up your profiles, especially you two, Nova and Luna Flareheart, the last known heirs of the Faunus royal family." He gestured to Alexandrite and Sapphire.

The two teens stood stiff, unsure of how to proceed. Alexandrite spoke at last, "How did….we made sure to secure any trace of our identities upon leaving Mistral, just how...".

Ozpin simply stood from his chair and walked to them, placing a hand on Nova's shoulder, "Mr. Flareheart you cannot hide anything from me here, this IS my academy, as for how I know, that is my secret, just as your identities are yours. I know what you risk by revealing it but I assure you no one at this academy will place you or your sister in any danger. That being said your identities are up to your discretion. I will not reveal it nor compromise you. You need to trust me."

"I must commend you, Ms. Magenta, the fake transfer papers you sent us were outstanding. They looked real, the only thing you got wrong was that Professor Lionheart only writes his signatures in hawk feather quills, not a fountain pen. They are almost indistinguishable except from my eyes." Ozpin leaned back with a smile.

"Uh… thank you?" Hex raised an eyebrow in question

"I do hope that for the remainder of your stay here you won't be breaking into our school systems." Ozpin returned and Hex just shrugged.

Nova looked at the older man standing before him. He wanted to ask why they should trust him but if they couldn't they wouldn't be at Beacon in the first place. He contemplated for a bit, his sister looking at him nervously. He weighed his options, he could get out of Vale and start all over, risking his friends and his sister in the process, or place his trust in the man before him.

Nova finally looked Ozpin in the eye and said "Alright, however, we still chose to keep our fake identities, we aren't ready… I need you to swear you will tell no one, I need your word," Nova put his hand out for a shake.

Ozpin held his gaze and firmly took his hand "I swear, you have my word, Mr. Lucius," he said with a wink.

"Though you are all in your second year of training, you'll be starting over here at beacon from year one," Ozpin said with his arms folded behind his back.

"Year one? But Professor…" Alexandrite started but Ozpin raised his hand for silence.

"I know you have your qualms, but you all started a year early, except for Miss Sapphire who happened to start three years early... and Alex with two... however the case may be, our year one classes at Beacon are completely different from those at Haven. That being said if you wanted to take our year two classes, you'd need our first-year classes anyway to understand them. Am I clear?" Ozpin folded his arms now.

Nova nodded, "Yes sir, we'll accept the terms."

"Now, since you all are transferring you will need a guide, given your…current status, I have the best men or rather women for the job, your profiles and residency will be updated to your scrolls later in the day." Ozpin stated. Alexandrite could only raise his eyebrow as the professor pulled up his scroll and called.

"Glynda, can you call team RWBY up to my office, please? I would like them to meet the new transfers." He spoke over the phone. The office fell into a comfortable silence.

Nitro pulled out his scroll and texted his team, unsure if to speak his mind aloud, "Nova dude, you sure we can trust this guy? He hasn't said anything that put me off but…we can't be too careful," he texted whilst fidgeting with his clothes, specifically the hem of his pocket, a nervous tick that calms him, he was never good at dealing with authority.

"I think we can trust him, if he wanted us dead/taken hostage he'd have done it at the gates when we arrived in this city. It just kinda creeps me out how he knew who you two were," Hex replied.

* * *

Team RWBY and Team JNPR sat together at the cafeteria eating lunch together. Jaune Arc, a blonde, sat next to Pyrrha Nikos, his read headed partner, both trying to calmly enjoy their meal with friends while a certain orange-haired hammer-wielding Nora Valkyrie was recalling the tales of how her and Lie Ren fought down three packs of beowolves when they were kids. All-clad in their Beacon uniforms which consisted of a black suit with a red tie and white undershirt for boys and red plaid skirt, black jacket, white undershirt, and red bowstring around the neck for girls.

"And then out of nowhere an Ursa the size of Professor Port's appetite shows up and flies at Ren!" Nora attempted to create a visual using her spoon only to have a small glob of mashed potatoes fly onto a poor, unsuspecting, Professor Goodwitch. Nora having recognized the victim of her starchy assault instantly sat back down and tried to act unsuspicious. Goodwitch felt her anger boiling but instead simply sighed and wiped the potatoes off.

"Ms. Valkyrie as much as I would like to scold you for playing with your food, I have more important things to discuss," said the professor.

"What do you need professor?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah wassup, Glynda?" Yang added in placing her elbows on the table and gesturing with a spoon, which earned a deathly glare from the teacher. Yang recoiled in fear.

"As much as I dislike interrupting your way past noon lunch, I'd like the members of Team RWBY to follow me to the headmaster's office," Glynda said gesturing for them to get up with his cane.

Nora made an 'oooo' sound in the background while Jaunne spoke up "Is something wrong, Professor?"

"Quite the opposite Mr. Arc, they did nothing wrong it is just a matter regarding the new transfer students," she said as she began walking off. "I would have sent notifications to your scrolls but I figured this method would be quicker. Given the… nature of your team…"

* * *

**-At Ozpin's Office-**

Team RWBY exited the elevator with the professor to see four students already waiting inside.

"Team RWBY I'd like to introduce you to the transfer students from Mistral, Alexandrite and Sapphire Lucius, Nitro Zephyr and Hex Argent-Zephyr. These four make up team ASHN" Ozpin said getting up from his seat and gestured to the teens.

Recognition immediately dawned on Ruby, and coincidentally Alexandrite at the same time.

"It's YOU!" Alex and Ruby said simultaneously while pointing to the other.

Ozpin raised his eyebrow inquisitively, "You know each other?"

It also dawned on Weiss as well, "Oh it's you, the guy from the weapon store, the one Ruby spent the good amount of my morning talking to," she said with light surprise.

Yang's eyebrow twitched slightly, "Ruby is there something you aren't telling me?"

"NO! It's not…that's not…." Ruby was having trouble forming a proper response being under such scrutiny.

"So, she's who distracted you huh, not bad bro," Sapphire elbow nudged her brother.

"Ah! No nonono it wasn't like…she just had a cool weapon and and and…" It was Alexandrite's turn to be embarrassed.

Ozpin stepped in "Okay well this makes this easier, Team RWBY I'm assigning you to be Team ASHN's guide during their stay at Beacon, you're all roughly the same age and in the same year so I thought it would be best if the exchange students had their own crowd to help them get accustomed to life here at Beacon".

"Leave it to us Oz," Yang said pumping her hand.

Alex's eyes met Blake's for a brief moment as he scanned over the team. There was a moment of uncertainty, she looked... so familiar...

Blake felt the burning stare, however brief the interaction was, and something in her clicked, she didn't know why but she felt that she knew him.

* * *

**Well that's it for the first chapter, it's a bit short but this is where I wanted it to stop for chapter 1. The story so far is up until the end of volume 2, so reviews and recommendations are welcome. If you have suggestions or ideas, maybe something you want me to add, something you want to see then feel free to say it, inbox me or leave it in a review, it's entirely up to you. **


	2. Chapter 2 What's wrong with these people

**A/N: I did say these would be infrequent but I had some spare time so I thought I'd at least try to get a few chapters out of the way. Just a reminder- When I refer to them as Alexandrite/Sapphire it's because they're in disguise, when they're Nova and Luna it's out of disguise. It's an unorthodox system but it helps me mentally keep track of everything.**

**As per the drill: I do not own RWBY, I just own my OC's and unique plot points etc.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: When's the plot kicking in?**

Sapphire felt her head spinning as she, and her team, were dragged around the academy on a 'grand tour' lead by none other than goldilocks and red hood.

Team RWBY lead them through halls of Beacon, "Aaand here is the Library," Ruby pointed out as they made their stop.

Hex spoke up feeling her brain overheating trying to remember all the locations, "Is this everything at Beacon? I feel like I'm gonna need a GPS or something just to navigate this place…." she made no attempt to hide the awe in her voice, a sentiment which was echoed in the minds of her teammates.

"I'm glad I have an excellent sense of direction," Alexandrite said smugly, folding his arms and what everyone could assume was a smile beneath his mask.

"Oh please you get lost on the way to the bathroom," Sapphire berated her brother. Alex blushed in embarrassment shaking his head bashfully, "I... uh... well you see..." his feeble attempt at covering for himself just made the rest of them laugh harder. He didn't know if it was the atmosphere of the academy or just team RWBY that made him feel so open that he would attempt to converse more than basic responses.

"Nonono this isn't the final stop at all, we haven't shown the best place yet," Yang said with a grin.

"What could be better than the Library?" Nitro said sarcastically, his eyes rolling and Weiss shot him a peeved glare. Yang's grin grew wider, as they approached their final destination, "THE CAFETERIA!". Her cheer was interrupted by a loud gurgling noise, she blushed, "I guess I'm still hungry..."

"Yang! You just ate!" Weiss said annoyed at the embarrassing display.

"Well... I didn't get to finish!" she said exasperatedly. Alex just chuckled, "It's fine we could do with some food too, we haven't eaten since...yesterday?" he turned to his team to which they nodded feverishly.

The two teams joined together a couple of tables and benches to sit and talk, mostly because team RWBY was dragged away from their meal earlier. Beacon cafeteria was... massive to say the least. A grand hall housing an innumerable amount of benches, enormous segmented windows and perhaps one of the widest selection of foods anyone had ever seen.

Nitro felt his jaw drop, "Are they kidding? I feel like we're being spoiled here..." he said feeling his hunger increasing exponentially. Even Hex who wasn't much for eating unless necessary felt the temptation overwhelm her. The Zephyrs briefly glanced at each other, a simultaneous nod was mirrored between them before they disappeared in a flash, the sheer force of their motion leaving a gust of wind behind and a very bewildered team RWBY.

Alex facepalmed, dragging his hand down his face, "That glutton... Saph you can ahead and..." he turned to the empty spot where his sister was. He had to blink a few times to realize she was also with the other two loading their trays to the brim.

Alex sat down at the table's opposite side to team RWBY, Yang had a mouthful of chicken leg, Blake silently munching on what appeared to be tuna, Weiss just sat there glaring at Ruby who was currently tearing into a plate of cookies. "Aren't you gonna eat anything?" Yang asked swallowing her food. Alex shook his head, "I'll eat later, I've been trained to go several days without..." his words fell short as his team came back and sat next to him, Sapphire handing him a plate loaded to the brim with an assortment of tuna fish and grilled salmon. He felt his throat dry up and his mouth-watering beneath his mask. Hex smirked raising an eyebrow, "Sapphire thought you might be hungry... you can't fool anyone cap'n."

Alex felt his mind go blank and he had to compose himself for a moment, it took every ounce of willpower to stop himself from ravishing the plate before him. Team RWBY watched the masked siblings intensely, awaiting the moment they took off their masks to eat. Especially Blake, whose eyes were glued to their every movement. In fact... they were so focused that they didn't even notice the bits of food slowly disappearing. They blinked in bewilderment for a moment, a simultaneous "Huh?"

Alex chuckled, "Hey I think Ozpin is trying to grab your attention," he said causing all members of team RWBY to briefly look away, staring at the emptiness behind them. "HEY! Not funny!" Ruby yelled in protest.

"Did you think you'd get to see behind these masks so easily?" The ASHN leader said wiping his hands with a napkin.

Team RWBY could only gawk at the suddenly empty plates, "HOW?!" came the resounding response.

"Trade ninja secret," Alex responded to which they all groaned.

* * *

"So, proper introduction time, I'm Yang and this little red over here is my baby sister, but I'm sure your leader already knows her," She gestured to Ruby, a devilish smile on her face. "Yang stoppp," Ruby tried shoving away the blonde as she tried to mess up her hair.

"Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY and youngest huntress trainee at Beacon, Ice princess over to my left is Weiss Schnee and the quiet, broody one next to Yang is Blake." Ruby introduced her team puffing out her chest proudly.

"Ice Princess? Seems... fitting.." Sapphire said rubbing her chin. Weiss just huffed in annoyance at the name.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, a pleasure to meet you," Weiss said with her usual air of pompousness to which team ASHN internally gagged.

Sapphire cheerily shook the heiress' hand and Weiss could've sworn she the younger girl's eyes were glowing. Blake visibly flinched at the mention of the SDC, an action that did not go unnoticed by the ASHN leader, especially the subtle twitching of the black bow atop her head.

_Well, that's ironic, a hidden Faunus girl in a team with the heiress to the company that's the enemy of all Faunus, wonder if Oz did that intentionally,_ Alex pondered. He was no fan of the SDC either, not because of his Faunus heritage or their mistreatment of his kind, but because of the company's ethics in general. They exploited their workers and employed the slimiest of business tactics to narrowly avoid heavy taxations and skirt just above the labour laws for profit. They were borderline slavers and he despised that about them but that was no reason to hold resentment toward the Schnee heiress. Afterall... the actions of parents should not dictate the child.

Alexandrite was first to introduce himself. "A pleasure to meet you all, I am Alexandrite Lucius and this adorable blue next to me is my little sister Sapphire Lucius, we're uh... ninjas hence our outfits," he said almost trying to convince himself of his own lie. In reality, the barely had any sort of ninja training, the most they knew how to do was move silently.

Nitro followed up "And I'm Nitro Zephyr, some peeps call me Speedy, some call me slick, some people don't even call me, I'm trained in Mixed Martial Arts and boxing, my partner and sister here is Hex," he gestured for the purplette to give her intro.

"I specialize in tech and espionage," Hex said looking at the teens before her as if analyzing them with her eyes. She stopped on Yang for a moment, the wild blonde was...eye catching to say the least.

"Like spy stuff?" this came from the inquisitive red tearing Hex from her thoughts.

"Kinda, more like undercover operations and tactical assault…" her words trailed off as she could see it was all going over the younger girl's head. "SO YOU ARE LIKE A SECRET AGENT?! OH MY GOSH THAT IS SO COOL!" Ruby squealed.

Weiss pinched her partner causing Ruby to yelp in pain, "It won't be much of a secret if you yell it to the world!". Ruby gave her big eyes and apologized, Hex felt a little bad for her, "No it's quite alright.". It seemed her apologies were unnecessary since Ruby instantly recovered like someone turned a light switch off and then on.

"So have you guys figured out what dorms you are in?" Blake asked.

"Oz kinda dumped us out here with you guys, not that that's a bad thing but we aren't really sure of anything right now," Nitro said, he was afraid he came off as rude but team RWBY seemed to pay no heed. He had a bad habit of being sarcastic and rude when it wasn't intentional.

Alexandrite spoke up, "Class schedules, sleeping arrangements, necessary textbooks," he counted on his fingers.

"Well you can just hang out with us at our dorm until it's sorted, I'm sure the old man has something for you," Yang said.

It was then that team ASHN received a text on their scrolls simultaneously, it read:

_"__Your assigned dorm is opposite to team RWBY, to the left of Team JNPR, Room 406, you should find all your requirements met." _**(A/N I Don't actually know what the room numbers are I just made this up)**

"It's like he predicted this," Weiss said absently.

"Don't question it… that man moves in mysterious ways," Alexandrite said.

_'__He's not the only one'_ thought Blake as they moved to go visit the ASHN dorm.

Inside team ASHN's room were two sets of bunk beds, similar to the one for team RWBY however the wallpaper was orange.

"Wait you guys actually GOT bunk beds?! We had to make ours..." Ruby looked on with a pout in her room. "For what it's worth red, your attempt at makeshift bunk beds was pretty solid." Alex complimented making the red leader give a shit-eating grin and thumbs up, the smile reflected on Alex though no one could really see behind the mask.

"Hex," Alexandrite said. The girl simply nodded and pulled out a small device shaped like a remote and threw it into the room. A blue glow enveloped the space and three beeps were heard. "All clear," She finally said.

Team RWBY observed curiously, "Uh what did you just do?" Ruby asked.

"Remote Tech and Radio sweep or RTR for short, lets me know if there are any unwanted 'bugs' in our room," Hex replied.

"Don't you think that's a little, I don't know… much?" Yang asked.

"Call us paranoid, we don't expect you to fully understand, at least not yet," Nitro said as he began moving the team's backpacks into the room.

"I call top bunk!" Sapphire squealed as she barged into the room, back at Haven all they had were simple rooms, she always wanted bunk beds.

Her older brother could only look on with a contented expression, glad that his sister could have some enjoyment in her life. Ruby took notice of this.

"Aw look at you all happy, didn't take you for the doting older brother type," Ruby nudged Alexandrite. He was surprised she was able to even tell his expression through his mask. "Honestly I haven't seen her this happy in a while, and I mean someone has to dote on her, it's been just us for so long I.." He cut himself off and mentally chastised himself, he was revealing too much.

"Hey what do you mean?" Ruby asked but her question met with deaf ears as he had turned his back to her and walked into the room, taking his bag from Nitro and placing it onto the bottom bunk of Sapphire's bed.

"Where did you get those bags?" Yang asked bewildered, they had been walking around hands-free all day, except hex who had a backpack.

"Hyper compressed storage cubes," Hex said rolling four cubes that looked like large dice in her hand. "Super compacts all our non-breakables like clothing bags, into vacuum containers locked by hybrid dust insulators." She explained as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

"But… physics…" Weiss tried to think about it but her head started spinning.

"Shhh it's okay… this is really advanced particle mass manipulation… don't think too much." Hex snickered at her reaction, especially the face she made when Hex pressed the top of the cube and it expanded into a full-sized duffel bag.

"Hey, we really appreciate you guys helping us out today and showing us around," Nitro said trying to be polite, he had to make a conscious effort on his image after all.

"Oh it really was a lot of fun for us to, glad we got to make new friends!" Ruby said with a smile, inwardly she was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to prod Alexandrite further.

The statement caught them all by surprise, this was the first time anyone had outright declared they were friends. It wasn't in their mental code to just register someone as more than an asset or a liability upon meeting. "Friends huh... Yeah we're friends now," Alexandrite said almost to himself. Nitro raised his eyebrow and Hex was smiling a little. inwardly they were still very much cautious.

Ozpin trusts team RWBY and their leader trusts Ozpin so... in their rationale, it was safe to become 'friends' with team RWBY. Sapphire herself was worried that her brother would be stuck to just their team, he needed to socialize, he needs to act like a teenager. Somethings really can't be helped when you were forced to grow up too quickly.

"We'll leave you guys to get settled in, dinner is at six if y'all hungry by that time," Yang said as she ushered her team back to their own rooms.

As team RWBY exited and were confirmed out of sight and hearing range, team ASHN breathed their final breath of relief. All tension finally gone from them.

Alexandrite pulled off his hood and mask, as did Sapphire. His face now out in the open more or less, the evening light cascading over a light pink jagged scar that ran from the top of his left brow to his upper cheek. The siblings then removed the wigs that had lain atop their heads revealing their true hair color. Hair white as if it were fresh snow, except Nova Alexandrite's had orange tips and Luna's had blue tips. Two small horns poked out from the top of both siblings' heads. Their skin was light in colour, not pale, more of a creamy coffee colour, it was also lightly patterned with a scaly texture, mainly around their hands and cheek areas.

"Shit finally, I'm out of that stuffy disguise" Nova said. As he spoke, small fangs poking out from under/over his lips.

"Speak for yourself you don't have to wear pink hair all day!" Luna said angrily.

"Honestly the pink actually suits you," Hex said.

The younger girl could only huff and turn her head pink dusting her cheeks, "That's because I look good in everything," she retorted.

"Calm down princess, we need to get some rest before dinner, or have you forgotten we spent the last 15 hours traveling," Nova said.

"I agree with our fearless leader, I could do with some shut-eye," Nitro yawned as he spoke. The team members climbed into their bunks to rest for a few hours.

"How's your control? I noticed your eyes glowing faintly a while ago" Nova asked his sister, sending her a concerned look.

The blue-clad girl just shrugged, "It's nothing, just got a little irritated from that Schnee girl, no spikes in emotions otherwise, so no loss of control, what about you?"

The team leader just let out a breath, "It's been flaring up a lot, you guys probably could feel it when you were near enough to me, this power, it's getter more difficult to control. My instincts are running wilder it's is getting out of hand." Nova said worriedly.

Luna just put an arm on her brother's shoulder. "Hey, it's just the lack of sleep and stress. You've been pushing yourself too hard, you need a break. Your powers are more unpredictable than mine, if you lose control over yourself it could be bad."

"Yeah, I know… but we don't have time for relaxation. We came to Beacon for a fresh start, a new life. If we get complacent all of it could disappear…" Nova said darkly. Everyone in the team wanted to dispute him but they knew he was right.

* * *

It was roughly around 6:30 when team ASHN awoke, just in time for dinner. Dragging his body out of bed, Nova felt his bones ache with exhaustion. He wanted nothing more than to just lay around in bed but the dining hall was closed at nine, and knowing his sleep schedule, he'd be awake and starving come the early hours of the morning. He managed to rouse his team, slowly but surely donning his disguise once more_. _He hated it, pretending to be someone else, not being able to freely express his thoughts and emotions because he had to pretend to be this secretive leader. If he was being honest, the mask was just annoying... but it kept his identity safe so he had to bear the discomfort.

"This outfit is going to make me sick one day..." Sapphire said walking out of the bathroom in her disguise.

Alex rolled his eyes, "Pfft, you don't have the body temperature of a furnace, this thing gets really hot after a while." he reached around to his shoulder unconsciously tracing his birthmark, a flame, the symbol of his Aspect.

Nitro and Hex refused to awaken, "...mm... sleepy... fuck off...ate enough..." Hex mumbled, her head buried in her pillow. Nitro just snored louder in response to his leader's attempt. The dragon siblings just shrugged and made the trek alone. The halls of Beacon weren't quite as bustling as they expected, most students paid them no mind while some just stared. It didn't bother them if they were attracting stares, afterall their identities were hidden, they were safe.

They were well into their meals when someone called out to them.

"Oh hey, it's you guys! You're the new transfer students, right? Heard about your team RWBY," A happy looking blonde male strutted over to the table where they sat. Trailing behind him, a rather hyper looking orange-haired girl, a black-haired tall boy with a pink streak in his hair and a red-head.

Alex swallowed his mouthful of food, which looked odd since his mouth was moving behind his mask, "Um not to be rude but uh, do we know you?".

"Name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet and rolls off the tongue, ladies love it." The statement made the teens' sweat drop, the oblivious blonde carried on, "This is my team, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren," he gestured to the red-head, orange-haired girl and tall boy respectively. "You don't know us but you will. We saw you walking around with Ruby and the others a while ago, kinda wanted to introduce ourselves you know?" he finished .

Pyrrha giggled "Jaunne thought your ninja masks were cool and wanted to say hi, he just had trouble with coming up with a reason to meet you," she said much to Jaune's embarrassment. "Pyrrha!" he exclaimed a blush prevalent on his features.

Alex laughed a little, "I'm Alexandrite Lucius, this is my little sister Sapphire and my teammates Nitro and Hex, who aren't here at the moment," he introduced them.

Nora perked up at the introduction of Sapphire. There was a brief moment of staring between the orangette and the tiny Sapphire, before Nora shouted, "Oh my gosh she is SO CUTEEEEE!" then she squealed in delight, practically leaping toward the short girl. A look of slight dread washed over Sapphire and she moved to hide behind her brother's shoulder causing Nora to comically fall flat onto her face. "Nice to meet you," she said a little intimidated.

"So…. Are the masks like you know uncomfortable? And how do you even eat with them on?" Jaune asked while gesturing to convey his message.

"The masks hardly feel like they're there. We were trained to keep them on if that's what you were wondering, as for how we eat with them on... trade ninja secret," Alexandrite lied through his...mask, he added a little wink at the end for extra effect but wasn't sure if he quite sold the act. Everyone bought it... except for Pyrrha, who eyed them strangely, a look of confusion briefly gracing her features, wondering why they would need to lie. The look was gone just as fast as it came and Alex swore he was seeing things.

"But…" Jaune trailed off realizing that a whole half a fish was missing from Alexandrite's plate while they were talking when it had a whole one at the start. Dizzy swirls appeared in his eyes, "Don't think on it too much," Pyrrha said as she placed a hand on her leader's shoulder.

"Oh you should try the roast turkey here it is absolutely amazing," Nora said noticing Alexandrite's only meat was fish. "Ah I'm not really a fan of meat, I'm more of a fish person," Alexandrite said. "Fish is gross," Nora stuck her tongue out earning a chuckle from the ASHN leader.

"We're heading back now, it was nice meeting you," Pyrrha said as she dragged Jaune off, it was evident she didn't want to prolong their interaction further. Her team following behind her, Alex tried to smile and wave but there was an uneasiness behind Pyrrha, she was wary of him, she saw through his lies. He needed to be careful of her.

He was torn from his thoughts when Sapphire gripped his arm, "Nova, the whole point of us moving here was to keep a low profile, seems to be working quite the opposite if you ask me, though, they don't seem like bad people," she said retreating from behind him, glancing around to make sure Nora was gone.

"Honestly I didn't expect the people here at Beacon to be so friendly," he replied still eyeing the spot where team JNPR stood.

"What is it?" she asked seeing his expression.

He mentally shook himself, "That Pyrrha girl... she suspects something... she's observant... and cautious... we need to keep an eye on her."

"Well anyone would be suspicious if they picked up on you lying... I mean seriously, a wink?" she shot him a disdained look.

"Well I thought it was a good idea at the time..." he trailed off but his excuses blew into the wind. "Why don't you just head back without me? I'll catch up in a few."

Sapphire thought for a moment, "Fine... just don't be long."

* * *

Alexandrite made his way through the campus grounds until he felt he was in an open enough field of grass. His weapon stood at his side, a long black katana in an oddly thick sheath, near the hilt on the sheath was a trigger mechanism. Readying himself mentally, he got into a drawing stance, his right hand hovering over the grip of his katana, his left index finger and thumb on the trigger and gear system. He inhaled deeply before pressing down on the trigger, keeping his left hand on the sheath, the blade shot forward with immense velocity and acceleration, instantly he gripped it with his right hand and used the momentum of the blade to cleave an arc upwards in the air. A wave of wind shot forth from the impact of the strike, rippling the grass in front of him. In an instant he used the remaining momentum of the strike to reverse the blade's direction swinging downwards, his left hand detaching the sheath and bringing it upwards to meet the sword.

In truth the katana wasn't actually a katana, the main stem of the blade was thick and segmented, and not sharp at all. The sharp edge came from a switch on the handle that when flipped, drops a small thin blade from the thicker stem to create a katana.

A satisfying click resounded like a key fitting into a lock as the blade was slid into the scabbard, the thick sheathe split in half down the middle, the lower half, flipping itself to attach against the end of the first half creating a long sleek pole with a slight curve. The blade hilt was now sticking out of the top of the pole, it then rotated ninety degrees anticlockwise pulling the curved blade from the thicker portion of the pole, from here the blade split open and a larger convertible blade dropped down to form a scythe.

The dragon that adorned the hilt of the katana was now encircling the weapon at the top, the blade made to seem as if it was coming from the mouth of the dragon The trigger system sat at the center of the pole, he squeezed the trigger and the sharp edge of the blade glowed orange and began to oscillate at a high frequency. As he swung his scythe the blade made a low humming noise. Alex immersed himself in the rhythm of his strikes, a deadly dance that seemed to isolate his mind and body from the world around him.

"Fancy weapon you got there," a familiar high-pitched voice came from behind him. Alexandrite jumped a bit turned around with his weapon trained on the person behind him, ready to strike. Ruby raised her hands in surrender and stepped back a little, "Hey hey watch it, sorry for sneaking up you," she said slightly frightened.

"Ruby? I am so sorry," Alexandrite said as he lowered his weapon. "Why in the name of Remnant would you chose to sneak up on a man with a weapon," he retracted the scythe by double-tapping the trigger. The blade folded back to its original state.

"Honestly I didn't mean to, I just saw you swinging around a scythe and thought, hey scythe buddies yah know?" Ruby said a little shyly

"It was partly my fault, it's just that I get quite immersed..." Alex tried to communicate with the girl, his words were awkward and he felt a little stiff.

"Let's agree it was both our faults and move past this. I know we just met today but I think that your scythe is cool and I really want to be your friend and…." She began rambling.

Alexandrite suddenly burst into a fit of laughter; he couldn't help it the flustered girl was even more awkward than he was.

"AH! Did I say something wrong um um ohmigosh did I say something stupid, you're laughing at meeee, I'm not stupid I swear!" Ruby said frantically waving her arms.

Alexandrite finally calmed down a little, "No no, it's just that I was worried that I was coming off as nervous when you seem actively worse off,". Ruby frowned at his words. "Sorry for laughing" he apologized.

"It's just that since that time in the mod shop today, talking to you, I want to really become friends you know? Like besties... if you'd be okay with me" Ruby said a bit of pink dusting her cheeks though unnoticeable in the dim light of a nearby streetlamp.

He paused for a moment, a stranger whom he had met just today was offering him friendship. Did friendship even work like that? "Ah well um… sure? We could try being proper friends first," Alexandrite felt a little apprehensive. Talking to her made him feel comfortable, he had to mentally scold himself as to not reveal anything about who he really was.

The two sat at a nearby stone bench, the evening air was crisp and cold, early signs of the changing seasons. Alex propped himself up on the seat and concentrated on his innate power, generating a little heat to ease the temperatures. Ruby didn't seem to notice the subtle increase in air temperature around the ASHN leader as she began talking.

"Um, I'll start, I like cookies, strawberries and my dog Zwei. I wanted to be a huntress because Huntresses are like heroes, I want to fight for what's right and rid the world of Grimm, but most importantly have the power to protect people." She said with confidence, her spunk returning to her.

Alex thought on his words for a moment, how could he say who he was without saying who he was..."I like a lot of things but if I had to pick one I'd say I like fish. I want to become a huntsman so I could protect the people I care about so that no one would have to lose the people important to them, _and find the man who ruined my life,_" he said with the exception of that last part.

"So, what's your weapon like, I mean I showed you mine but what's up with yours, it looks so complicated." She said gesturing to the sword at the boy's side. He detached it from his waist and placed it in her hands. She almost dropped it due to its weight. "Woah this is heavy, what is it like a hundred pounds or something," she said as she handed it back to him.  
"Try 25, the blade itself is pretty light it's just the sheath and its components that make it heavy." Ruby began fiddling with the guard as the sword rested on both their laps. It was then that Alexandrite realized just how close the two were sitting, he instantly felt blood rush to his face and praised the gods above that she couldn't see anything.

"What do these do exactly?" she finally asked pointing at the switches and trigger.

Alexandrite instantly drew out of his dream-like state, "Well, my weapon is a 35' katana at the base, the trigger launches the blade which oscillates at a high frequency, the concept is that I use the momentum of the launch to amplify the speed and force of my strikes, inside the sheathe there is a key mechanism that fits the hilt of the sword when I sheathe the hilt in it triggers it forming the scythe. If I sheathe it normally and turn the dial only the barrel sticks out and it's a sniper." he turned the sheath around so you could see the underside, there was a hole similar to a gun barrel. He rested the weapon in scythe form on their laps, it was almost like mechanical magic, the scythe itself wasn't that much bigger than Crescent Rose. "The switches are there to swap the blade size from katana to scythe." he finished.

The young girl sitting next to him was in utter disbelief, "How the hell do you fit all this into well, that" she gestured to the slightly large and thick sheath, "It physically makes no sense," she felt a little dizzy.

He simply chuckled, "That's thanks to a special flexible metal alloy that I used to make all the pieces, you probably never heard of it, it's called Incindium," He looked skeptically at the girl looking for any signs of recognition. She didn't seem to show any signs at his words and if anything looked extremely excited, "So you mean to tell me you got a magic thingy that lets you fit a bunch of stuff in there, THAT'S INSANE!" she said a little too loudly. Alexandrite relaxed a bit, if she didn't know what Incindium was she was no threat. She had no ulterior motives, she simply wanted to be friends.

The two talked well into the night, about similarities they shared and what differences they had. Ruby's perspective on the world was like a bright light in Alexandrite's dark world. A ray of pure innocent goodwill that wouldn't be tainted no matter what happened. She was overwhelmingly sweet, to the point where he swore her aura would give him a toothache... she was someone whom he wanted to be, a person that ignited a spark in him, a level of hope. A shockingly powerful gift of inspiration just by being kind.

A sharp ring was heard, piercing the bubble of calm that had enveloped the two teens. "GAHH!" Ruby shrieked, she fumbled in her pocket for her scroll while Alexandrite simply sat there with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello?" the girl answered her scroll tentatively. "RUBY ROSE WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?!" it was Weiss. Ruby instinctively held the scroll away from her ear to stand the volume. "Um, in the courtyard…." She said slowly. "What the hell are you doing there? Never mind that get back here right now, it is way past curfew and if Goodwitch catches you it'll mean detention at the very least!" Weiss scolded the younger girl.

"Oh my god! I'm on my way," she replied with her eyes widening in realization. "Ah sorry about this Alexandrite, I gotta go."

"Ah no worries, my team is probably wondering where I am to, honestly I had no idea it was this late, we were out here for…" he checked his watch, "Holy shit! The hell did the time go?" he exclaimed. Quickly he checked his scroll to see twelve unread texts from his sister. He was in deep trouble. "Come on Ruby we should leave," the two began walking back when Alexandrite spotted Goodwitch out of the corner of his eye. He turned to Ruby slightly panicked but she simply took his hand and all of a sudden, they were enveloped in a rush of rose petals propelling themselves at a high velocity and in a matter of seconds they were at their dorms. "What the…what was that?" he asked disoriented and confused. "My semblance, think of it as super-speed," Ruby said.

The other leader just steadied himself, desperate to clutch onto the feeling of solid matter after speeding hundreds of kilometers per hour in a flurry of rose petals. Ruby snickered at his reaction "Good night Alexandrite," she moved to leave only to realize their hands were still linked. They both blushed furiously thanking the dim corridor lighting that neither could see. Instinctively they retracted their arms quickly. "Uh sorry, um I should go…." He said nervously, "Y-yeah me to…". They headed into their respective dorms each receiving a very concerned looking team member.

* * *

Alex tenderly closed the door behind him hoping everyone was asleep already. The lights instantly flickered on revealing a passed-out Nitro and a very angry looking Luna. Hex was on her computer working.

"Mind telling me what you were doing out so late? You had me worried sick you didn't even respond to my messages, I thought I thought…." Tears began welling in her eyes and she ran up to him and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her small frame petting her head, "It's okay nothing happened to me, I was just training and lost track of time."

"Oh don't you dare use that excuse, we both know you NEVER lose track of time like that and you always make sure you check your comms, come on, what caused you to be so careless?" she poked his chest hard with her index finger.

Alexandrite blushed furiously, "Ah well you see….I was um," he was trying to come up with a way out of this but she had a knowing look on her face, he wasn't going to escape. Sighing in defeat, "I was with Ruby, she came up to me while I was training and we chatted for a little while," he finally admitted.

Luna gave a smug laugh and Hex turned around from her work looking quite smug herself, "I knew it! You have a thing for her!" Hex said. "We made a bet, Luna and I bet 20 Lien that you were with Ruby and Nitro bet against that."

"Wake up gingerbread you lost," Hex pulled the blanket from under Nitro who then fell off the bed startled. "Wha…." He said disoriented. "You lost the bet now pay up," Nitro grumbled as he shoveled 40 Lien towards the two girls. "Ugh let me go back to sleep now…" he said incoherently as he shuffled back into the bunk.

Meanwhile Ruby was suffering a similar fate.

* * *

"So…. Alexandrite huh, never pegged your type to be tall and mysterious," Blake said as Ruby walked in.

"That's where you were?!" Weiss practically shrieked. Ruby blushed furiously, "No not like that I was just trying to make a new friend and he had this really cool sword that was also a scythe and…" Ruby began rambling again.

"Ruby…when I find that boy, I'm gonna smack him so hard…" Weiss's aura rose. "NO! Please don't!" Ruby pleaded.

"Fine but if he does anything to hinder you, I will personally execute him," she said with a huff.

Ruby sighed, "It's not like that, well not that I don't think he's cool but he looked like he needed a friend."

Weiss shook her head at the younger girl, "Just keep your hormones in check please."

* * *

**Well, that's chapter 2. Any suggestions or criticisms are welcome even if it's negative.  
****See yah next chapter ^_^. There are one or two references to some stuff so if you manage to pick up on it, then good job on you.**


	3. Chapter 3:Like hiding behind clear glass

**Chapter 3: What Part of Low Profile Did You Not Understand?!**

* * *

"It says here our first class is, Grimm Studies," Hex said checking their schedule. Her normally open purple hair was tied in a neat ponytail that was platted to keep it in check. She wasn't the only one sporting neater hair, even Nitro made an effort to slick back his normally unruly red hair.

Team ASHN were gearing up in their dorm, still trying to adjust to their new sleep cycle, nocturnal humans aren't good for the student environment after all. The uniforms were a challenge for the short blue-eyed dragon, they had to deal with the consistent complaints that red was just not her colour.

"Do we honestly need these classes? We have practical combat experience and knowledge already." Nitro said annoyed while strapping on his boots. He wasn't an academic, in fact sitting in one spot for more than 5 minutes was his definition of physical torture. His parents said he had Attention Deficit Hyperactive discombobulation or something to that effect, he never understood what that meant all he knew was he if he was forced onto one task for extended periods of time he'd be willing to rip his own head from his shoulders. It made academics a serious challenge, one which he never intended to fight, his strengths clearly lay with his ability to smack the life out of every Grimm he came across. It was what he was born to do after all.

"Come on dude, you know we left Haven behind for a reason, it's a fresh start. If we need to abide by Ozpin's rules then so be it." Nova said pulling on his gloves and face mask. Nitro shot him the post pained expression and Nova felt honestly bad for him, the academics expected Nitro to act as if he was the same as the other students, during their first year together in Haven the red-headed boy was subject to the cruelties of the self-serving. Nitro swears he was used to it but that didn't make it any better.

"Yes, oh fearless leader." Nitro joked to which Alexandrite just lightly punched his arm. "It'll be fine man, Beacon's Professors aren't like those back at Haven." the dragon said as he fully equipped his disguise becoming Alexandrite.

"How are you so sure?"

"Call it a hunch."

"Come on boys we're already cutting it close; class starts in like five minutes." Sapphire tightened her mask and pulled the hood over her head. With the wigs covering their horns and natural hair, the hoods were just extra insurance, there was no telling if the wigs would slip off since they weren't exactly the highest of quality. Alex was pretty sure his was made of horsehair... which bothered him to no end since he met a few horse Faunus. Alex didn't _completely _hate his disguise, his newfound acceptance was discovered as they paraded the halls of Beacon attempting to find their class, he was garnering stares from most of the female populace and a few males. It was probably because the mask, scar, mismatched eyes and black hair made him look like Remnant's edgiest edge lord.

* * *

The team pushed open the great oak doors, stepping into the classroom without any form of hesitation. Before them, a rather round man with a big bushy grey mustache and no beard stood lecturing the class. He wore a red button up navy style shirt and pants, both a crimson red, the accents were gold.

"Ah you must be the new transfer students, I'm Peter Port, I'll be your lecturer." The man said his voice gentle yet firm.

Sapphire looked around to see the full class, surprised she checked her watch, "I'm sorry Professor, we were told class started at 9 a:m, are we late?" she spoke with full politeness hoping to rectify any mistakes, she was a good diplomat after all.

"Well it is no problem as it is your first day, arriving precisely on 9:15 is ignorable. I heard you came from Haven right? The time zones are slightly different, so I assume your devices still haven't adjusted?" Professor Port inquired stealing a glance at the small girl's wristwatch.

Alexandrite looked at his scroll, indeed it said 9 a.m, "Hex I thought you were in charge of schedule keeping, we forgot to adjust time zones," he told his friend. The dark-skinned girl just huffed, "You can't expect me to remember EVERYTHING."

He sighed, "I'm sorry again Professor, this won't happen again, we'll head over to our seats now."

"Ah hold on one-moment young man," Port said causing them to stop.

"Ah everyone, attention. This is team ASHN, Alexandrite and Sapphire Lucius, Nitro and Hex Zephyr. They are the new transfer students hand-selected by Professor Ozpin, I hope you'll treat them well." He announced to the class before turning to the team, "About those masks and hood, I'd prefer you not to wear them in class but Ozpin specifically requested you be allowed to wear at least your masks so… Off with the hoods." He pointed to Alexandrite and Sapphire who had their hoods up.

_Selected by Ozpin? That's an interesting way of putting it... and why suddenly introduce us... shouldn't this be Beacon's first-class for the first years?_ Alex's thoughts were pulled from him as the professor spoke, "My apologies if I caused a scene, most of the students here were acquainted during initiation. Can't have you being black sheep now can I?" he said as if reading the young dragon's thoughts.

Weiss felt a twinge of jealousy, they were in the same boat as her 'leader', this was the second time the headmaster of the academy gave special attention to someone and this time it was an entire team. What made them so special? What connected them and her leader? What did they have that she didn't?

"Ah no problem sir," Alexandrite said taking off the hood to reveal his jet-black hair and Sapphire's pink hair on her end. He looked into the crowd of students and spotted eight familiar faces, teams RWBY and JNPR sat in the third and fourth row of the middle. His eyes were particularly drawn to a certain black-haired, red hooded team leader.

She was trying to balance a book on top of a pencil, albeit an impressive feat.

"MISS ROSE! Did you hear anything I just said?" Port yelled startling the poor girl causing her to drop her pencil, book close behind.

"AH! Yes, professor…." She slowed down her sentence when she noticed team ASHN.

"Oh HEY ALEXANDRITE!" Ruby waved with a big grin when she noticed him standing in the front. This caused the boy in question to fidget awkwardly. "Hey Ruby," he waved back nervously, feeling the eyes of the entire class on him.

Team ASHN moved to sit in the front row of the class just in front of team RWBY, once done Professor Port began his lecture... words flying far over team ASHN's head as they realized he was simply regailing them with a tale from his childhood. Alex's boredom was interrupted by a 'psst' from behind him.

"So, we're in the same class huh?" Ruby whispered leaning down.

"Yeah, I'm surprised, I thought you guys were a year above us?" Yang asked following her sister, eyeing the team, specifically Hex who shot her a bashful smile, as if challenging Yang's innate flirtatious attitude.

"We are, we just skipped a year so we're actually the same age as you guys, well except me and Sapphire she skipped three years, I skipped two," Alexandrite commented glancing back at Ruby.

"Woah three years? That beats Ruby's record of two years." Yang said amazed. She glanced at the small girl who just covered her face, "Ah I'm nothin' special I'm just really good at studying…" she said a bit embarrassed... in reality, it was because of their master, the one who taught them how to fight. A man by the name of Randolf Wulf, who held connections to Haven Academy, helped get her in despite the immense age gap.

Weiss, Blake and Yang simultaneously melted in awe at the adorable reaction.

"Wait so you were 14 when you started training?!" Weiss gawked at Sapphire, again _another_ special case inside of the special cases. How could she, a Schnee be undermined in comparison to these people.

The younger girl just flushed again, "Too much attention!" Sapphire tried to cover herself with her hood.

"Don't let the shyness fool you, she's only like this now because you're new to her, but give her time." Alexandrite smiled.

The class went on for a little while but something was off, Alex could feel a wave of rising anger behind him and he had a faint idea of who it was.

He turned around just in time to see Weiss snap her pencil in half, her face the embodiment of the word 'livid'. _Yikes, what's her problem?_ He thought.

"A true huntsman must be honorable, a true huntsman must be dependable, strategic, well-educated and wise. Who here thinks they are the embodiment of these traits?" Port said after giving a long story of one of his accomplishments.

The metaphorical kettle in Weiss' brain had finally started spewing steam, the gasket had been blown and Alex felt himself just wondering what exactly sparked this level of fury. Instantly Weiss' hand shot up, "I do sir!"

"Ah Ms. Schnee, do step forward to meet your opponent," Port said. "Woohoo! GO WEISS! Represent team RWBY!" Ruby cheered popping out flags from thin air.

Alex took a moment, observing Weiss ignore her leader and team completely, head held aloof. _Are all Schnee's like this? Wait... Schnee... Ruby is two years younger than her... Oh..._ Alex faced morphed as he came into realization.

Weiss abruptly rose from her seat and stomped forward to the front of the class where Port had brought out a cage. The box-like cage was lined with cast iron and stainless steel. It shook and jumped about violently, the chains holding it down rattling from the motions. "Ms. Schnee you may retrieve your weapon and combat gear from your locker and return," he instructed the heiress who promptly complied. Once she returned wielding her signature rapier with revolving dust chamber, Myrtenaster, Port began again.

"Now are you all familiar with the Boarbatusk?" Port asked, turning the class. Most students had at least encountered one Grimm before, most of them during their initiation, some had prior experience, all of them refused to budge.

"Mr. Lucius? Since you have previous experience would you tell us?" Port asked the masked boy sitting in front. Classic Professor move, targeting the fresh blood, even though the others were also fresh blood, his team was especially new to the scene.

Nitro snickered at his friend being called out, Hex just smacked him for his stupidity, it was better him than them.

"Boarbatusk are small to medium-sized Grimm that are covered in extremely thick armor. They can attack in the form of a charge using the tusks on the front of their face, the speed of which is difficult to avoid to those not quick enough. The best way to deal with one is to get it onto its back and deliver a killing blow to its exposed underbelly." With that Alexandrite sat back down.

"Outstanding Mr. Lucius, Ms. Schnee, you will now demonstrate what he just said, prepare yourself," Port said moving to the cage.

Weiss raised Myrtenaster in preparation for the fight.

"On three,1….2….3!" he opened the cage and a severely angered Boarbatusk burst out. Its red glowing eyes thirsting for blood.

Weiss was a little unnerved by the sheer violent aura it was letting off, she stumbled back a bit but composed herself. "Weiss look out!" Ruby called seeing the heiress standing stiff.

It charged at her with blinding speed but she barely managed to dodge it, anger flaring at being told what to do.

"Get its underbelly!" Ruby called out

"Shut up! I know what to do!" she angrily yelled. Concentrating she summoned a black glyph on the floor representing gravity. With that, she launched the Boarbatusk into the air and stabbed its underside.

_Glyphs? Interesting…must be here semblance._ Alex reasoned; the Grimm dissipated into black smoke leaving almost no trace it had been there.

"Excellent work miss Schnee," Port commended her as she strut proudly back to her seat.

She turned her head away from her leader who was trying to cheer her on. _God what a bitch_ was the first thing that popped into Alexandrite's head.

"Now would anyone like to step up? I have one more Boarbatusk here and we do have a little time before class ends." Port was rummaging through his books to see if he wanted to cover anything else. Sapphire was a little annoyed by the heiress' actions. Where the Schnees really so determined to establish themselves better than everyone else? It was one thing to participate in class, that was by no means wrong. The thing that irritated the little blue girl was that she did it to spite her leader, she could feel the sheer animosity emanating from the heiress, that level of self absorption was not good for a team. Her body moved on instinct as if saying that someone needed to put her in her place.

Her hand shot up from the front row, "Ah yes Ms. Lucius, outstanding!" he said before bringing out the second cage. AHN felt their eyes simultaneous bulge, the very same girl who was complaining about too much attention was now well... attracting too much attention. "Saph what are you doing?!" Hex hissed.

The girl in question just firmly stood up and said nothing. Nitro just shrugged, looking to Alex who had the same look on his face, a level of understanding that only the emotionally intune could perceive.

The two humans just shook their heads with a simultaneous thought, _Ugh... dragons..._

The small girl in blue made her way up to the front, her cotton candy pink hair standing out from her color scheme. She prepared her weapon, a small handle in her hand, polished and smooth, it was deep blue in color.

"Is she gonna fight with that stick?" Yang whispered to team ASHN.

"That's her weapon Galaxia…you'll see." Nitro said smugly.

Yang just turned to her team and shrugged.

Weiss observed with her head held high, clearly, no one would outdo her display of combat prowess.

Sapphire held onto the small handle and readied herself, breathing in deeply trying to calm her emotions before her powers accidentally flared out of control, how would she explain tables and chairs being flung across the room to a professor that knew her semblance?

"Alright Ms. Lucius, on three, 1…2…3!" And just like before a Boarbatusk rocketed out of the cage, this time it seemed…bigger.

"Um, Professor is it supposed to be that big?" Jaune called out from the third row a little concerned for the small girl.

"It's quite alright, this one just happens to be an alpha, size doesn't mean everything you know, the tactics are quite the same." He fiddled with his mustache.

Indeed, Sapphire looked incredibly small in comparison to the beast that stood nearly as tall as Port.

It charged at Sapphire with an incredible burst of speed. "KID LOOK OUT!" Nora yelled seeing Sapphire making no attempt to dodge.

Sapphire smirked, just as the beast was about to barrel into her, she ducked under and clicked a button on her handle, a tall pole shot out launching the beast skyward. The pole had glowing blue ends like an energy staff but solid as if the metal was vibrating, much like Alexandrite's sword, she grasped the pole with both hands and twisted causing the top end to unfurl into a great battle axe with one large end and a smaller back end.

With incredible power she launched herself up to the disabled beast and uppercut it, from the underbelly, hooking it and sending it downward to the floor. It dissipated into black smoke like the last one as Sapphire let Galaxia rest on her shoulders, the massive axe contrasting her small frame.

Jaune's mouth was open, just like Weiss and Ruby, Pyrrha was quite impressed as well.

"What the… Did she just…" Jaune was at a loss, a small girl was wielding a weapon almost twice her size with ease.

"Yeah…she did," Yang said with a fist pump, "YOU GO, GIRL!".

"Ms. Lucius that was magnificent! Where did you learn to fight like that?" Port asked as clapped. Something about the small girl charmed everyone to no end.

She rubbed the back of her neck bashfully and stared at the floor in embarrassment under the attention, "M-My brother…" she said softly.

All eyes in the room turned on Alexandrite who made an attempt to duck under the desk.

"I'm afraid that will be all for class today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and stay vigilant! Class dismissed." Port said as everyone took up the queue to pack up their notes. Weiss on the other hand huffed and walked off.

"Yeesh, what's her problem," Jaune commented observing from the behind team RWBY who just glanced at themselves.

As all the students filtered out of the class Ruby made an attempt to cheer on Weiss who looked a little off-kilter having her spotlight stolen by the new girl. "Good job out there Weiss! That was really great!"

The girl in white just turned up her nose and stormed off leaving Ruby to chase after her. Alex followed suit out of the class stopping just before he rounded the corner spotting the red leader and her partner.

"Weiss!" Ruby called out causing the heiress to stop in her tracks.

"What?!" came the incredibly angry response.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being so-" Ruby's concerned interrogation was cut off when Weiss countered her question with one of her own.

"What's wrong with me?! What's wrong with you?! You're supposed to be a leader and all you've been so far is a nuisance!" she exploded on the innocent Ruby. Alex felt his heartache when he saw the absolutely crushed look on the girl's face, the look was brief as Ruby instantly masked it with a snort and responded, "Me?! What did I do?"

"That's just it!" the heiress continued to fume, "You've done _nothing_ to earn your position. Back in the forest, you acted like a child and you've only continued to do so. The other day, that weapon shop? Your very existence seems to contradict what being a Huntress is supposed to be!"

Every word that came out of the Schnee's mouth was like a knife embedding itself into Ruby's spine, dampening her normally cheerful spirit with every blow, still, the leader pressed on determined not to give in.

"Where is this coming from? What happened to all that talk about working together? I thought you believed in acting as a team? I thought we were actually becoming friends..." Ruby offered out.

Weiss approached her closing the gap a little and staring directly into the hurt leader's eyes, "Not a team led by you." the words came out like an executioner's axe dealing the final blow to a defenseless target. "I've studied and worked hard and quite frankly I deserve better. Ozpin made a mistake." and such was the final nail in the coffin once the body had been laid to rest. Weiss stormed off and Ruby's facade crumbled like a poorly baked oatmeal cookie... no one likes oatmeal cookies...

Alex was about to rush out there and comfort the girl, every instinct in his body was yearning to protect that precious face from shedding tears but someone interrupted them. Professor Ozpin stepped onto the scene as if on queue, coffee mug and all. "Well that didn't seem to go too well," he input, his expression hardly budging even upon seeing Ruby's face.

"W-Was she, right? Did you make a mistake?" Ruby asked her voice cracking as she glanced up at the headmaster.

"... That remains to be seen," his words were uncomforting yet... oddly fitting.

"Mr. Lucius, eavesdropping is usually frowned upon," he said casually walking away. Ruby wiped away her eyes quickly, emitting a light sniffle. Alex sighed heavily and came out of his hiding spot, "Heyyy Ruby..." he offered awkwardly.

"You saw that?" she asked already knowing his answer.

"Unfortunately yes..."

"You must think I'm a pathetic excuse for a leader to huh?" she rubbed her arm and clutched it in some desperate attempt to hold herself together.

Alex awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder, "Not in the slightest."

Ruby sniffled again but glanced upward to his eyes confused, "What? But your team respects you... they seem to trust and follow you unconditionally."

"Ruby... it wasn't always like this. I've fought alongside them for an entire year, respect isn't something you just get. It's something you earn." he said retracting his arm causing Ruby to stare further.

Alex rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, trying to figure out how to make her feel better. "If it... makes you feel any better... Nitro was the same way when I first met him... and that was because he was team leader and I later took his place due to some... unfortunate circumstances..." he said being as vague as possible.

"R-really?! How did you get him to... well you know... follow you?" she asked hopeful.

"It's not that simple Ruby. You need to earn Weiss' respect over time, prove to her that Ozpin didn't make a mistake," he said feeling weirdly happy that he was garnering respect from Ruby as well.

"How?" came the short question.

"That's for you to figure out... that being said she also needs to meet you halfway, and give you a chance," he explained. Ruby thought on it for a moment, most of her sadness gone.

"Okay... I think I get it... thanks Alex!" she said rushing off and disappearing leaving Alex to stare at the empty spot.

_You know... I could go talk to Weiss to since..._

_Nope, not gonna do it. I am not going to stick my neck out to fix someone else's problem..._ Alex said in his mind wandering to the possibilities.

_But she's your friend, they're technically all supposed to be friends._ His conscience contested.

_Nuh-uh, not this time, what part of low profile do you not understand _the rational part of his brain countered.

_Alright, suit yourself_ came the ominously vague reply.

_Am I seriously arguing with myself? Yup, I've gone insane_.

The rest of team ASHN who had recently caught up with their leader just looked on confused at the boy who was staring silently at an empty spot his face contorting into different expressions. After a few failed attempts to move him, they just carried on with their lives.

* * *

Despite his inner turmoil and decision earlier, fate had other plans.

It was late in the night when Alexandrite found himself out on one of the balconies, and low and behold he met the last person he expected, Weiss Schnee sat there looking thoughtfully out at the night sky. _Really?! After I specifically said no?! Okay, universe if this is what you want..._

"Weiss?" he approached her hoping not to startle her, he didn't want this conversation but a part of his mind wanted to pick a bone with the heiress for hurting Ruby.

She looked up from her thoughts, scanning around her eyes landing on Alexandrite.

"Oh hey, didn't expect to see you here," she said her voice lacking the general stuffy attitude.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing, what's up?" he asked knowing exactly why she was moping, but deciding to be deliberately obtuse.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about," she said with a bit of fury returning.

"Hmm? Well my business or not I know that look, you got something on your mind, and judging by your attitude in class earlier I'd say you got a problem with Ruby." He said staring at the girl.

Her eyes went wide, "How did… you're too observant for your own good," she turned red.

"It's a habit, helps you stay alive in the field. So, you gonna talk or am I going to have to ditch you to suffer in silence while I grab a glass of water?" he folded his arms, he was getting better at lying.

She was silent for a few seconds before finally relenting.

"Ugh, it's just that Ozpin chose Ruby as a team leader. All my life I've been trained for this, worked hard, studied for this but he chooses her. What does she have that I don't, I have better grades, better logical deduction and I'm certainly no airhead… Why couldn't I be leader... or at least have a leader like you?" she folded her arms and crouched to the floor, leaning her head on her knees that were folded to her chest. This is where she was now, venting her frustrations to someone who was in the same category as the source of her frustrations. His only saving grace was that he appeared to be the very definition of a mature leader.

"I don't think Ozpin is the type to make wrong decisions." He commented after a pause, attempting to traverse the minefield that lay before him. He had brownie points for being respected in her eyes, the only thing now was to choose his words carefully.

"What do you mean of course he probably…" she wanted to continue but Alexandrite interjected.

"Weiss, would the headmaster of the most prestigious Huntsman academy this side of Remnant, one of the most highly qualified, experienced and accomplished individuals make a mistake like that?" he said with a raised eyebrow. Weiss almost felt stupid for questioning it in the first place when he explained it like that.

"While you might have better academics, Ruby has a charisma about her that draws people in, she looks like the type to plan in battle and make decisions on the fly, am I wrong?" He asked. The heiress just shook her head negatively, "No you're not wrong but that still doesn-" Alex cut her off again.

"She seems to have a cheerful attitude that inspires team morale and her overall friendliness makes it easier to work together. I haven't known her long and even I can tell that she is a natural-born leader. Weiss these are all qualities you fail to possess, a team needs a leader, not a boss that thinks they know better than everyone else." he explained calmly, hoping he hadn't just accidentally triggered a bomb.

"How dare you?!..." came the response that made the disguised dragon flinch. _Whoops... probably took it too far, well only one way to go now..._

"I'm right, aren't I? My advice? Give Ruby a chance, adapt to her and she'll adapt to you. I'm sure you'll find her more than capable as both a leader and a friend." Alexandrite finished, bracing himself for another outburst that never came. The heiress simmered down, looking genuinely thoughtful. Seizing the opportunity he pressed further.

"How old do you think I am?" he asked the heiress with a raised eyebrow.

"18? 19? I don't know…" Weiss tried guessing.

"I'm sixteen Weiss, I started training when I was fifteen, same as Ruby, age doesn't define your skill, paper qualifications don't determine how you perform in the real world. Only actions can prove it, so give Ruby a chance to prove herself." Alex reiterated finally sealing the deal.

"Fine…. I'll…I'll give her a shot." She relented after a bit. Alex mentally patted himself on the back, he was getting really good at this diplomacy thing.

Smiling to himself Alexandrite took his leave, "Good night Ice princess."

"Don't call me that!" she yelled back as he disappeared into the darkness. "Odd guy… he's so mysterious I can't read him." She muttered to herself.

The students were filed into a rather gray and near monochrome room. A single round metal arena stood in the center. The students gathered around while Professor Goodwitch stood atop, giving the introduction of her class.

* * *

During combat class the next day, Alex observed a sudden change in the relationship between Weiss and her team. Granted she still seemed the usual bitchy self but, there were subtle differences, like her actively making attempts to encourage her teammates and support Ruby who looked several hundred times better than the last time he saw her.

The class was located in the school's arena, apparently, students would spar, train or settle disputes here often, usually under the guidance of an instructor... usually... The school could only account for so many of the burn marks, scratches and dents in their grey steel arena, that oddly posed a Roman Colosseum style of the stage to seating arrangements.

"As most of you know already, I am Professor Goodwitch, I will be in charge of your combat training for the next year. Your aura levels will be monitored throughout the course of the sessions and by tournament standard, once your opponent's aura drops into the red you are declared the winner." She said, her riding crop resting against her left thigh as she folded her arms.

"Do I make myself clear?" She reiterated, glaring daggers at the student body. A resounding yes ma'am was heard. "Good, the first match will be…" She took a moment to glance at her student roster, "Blake Belladonna and Nitro Zephyr, combatants, please step forward and prepare yourselves."

"WOOH GO BLAKE! Show 'em what team RWBY's made of!" Ruby yelled to Blake as she entered on the stage. The black-haired girl was seemingly unaffected by her teammates' cheers, but that's just how she chose to portray herself.

"Come on Nitro, show her that team ASHN aint slouches!" Alex yelled out, which seemed rather out of character for the normally silent and serious leader, at least to everyone except Ruby and his team.

Alex just coughed into his fist when he realized the attention, "Ahem… I mean, fight well." He said recomposing himself. Team RWBY and JNPR felt a sweat drop.

Nitro flexed his arms outward shaking them, his chrome bracelets, Atomizer, locking around his wrists. Blake readied Gambol Shroud and stared down her opponent.

"Don't tell me you plan on going easy on me because I'm a girl," Blake taunted seeing him still warming up.

"No worries, I'm a firm believer of gender equality, just ask Hex, I think I've sucker-punched her at least four times in the last month." Nitro snickered, as an angry Hex was restrained in the stands by her leader whilst mouthing off a string of profanities that would get her arrested in some countries.

"Alright students, on my mark….. BEGIN!" Glynda initiated the fight.

Nitro's bracelets expanded and grew into gauntlets that covered his entire arm, they were entirely chrome with glowing blue electric veins running along it. What looked like a side fin popped out of the sides of each arm.

"Fancy weapon you have there... what're those fins for?" Blake asked eyeing her opponent.

Nitro smirked, "Allow me to demonstrate," and with that, he vanished in the blink of an eye.

Blake was caught off guard, her eyes scanned her surroundings but met with nothing, it wasn't until she was blindsided by a steel fist crashing into her side that she realized where he was. If not for her heightened senses, she would not have been able to pull up her guard in time, the force of the impact sent her barreling across the arena.

Nitro relaxed his stance and hopped up and down on each leg, like a boxer. "Come on Blake, was that too fast for you?". The black-haired girl got back up and dusted herself off, that one blow had already dropped her aura into the yellow.

"WHAT WAS THAT?! He disappeared!" Weiss yelled out.

"Boooo! Cheap shot! Illegal move! Where's the ref?" Yang started saying throwing up her hands in the air comically.

"There are no illegal moves other than disobeying my instructions Ms. Xiao Long," Glynda said harshly causing the blonde to seat herself.

"That's Nitro's weapon, Atomizer. The fins on his forearms act as jet thrusters, they can provide short to lengthy, and small to powerful bursts that can propel him forward and add force to his punches." Alex said folding his arms smugly.

"I've seen what small jet engines can do, there's no way it's powerful enough to make him faster than I can blink." Weiss pointed out, her face contorting in confusion, trying to recall her observances of Atlas tech.

"Right you are ice princess. While the thrusters are strong, what really gives him the edge is his semblance. I'm surprised he's using it, he must not want to pull any punches, then again holding back would go against his discipline as a warrior." Alex rubbed his masked chin.

"What the hell is his semblance? Speed? Like Ruby?" Weiss asked again, her academic mind working a mile a minute.

"I don't know if you caught it, but I saw his movements pretty well when he lifted off his feet looked as though they glided right off the ground… Like it was still touching the floor but he didn't use any leg force to move himself…" Ruby said now seriously concentrating on the match.

Team JNPR who sat behind them looked even more confused now, well Ren wasn't exactly paying attention while Pyrrha's mind was solving the equation in her mind.

"No force…. Gliding… IT'S FRICTION! His semblance is friction!" Pyrrha exclaimed proudly.

Alex smiled, "Well done, Pyrrha, his semblance allows him to control the friction factor of anything he touches, including the ground beneath his feed. By reducing the friction of his legs to the surface, using minimal leg force and the jet thrusters, he is able to hit inhuman speeds."

"But that's impossible! To be able to fight by simultaneously manipulating your semblance and weapon to such a degree... a single mistake could mess up everything! You would have to have the mental fortitude of a god!" the white-haired girl gawked.

Hex laughed, "Weiss, my bro might not be the smartest person in the world, but he is the most attentive, he can observe and control to a degree that would put machines to shame."

"Indeed, he seems to be quite the fighter." Pyrrha acknowledged.

The fight between the two didn't last much longer. Blake used her semblance multiple times to try and time Nitro's attacks, she would catch him out by using her shadows to draw his attention while she struck from behind. Unfortunately for her, Nitro's reaction speed and battle sense were far superior to hers, and she lost by a landslide.

"Don't feel bad Blake. This was just a sparring match and you put up and incredible fight. You forced me to try my hardest and that's something to be proud off," Nitro said extending his arm to Blake for a handshake. While she didn't like being talked down to, it felt like he was trying to be genuinely sportsman-like rather than arrogant and rude.

Blake did something rather out of character and smiled. She shook his hand, "It was a good fight, I look forward to our next."

"Yes yes, sportsmanship is good but we must move on to the next battle. Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc, you're up next." Glynda said pushing up her glasses.

The two leaders stepped up to the arena and faced off, Cardin, holding an extremely smug look on his face as Jaune gulped. The fight didn't last very long, Jaune's lack of physical strength and technique was evident from the very beginning.

Jaune held up his shield to block as the massive mace of Winchester came smacking into it knocking the blonde boy over. Jaune lay sprawled on the floor as Cardin reared his mace above his head ready to smash it over the disarmed blonde when Professor Goodwitch stopped the fight.

"And this concludes the duel. Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red, under tournament standards he would now be ineligible to fight. Remember the level of your aura will help you decide whether it is good to attack or move to a more defensive strategy," she finished giving Jaune a scrutinizing gaze.

Jaune sat dejectedly on the floor staring at his blinking red aura meter, sighing to himself at the crushing defeat.

Alex gritted his teeth as he watched Jaune barely limp away. Cardin spared no expense in attacking the boy and he felt as though he was trying to kill Jaune. Cardin's overall disregard for common courtesy and sportsmanship made his skin crawl. People like that don't belong as huntsmen, they belong in jail.

"For our final match for today, since we are pressed for time, will be voluntary, any students wish to come up here? You have thirty seconds to answer before I dismiss you all." Glynda pushed up her glasses as she looked over the student body seeking her volunteer. Nova was about to shoot up his hand when Hex held him back, with a shake of her head.

Instead, Hex's hand shot up, "I would like to Professor!".

"Ah Ms. Zephyr, who would like to face off against her?" Glynda scanned the room again before Hex spoke up.

"Actually Professor, I'd like to fight Cardin!" Hex said, a smug look on her features.

Goodwitch turned to Cardin, "Mr. Winchester, do you accept her challenge?".

The large boy flexed his muscles and raised his mace, "Sure why not…" he said with a sinister smirk.

Hex just rolled her eyes at his feeble attempt at intimidation. She walked up the arena and drew her short sword, Eres and her hooked blade, Loki. The Eres was a gold and purple sword that had a subtle curvature to the golden blade, the hilt and back of the blade were purple, snakes encircled the guard which resembled an apple. Loki was a golden and purple sword with a straight vertical edge up until three-quarters up, where it bent forward at a ninety-degree angle to form a hook. What was the most interesting part about the two weapons was that each had a long chain connecting the two, and unusually long handles.

"You know... you're not that bad to look at...how 'bout you ditch that wimpy lookin leader you have there and hang out with me. I could show you what a real man is like." Cardin said as she got into his battle stance, his words were like that of a stereotypical asshole, it made Hex wonder if he even was a real person given that generic line.

"Sorry gorilla, but I don't swing that way. Besides, with that attitude, and that face? I doubt even beowolves find you attractive." Hex smiled. This comment earned a snicker of laughter from the front row students who heard.

Cardin's face went red with rage, "I think I take back what I said earlier... you're just a bitch!", he yelled as he charged at her with what he thought was good speed.

Hex just laughed and stood stock still, "You think? That's rich!" her taunts accompanied by her roaring laughter seemed to fuel the large boy's speed.

"HEX WATCH OUT!" Yang yelled as she looked on nervously. Hex still made no attempt to move, and just stood there laughing as Cardin's mace came crashing into… nothing?

His mace went right through her like she was thin air.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Cardin spun around to see Hex behind him, Eres hanging loosely from its chain. Before Cardin could react, Hex spun the short sword with the chain and threw it at Cardin with a blinding speed.

The boy made a last-ditch effort to block but the chain that he expected to collide with the mace, instead, wrapped itself around his weapon completely disarming him when Hex pulled on the chain. Eres came to rest back in her left hand.

"What're you gonna do without this now huh?" She said dropping Cardin's mace on the floor.

Cardin roared and made a mad dash to his weapon but Hex hopped in the air over his head and threw Loki, using both Cardin and the weapon's momentum she wrapped the chain around his torso and held him back. Just out of arm's reach of his weapon.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, so impatient. Kids who are naughty get the shock treatment." She smiled sadistically as an electric charge shot out of her blade handle along the chain, roasting Cardin. Yang was thoroughly impressed, the purple-haired girl before her was displaying combat of sheer elegance and complete manipulation. Hex was purposely trying to humiliate him and very much succeeded.

His aura instantly depleted into the yellow, just above red. Glynda would have called match but in the few seconds between Cardin trying to recover from the stun, Hex leaped into the air and connected the handles of Loki and Eres, forming a double-bladed glaive and came striking down onto Cardin. She adjusted the impact of her strike so it didn't impale him but rather slammed the handle onto his head knocking him out.

"And for the record, My leader is infinitely better than you. If you couldn't beat me then you won't even be able to beat his sister." Hex huffed and walked off.

"…. That's match. Well done Ms. Zephyr, it seems Mr. Winchester went unconscious from shock and will be escorted to the infirmary." Glynda pushed up her glasses.

"Students don't forget the Vytaal festival will be coming up soon, and students from the other kingdoms will be attending. Those who choose to participate in the fighting tournament will be representing all of Vale."

"THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Yang said jumping forward and high fiving Hex.

"What was that thing you did when Cardin attacked you and he hit nothing?" Nora asked genuinely curious.

"Ah that was my invention, Portable Holographic Projector or PHP for short." She said holding out a tiny cube in her hand the size of a matchbox. "I mainly use these to fool my opponents."

"Impressive moves, I think you damaged his pride, that's earned you some serious respect from me," Yang smiled and patted her on the back.

"T-Thanks…" Hex said a little blush rising, it was like receiving a compliment from a fellow alpha, a sense of pride that was overflowing.

"And Nitro, you were so fast, like wooosh and wapow! I wanna race you some time, who's faster, your weapon or my semblance." Ruby smiled happily.

"Sure thing kiddo, one day," Nitro laughed as he folded his arms.

* * *

**AANNDD that's chapter 3. A great deal bigger than it was originally. I do apologize if any of the original RWBY cast seemed OOC but I write their interactions based on how I see them act in my head. If you're wondering when the actual plot is going to kick in, just be patient, Rome wasn't built in a day.**


	4. Chapter 4: Blonde and Stubborn

**Chapter 4: The Wimpy, The Irritating and The Clumsy**

* * *

**-Beacon Academy Dining Hall-**

"There we were in the middle of the night…" Nora said in a suspenseful voice.

"It was day," Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursai," she continued.

"They were Beowolves," Ren corrected again in a bored tone.

"Dozens of them!"

"There were two of them."

"In the end, they were no match and Ren and I made a fortune selling Ursa skin pelts." She finished

Ren heaved a sigh, "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren explained to team RWBY and ASHN who were eating around two tables put together. ASHN sat next to RWBY and opposite to JNPR, the myriad of trays lined across the table, apparently, Nitro and Yang were now pigging out in a contest of stomach endurance while the rest of the friends carried on as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Jaune was spacing out playing with his food, Pyrrh was quite concerned and most of the members of RWBY were to. It was justified considering what happened earlier.

"Jaune are you okay?" Pyrrha asked the spaced-out blonde.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine, why?" he said halfheartedly trying to put on a cheery facade... to no avail. Everyone around their table could clearly tell something was _eating_ away at the JNPR leader.

"Well it seems, you're not…" Ruby voiced, mimicking the concerns running through everyone's mind.

"I'd have to agree with red, what's up my guy?" Nitro said with a half mouthful of cheeseburger. Jaune's mood had created an unspoken halt to his competition with Yang and the two settled for a silent ceasefire.

"Guys I'm fine, seriously look!" he smiled and faked a laugh that sounded more painful than a dying puppy. His ears honed into the sound of obnoxious laughter, the owner of it being one Cardin Winchester. Everyone saw this and eyed each other suspiciously.

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first day of school," Pyrrha brought attention to the elephant in the room, with no hesitation.

"Who? Winchester? He makes fun of everyone, practical jokes." He said trying to dodge the topic and failing miserably.

"He's a bully," Ruby stated flatly.

"And a dick." Hex input scooping some spaghetti into her mouth, everyone just looked at her with quirked eyebrows she just shot back, "What? Someone had to say it."

"Oh come on guys name one time he's 'bullied' me," Jaune said using air quotes.

Weiss looked at him with slitted eyes.

"The time he pushed over your books?" Nora piped.

"Or the time he opened your shield as you walked through that door," Ren said, "It took a lot of effort just to un-wedge it..."

"Or on the first day of school when he stuffed you in the rocket locker and launched you." Ruby input with her finger pointing skyward for emphasis.

'Wait that was Jaune in there? I heard screaming on my way to Beacon, I look up and a locker is flying past in the sky. I thought I was crazy." Alexandrite said incredulously.

"Oh, come on I didn't land that far from the school…" Jaune still trying to waive the subject.

"Jaune if you don't do something about it, I will…" Pyrrha threatened darkly.

Jaune shrugged her off, "It's no big deal." With that, he stormed off leaving the group bewildered.

"He's clearly being bullied and he is most definitely aware of it. I guess he just wants to handle things himself. I can't deny a guy his pride I guess." Alexandrite shrugged.

Bullies were an enigmatic case for Alex, he couldn't figure out how their brains worked or why they did what they did, the reason being they would never give you a proper answer. He assumed it was because they had fragile self-esteem and were harassing others just to feel better about themselves. Some people had family issues and catered a mindset as to how they should act publicly. Some were just plain assholes.

Pyrrha sulked feeling she overstepped her bounds. Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder, "Relax Pyrrha, you can't protect him forever. He needs to grow." Their moment was interrupted by even more of the obnoxious voice polluting their ears.

"HA! I Told you they were real, " Cardin's voice could be heard accompanied by the laughter of his team. Alexandrite instantly turned around hearing a feminine voice go "OW! That hurts! Let go of me!".

Cardin just laughed and pulled harder, "Freak."

He spotted a Faunus girl with rabbit ears, they were being pulled rather harshly, by Cardin while his team laughed and jeered. Bullying was one thing but laying hands on another out of racist prejudice was another...Alexandrite's fury had gone from negligible irritation to unbridled rage, instantly he got up from the table and was about to march over there when a hand was placed on his. Turning back, he saw Sapphire holding his sleeve, nodding as if to say, _Don't blow your cover but Kick. His. Ass._

"I've had it up to here with this miserable..." He pulled away from her and marched up to the bully, "... half-baked..." he muttered growing closer, "...PISS POOR EXCUSE FOR A PERSON! Hey Winchester, you gonna leave her alone?" he said darkly, fury building up inside him.

Cardin turned his head to Alexandrite, "Huh? And who're you? Some kinda Faunus freak sympathizer?", upon realizing who he was talking to he just laughed harder, "Oh! This is great! The masked freak is here to defend the animal freak!"

"Sympathizer? Didn't think someone like you was capable of using any words longer than two syllables." Alexandrite taunted, earning a round of laughter from the group of friends at the table.

Cardin's anger flared, "Say that again... I don't think I heard you right!"

"Of course you didn't hear me, I mean I'm surprised you hear anything with your head stuck so far up your own ass!" Alex roared, the air around them heating up and Cardin could feel himself sweat, both out of slight fear and also heat.

"Faunus are people just like everyone else, they don't deserve to be treated any differently." Alexandrite seethed, the intensity of his eyes almost shutting up Cardin causing him to almost lose his nerve, but Winchester recovered.

"PFFT AHAHA! Right next you're gonna tell me Beowolves can fly!" he laughed hard. "The only thing these freaks are good for is providing our entertainment."

Alex felt the vein in his forehead throb, if this wasn't a school, Winchester would be six feet under... alive..."I don't know about Beowolves…but if you don't let go of her, I'll send my fist _flying_ into your face." Alexandrite walked up, sizing to him. Cardin let go of the girl who backed off quietly.

_Come on Nova don't lose control, if you explode now that's it, it's over._ Sapphire looked on worriedly at her older brother. She was glad he was sticking it to that lump of pig manure but if it blew their disguises then it'd be done for them, how were they to explain how the entire room and a few students spontaneously combusted?

"Huh? Tough words from someone afraid of showing his face." Cardin stood up to face Alexandrite, he stood a little taller than the masked boy. Cardin shoved him back.

Alexandrite was about to knock him into the next city but he was stopped when a female voice came through the noise, "Mr. Lucius, Mr. Winchester, I would expect you to be civilized in a public environment, especially a school." Professor Goodwitch said arriving onto the scene with a glare that would turn Medusa to stone.

Cardin backed off snarling, "You're not worth my time," he spat and attempted walked off.

"Hold it, Mr. Winchester," Goodwitch said raising her riding crop forcing the boy to stay still. "I'll have a word with you later." She said darkly.

"Mr. Lucius please refrain from such behavior in the future," With that, she walked off manhandling Cardin.

Alexandrite relaxed and turned to find the girl with rabbit ears standing close by, she was nervously fidgeting as if unsure whether to run or stay and thank the person that just helped her.

"Are you alright? That guy is a dick." He smiled through his eyes, his voice soothing and calm trying to make her feel at ease.

The girl smiled back nervously, "Ah thanks for that, what you said back there was really nice." She blushed slightly; her voice was thick with an accent he couldn't discern.

"You shouldn't thank me, guys like him don't deserve the time of day. You're a huntress in training, next time he pulls something don't be afraid to feed him a knuckle sandwich or two." fist-pumped the air for emphasis.

"My leader tells me that all the time it's just…" she pointed to her ears. Alex nodded, "I understand that you feel you might just bring on more discrimination by acting out but, from the way I see it, at least words are easier to deal with than physical bullying."

Velvet pondered for a moment then shot him a smile that could give a dentist a cavity, "I'll take your words to heart, My name's Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina and...thank you again…" she trailed off looking for a name.

"Oh right... Alexandrite, you can call me Alex. And ah, it's no problem, take care of yourself," he said before leaving her to walk to his team. She stopped him with an outstretched hand. He gave her a raised eyebrow. "C-Call me some time?" She asked hopefully as she gave him her contact info. Alex was quite taken aback by the shy girl's sudden boldness, "Umm… sure?" he offered an awkward smile, he had no idea how to react to this situation. The moment shared between the two was not missed by his friends, they all looked on in quiet amusement, except Ruby who was biting onto her hood and grinding down.

Ruby had been watching the interaction with a hint of annoyance a slight scowl on her features. Yang noticed this and smiled smugly, her sister was not the best at hiding emotion "Ooh someone is jealous~" she sang.

Ruby turned red, "AH! No, it's just you know… Cardin, yeah he was pissing me off." She tried to cover up.

"Mhm~ Don't worry little sis, I won't tell." Yang laughed at her sister's expense.

Pyrrha was watching Alexandrite's interaction with Cardin closely, just before he got up, she felt an intense level of murderous aura coming from him, she was sure he would have killed Cardin on the spot given the chance. Noble as his actions were, that level of fury wasn't good, his... emotions were explosive, one could only assume his calm and collected persona was a facade, she had to wonder what other lies he was telling.

"You guys put a lot of faith into your leader," Weiss noted disdainfully glancing at her own, who had gone from seething jealousy to currently trying to stack french-fries into a tower of processed potato... and succeeding.

"Faith is putting it mildly; I've seen him single-handedly tangle with a Nevermore on three days of no sleep. He's strong and dependable and his instincts are never wrong. We would lay down our lives for him if he told us." Nitro said confidently, not a hint of hesitation in his voice. Hex was a little proud of him.

"Come on bro, you sound like you're still crushing on him," Hex smirked, sending suggestive glances at her brother.

Nitro blushed hard, "Seriously? You're gonna tell that to everyone? And no, it is purely respect and admiration." Nitro huffed.

"Wait, Nitro's into guys? Can I get him together with Ren?" Nora said drooling over the mental image.

Nitro glanced over at Ren who until this moment was clueless of the conversation. Their gazes met and Ren just looked bewildered, like a deer in headlights while Nitro blushed before averting his gaze, "He's… not my type."

"Sooo…. Hex what's your deal? What's your story?" Yang turned to the purplette, from day one this girl had interested her, she commanded a level of authority similar to her own, they were both older sister types and furious fighters, she'd been looking for an excuse to just deepen their friendship, foreseeing a future of besties.

"Not much to say grew up in a back-end town in the slums, worked for a drug cartel as their mechanic for a few years before a huntsman picked me up and helped me into Haven." She said nonchalantly as if it was no big deal.

"I'm sorry to hear that…." Weiss started but Hex just held up her hand, "It's cool, it's in the past," she said.

Yang felt her respect for the girl rising. To survive out there alone she must know how to hold her own, something that made her feel, interested.

"Nitro, you know roughly our deal... are you and Hex like step-siblings?" Ruby asked the red-haired boy.

He just shrugged, "Not exactly but yeah, Hex's 'family' at the time, the mob, they picked me up a bit later on when we were like twelve. I was hired help and she was my mechanic. The real kicker is that I was sent as an undercover agent by my family, we were helping the local sheriff's department and they needed someone on the inside. I just happened to fit the bill. When I met Hex and we broke out of that place, my family took her in and we became adopted siblings." Nitro reclined on his chair.

"That explains why you two don't look alike..." Nora said wistfully. Hex just snorted, "Please, I'm a hundred times better looking than this doofus, I'm glad we don't look alike."

"Hey!" The red-head in question yelled in protest before getting up and flicking Hex in the forehead to which she just shoved him back into his seat playfully.

"That's so nice of them," Ruby said with happy eyes. "Yeah, not many people are willing to go that far for someone they barely knew," Blake input.

"Yeah well, it kinda helped that she saved my life in that escapade." Nitro rubbed the back of his head.

"Really?! Damn you guys must have seen some shit then?" Yang said intrigued by the potential story.

"Yeah, we have…. It's a lot to tell and we're not really comfortable with it yet…" Hex said shooting her down.

* * *

Alexandrite was reviewing some of the notes from today's earlier lecture with Professor Oobleck.

His first impressions of the man were: deranged, caffeinated and in need to a chill pill. The green-haired, bespectacled man was clearly a genius but definitely needed sleep. The class did go on without any incidents minus Jaune completely botching one of the easiest questions in history. _I mean who doesn't know the Faunus' night vision capabilities were the turning point in the third year of the war._

That being said he did feel a little bad for Jaune, getting roped into after class detention due to Cardin.

Winchester angered Alexandrite to no end, whether it was the hatred for Faunus or the genuine jerky attitude, Alexandrite wanted nothing more than to take off his own mask and blow some fire in his face, see how that turns out for Cardin. One would assume that, after being humiliated twice, the bully would back off but nope, the man was determined to be a villain if nothing else.

Breathing deeply, he left his room for a walk, no sense getting worked up over a person who wasn't even there. Finding himself on the roof, he was about to stroll around when he heard Jaune's voice.

"I didn't really make it into Beacon," Jaune said. Alexandrite ducked behind a large ventilation pipe listening in. "What do you mean?" a feminine voice said, Pyrrha from the sound though he could not see her.

"I…I didn't earn my spot in this academy, I…I lied, I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied…" Jaune said his head hung low.

"What?" came Pyrrha. "I…wanted to be a hero, my family, my parents were all warriors, heroes. I wanted to be just like them. This was everything I always wanted but I was never good enough so I lied to get in here." He said preparing himself for immediate rejection and scorn.

Except there wasn't any, "Jaune, let me help you, I can train you…" Pyrrha reached out her voice soft and caring. This surprised the golden-haired boy, but he pushed away her hand, "I don't want to be some damsel in distress, I want to be the hero." He said angrily.

Pyrrha looked hurt, "Jaune, everyone needs help from time to time…".

"NO!" he said a little too harshly, "just leave me alone…"

Pyrrha felt tears forming in her eyes, "If that's what you want." she walked off, slowly and with little vigour, such was the extent of her emotion.

_So that's why he sucks at combat and doesn't know basic history... well we aren't exactly any better than him, we got in on fake transcripts to, though our credits weren't fraud, just our personal information. If Ozpin picked up on ours then he surely picked up on Jaune's, the headmaster must have chosen not to act on it._

As Alexandrite was about to leave his hearing picked up the subtle shift of feet, a smell permeated his nostrils, one of sweat and bad attitudes, which he detested. Whipping his head around he saw Cardin step out from another hiding spot, climbing onto the roof from the fire escape, and approached Jaune. "I couldn't help but overhear you from my dorm," he waltzed onto the roof.

"Cardin?! Please don't tell anyone!" Jaune said panicked, realizing he was caught.

"Oh, come on…I wouldn't rat out a _friend_ like that," Cardin said a hint of ulterior motives in his voice.

"Friend…?" Jaune was hesitant.

"Yeah friends, we're friends now Jauney boy, and as long as you're there when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time. That being said, I don't have time to do those extra readings Oobleck gave us today, mind taking care of that for me? That's what I thought." Cardin said slowly climbing down from the roof, leaving Jaune on the floor.

_This isn't good. If Cardin has control of Jaune like that who knows what he'll do, it's not really my business but I hate bullies, I'll keep quiet for now, coming out to Jaune might cause more harm than good._ Alexandrite quietly left the rooftop.

* * *

On his way down he met a sulking Pyrrha who happened to stop by on a bench just outside the dorms, her head in her hands.

Approaching carefully, he greeted her, "Pyrrha, you okay?" he asked trying not to raise awareness that he had witnessed their interaction earlier.

She sniffed slightly, wiping her eyes she looked up, seeing Alexandrite she seemed to tense. "Oh hey, I'm fine why do you ask?" she was trying to pretend it was fine.

"Just that you seem pretty depressed, you good? Did something happen with Jaune?" he asked careful not to hint anything, this felt like deja vu to him, didn't he end up in a similar position with Weiss earlier this week?

She froze up a bit, she didn't fully trust him, and his level of observance was terrifying, and the fact that he was a liar didn't help. "You saw that on the roof huh," she said testing her waters.

Alexandrite relented, "Good guess, yeah I did, don't worry I won't tell anyone about Jaune. Listen Pyrrha, I might not be the best person to give advice on this but, you need to let him sort himself out, if you pressure him or try to force the help onto him it's just going to get worse. He's going to have to learn to deal with this himself, if he wants help, he needs to come to you."

Pyrrha nodded, though she felt slightly apprehensive about sharing, the fact that her guess was right, and she couldn't detect his aura on the roof was quite alarming. "Yeah, it's just that, I'm so worried about him…" she trailed off.

"You care a lot for him don't you," he said folding his arms.

Instantly she turned the color of her hair, "How did you…"

"Pyrrha anyone with decent eyes and a brain could tell the way you feel about him. You two keep dancing around each other." He said a little smugly, though most of his intuition was from his dragon sense of being keen to emotion.

"Oh yeah, what about you and Ruby hm? You're always staring at her when she isn't looking. Who's dancing around who?" she retorted.

Alexandrite began sputtering, "T-That's beside the point…. Just give Jaune some space and he'll bounce back I'm sure." He said giving her a thumbs up, though leaving out the fact that Jaune may be in trouble. He couldn't tell her, that would just complicate things for Jaune.

"Thanks for the pep talk, good night!" she smiled and got up to go inside leaving Alexandrite to stand in the moonlight. He heaved a sigh; _it's going to be a looong week._

* * *

The next few days team ASHN, RWBY, and JNPR saw less and less of Jaune. He comes home late, disappears for the entire day and began hanging out with Cardin, at the expense of his team.

"Since when did Jaune start hanging out with Winchester? I thought they hated each other or something." Nitro said as he and the rest of team ASHN were chilling in their dorm.

"It's not up to Jaune right now… Give him some time," Nova said while reading a book, it was quite an interesting one he borrowed from Blake, one about two souls fighting for control of one body.

"What's that supposed to mean," Hex said turning around in her chair that was at the desk where she was working on her laptop.

"Just wait and see," he returned letting the book fall covering his face.

"Ever so mysterious, our leader is a strange one. We should probably get some rest we got that field trip to Forever Fall tomorrow," Luna joked from the top bunk. In reality, Nova was listening carefully, while his team couldn't hear it, his ultra-sensitive ears picked up on two voices just outside their dorm room.

Picking himself up and becoming Alexandrite, he walked out to investigate, his team just glancing at each other confused, "I think someone's outside," Luna said.

Jaune stood outside his dorm room which was just down the hall from team ASHN and RWBY. Hesitating to go inside, he sulked.

"Hey Jaune, long time no see," Ruby said approaching from behind. "Did you lock yourself out again?" she asked curiously.

"Ah no, got it right here!" he pulled out his scroll and rubbed the back of his head.

"So uh, where you been?" Ruby asked. She was wearing light pink pajama pants with polka dots and a black shirt with a cat face on it, the outfit was oddly fitting if Alex had to say.

Jaune wanted to answer but he held back, after scratching his head and groaning for a minute he answered, "Ugh I screwed up. I did something I shouldn't have and now Cardin has me on a leash and Pyrrha won't even talk to me. I'm starting to think coming to Beacon was a bad idea…" he sulked.

Ruby just raised an eyebrow. "Ugh, I feel like a failure," Jaune said dropping to the floor his head between his knees.

"Nope!" Ruby piped.

"Huh?" Jaune turned his head to her.

"Nope!" Ruby repeated joining him.

"Nope that I'm a failure or…" Jaune continued but Ruby just repeated, "Nope!"

"You know you're not the easiest person to talk to about this." He said.

"Nope!" she just said again. "Jaune you can't be a failure. You're a leader now Jaune you can't afford to be a failure." She said.

"But what if I'm a failure at being a leader." Jaune countered.

"Is that what you think?" Alexandrite chose then to come into the conversation.

"Alex! Oh hey, how long have you…" Jaune said leaving the sentence hanging.

"Long enough, listen, dude, I know what it feels like to feel like a failure of a leader." Alexandrite sighed, sitting with Jaune, Ruby still standing next to him.

She was quite surprised to see him out of his room, usually team ASHN never leaves their room unless it's for class. Looking down she realized she was in her pajamas, feeling a bit more self-conscious now that Alexandrite was here.

"You? You seem like, the ultimate leader, calm and collected, fearless, the way you stood up to Cardin was amazing. I would kill to be like you." Jaune quipped.

Alexandrite sighed once more. "Jaune, no great leader starts off that way. There will be a lot of failures, and you'll never feel like you're good enough, but that's just how it is. Give yourself time, no matter how long it takes, Ozpin chose you as a team leader for a reason." He leaned back against the wall. Alex toyed with the idea of telling Jaune that Ozpin most likely already knew Jaune faked his transcripts and that he was probably fine since no action was taken against him but, playing out the situation, Jaune would probably still freak out.

Alexandrite didn't know why he was bothering to involve himself even though he swore not to. Jaune simply reminded him of himself during his early years, plus it didn't help that Jaune was cute... in a hopeless dorky way... if he wasn't so confused about Ruby or that Pyrrha was already after Jaune, he might've been the object of his interests.

"It's not just you anymore Jaune, you have a team now, we both do. You can't afford to fail because if you fail, you're bringing them down with you." Ruby said.

Alex couldn't help but stare at her, suddenly realizing she was wearing her pajamas, seeing her outside her usual outfit or school uniform had him slightly flustered.

"You gotta think of your team first and yourself second. Your team deserves a great leader Jaune, and I think that can be you." Ruby said getting up and going into her dorm, just before she went in she turned back to Alexandrite shooting him a look like _Thanks for helping him._ She smiled at Alexandrite and waved.

The boy in question returned the sentiment with a slight blush, Jaune watched the interaction wishing he had someone that did the same for him.

Alexandrite couldn't help but think, at that moment that Ruby was a lot more mature than she let on, that past her child-like innocence there was a level of maturity that was just enough to help her carry out her role as a leader. Managing to hang on to herself while fitting the role of a team leader was admirable.

"Anyway Jaune, you got a lot going on for you here, whether it was an accident, a fluke or a lie. Your place is here now and you have no room for quitting. Man up, or your team will take the fall with you." Alexandrite patted Jaune on his shoulder before getting up to go back to his room.

Jaune was at a loss for a moment, sitting there in silence, just before Alexandrite could go into his room Jaune called out.

"Alexandrite wait!" he said from across the hall.

Alex turned around tilting his head.

"Thanks!" he smiled brightly.

Alexandrite couldn't help but blush a little, from embarrassment and the cute smile that Jaune shot him. "A-Ah yeah no problem."

* * *

The next morning the teams assembled at Forever Fall Forest. The trees as far as the eye could see were a beautiful shade of autumn red. The falling leaves coated the forest floor in a blanket of crimson, combined with the gorgeous clear skies and flowing wind, it made for a peaceful and eye-catching setting. Alexandrite couldn't have felt more alive, red was his favorite colour, and seeing so much of it around him had him giddy. Of course, the main red he wanted to see was strolling cheerily in front of him.

Ruby strolled alongside Professor Goodwitch as she gave them a rundown of what they were doing on this field trip.

"It's breathtaking…" Hex said in awe, being from Mistral, none of them had ever seen the forest before.

"Yes, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has instructed all of you to gather samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Goodwitch started walking ahead of the group.

"Each of you is required to gather one jar of red sap. This forest is filled with the creatures of Grimm so make sure you stay with your team. We will rendezvous back here at four o' clock." She instructed.

The teams dispersed, all except for Jaune who followed with Cardin unwillingly, being forced to carry an unscrupulous amount of jars.

Team ASHN dispersed into the forest following after RWBY, each team taking a side of the forest separated by a clearing.

While waiting for the sap to collect Alexandrite sat on the forest floor, closing his eyes and listening to the silent rustling of leaves in the wind. The fresh air and peaceful environment were somethings he never truly had a chance to enjoy.

_It's been a few months since I left Mistral, and I don't regret the decision one bit. _He thought to himself.

If he hadn't left, he would probably be strung up in some White Fang prison being tortured or worse. His sister would be suffering the same fate and his friends would be dead. He could have chosen to hide himself in Mistral under a different guise but both he and his team decided it best to simply leave altogether.

Asura propped up against his shoulder as he leaned against the tree trunk, humming nothing in particular. His peace was rudely interrupted by a sharp kick to his side.

"OW! Who the…" he opened his eyes to see Nitro looking down at him.

"Oh, it's you what do you want?" he groaned.

Nitro tilted his head as if to point toward a direction, "Dude, this is your chance."

Alexandrite raised an eyebrow, "Chance to what?".

"Duhh, a chance to talk to Ruby, come on I know you've been dying to hang with her but you haven't had a real excuse so go," he pointed to Ruby who was sitting alone under a tree gathering sap. Yang and the rest were nowhere to be seen.

"Dude, I do not have a crush on her would you chill out?" Alexandrite said trying to skirt his emotions.

"Mhm, I'm not the one who said it~ just go talk to the girl," Nitro pulled Alexandrite up forcefully and shoved him toward Ruby.

It was a direct open field in the forest, a clearing where no trees grew. Forming a sort of open circle, Ruby sat at the outer rim filling up a few jars of Sap, quite oblivious to the world.

Alexandrite swallowed a lump that was forming in his throat and walked up to her.

"Yo, Ruby," He waved. _Good start, good start._

She turned her head around looking for the source of the noise, "OH hey Alexandrite what's up? You done collecting samples yet?" she asked gesturing to his semi-empty jar, he had grabbed it mid collection out of impulse.

"OH uh, tree um..ran out of sap?" he lied awkwardly.

She smiled, "Right, you totally didn't spill any," she speculated.

"It hurts to know that even you are aware of my clumsiness." He stated in mock pain.

She laughed, "You literally bump into every desk on the way into the classrooms and then spend three minutes looking for your notebook. I'd say your clumsiness is earned."

"Yeah well, it's not like you're any better, Ms. I can dance around a pack of beowolves but can't get out of the lecture room desks without tripping." He retorted.

"Hey that was one time!" she half yelled, the two just burst out in a fit of laughter before a comfortable silence fell over them.

"Alex… I've been curious," she started turning to him.

Alexandrite raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Umm I don't know if this is touchy so you don't have to answer but…what's up with your eyes?" Ruby asked gesturing to her own two eyes.

At first, Alexandrite was a little confused but then he realized what she meant, why he had two different coloured eyes.

"Well my natural eye colour is red, but this one," he tapped his left eye which was black, " This, I lost it in a Grimm attack when I was fifteen, I'm not sure what type of Grimm it was exactly, it happened really fast. It looked like a dark shadow, shrouded in mist, really long claws like a rake and it was wispy but could grow legs if it needed. Peeps back at Mistral called it the Phantom, rare Grimm that lurks the deep wilderness. Supposed to be a legend but I guess I'm living proof it exists. Anyway, Hex made this eye for me, it's not real, I can't see out of it, we wanted a red one but we couldn't find the right colour." He said popping the eye out of its socket.

Ruby just gazed in awe at the deep scarred tissue, though healed by now, still looked slightly raw and tender. "Sorry if it's kinda gross…" Alexandrite said sheepishly.

Ruby placed her hand on his arm, "It's not, I think battle scars should be worn with pride." She smiled and Alexandrite's heart swelled at it. For once he wasn't immediately rejected for his flaws and he was grateful.

Unbeknownst to the two, their conversation as being watched.

Cardin and his team accompanied by Jaune were standing a few yards away from the two. Winchester had with him a crate containing what seemed to be Lancer Wasps. "Don't break those jars now Jaunny boy," Cardin said slapping Jaune across the back causing him to stumble around with a stack of jars filled with sap. It seemed as though team CRDL was using him as a pack mule.

Cardin stopped at the edge of the forest spotting Alexandrite and Ruby.

"It's him. The masked freak." Cardin said pointing to Alexandrite.

"What do you want with Alexandrite?" Jaune asked.

"Want with him? I want him to suffer, he made a fool of me in front of Goodwitch and got me detention. See these rapier wasps? They're highly attracted to sweets….particularly the sap…" Cardin started, Jaune's eyes widened at the implications, the very wasps he was forced to collect were now about ot be used on his friends.

"Cardin! That could seriously hurt them!" Jaune said alarmed.

"That's the idea. I want you to throw these jars at them then I'll release the wasps." Cardin smirked while folding his arms.

"Cardin NO! I can't do that to them!" Jaune said apprehensively.

"Come now Jauney boy. Wouldn't want Ozpin to find out about your little secret now would we?" Cardin threatened.

"What about Ruby? She hasn't done anything to you!" Jaune yelled.

"Who? Red? She's had it coming since day one, it doesn't matter what she does it pisses me off.." Cardin growled.

Jaune looked appalled. He couldn't do it. Yet if he didn't, everything he'd ever worked for would mean nothing. He'd get expelled, his parents would find out, everyone would be disappointed, he'd be shamed for life.

He held the jar in his hands, contemplating. Was his life really worth the safety of his friends? Alexandrite stood up to Cardin, one of the only people to ever do that. It was then he remembered that night, the words said to him by both Alexandrite and Ruby. Steeling himself he locked eyes with Cardin, no matter what, he would never compromise his friends.

"No…," he said quietly.

"What was that?" Cardin asked angrily.

"I said NO! I won't allow you to hurt them. Not while I can do something about it." Jaune said standing up for himself.

Cardin walked up and pushed him. "Oh yeah, what's that? I can end you whenever I want."

Jaune looked at the jar and tossed it into the brush.

"ARGH! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Cardin roared about to draw his Mace on the blonde. Jaune dodged the swing but it came into contact with the crate of Wasps unleashing them.

"Oh shit!" One of the members of CRDL yelled as the wasps then erupted like a swarm and chased the team. Eventually lured away by the sap. During the commotion Jaune was still attempting to dodge swings from Cardin.

A monstrous roar erupted from the bushes causing Cardin to stop his assault. The members of team CRDL turned around instantly to see a massive Ursa Major tearing through the brush. It seemed the wasps weren't the only thing that was attracted to sweet sap.

Cardin stood frozen in fear as the Ursa rampaged forward, batting away the members of Team CRDL. It approached Cardin towering over him, its paw swinging downward about to impact the boy but nothing came. Cardin opened his eyes to see Jaune standing in front of him, the golden shield blocking the Ursa's strike.

_As much as I hate him. I can't let him die._ Jaune thought before engaging onto the Ursa.

* * *

**-Back with Alexandrite and Ruby-**

"You know, Ruby I…" he started trying to say something. His mind wanted to say _I think you're an amazing person_, but that was too embarrassing.

"I…I'm glad I met you, you're the first friend I've had outside of my team and you're really fun to be around. So, I wanted to um, thank you for putting up with me and all my secrets." He said finally, silently cursing his awkwardness.

Ruby turned red, "I-Wah, w-well, y-you know, i-it's what friends are for, and you're really cool and you know guns and you can talk shop, plus you're just really fun to hang with," she said embarrassed.

"Y-yeah, hey Ruby, we should hang more often, you know? I don't usually leave my room because I'm normally doing something but if it's you, I'm always available, so if you wanna chill just swing by my dorm," he said managing to gain some courage.

"I would like that," she turned her face to the ground.

"Oh and- *ROAR*" Alexandrite was interrupted when a loud creature noise was heard erupting from the tree line behind them.

In an instant Alexandrite's hand clutched the scabbard of Asura, his right on the hilt of the blade. Ruby drew out Crescent Rose, both of their senses trained on the environment.

"What was that?" Ruby asked scanning with her eyes.

"Sounded like an Ursa, not too far from here, I'd say less than a click ahead of us," Alexandrite said looking to her.

She nodded and both of them raced off to the source of the noise. The wind ripped through their bodies at the considerable speed they were moving. Ruby was using her semblance but Alexandrite was almost keeping up granted he was a little slower.

The two arrived at another clearing in the forest similar to where they were before, an Ursa stood towering over a fallen person.

"Is that Cardin?" Ruby asked pointing to the downed man. In truth, it was Winchester curled into a fetal position in panic.

"Where's his team?" Alexandrite asked.

Ruby pointed to the tree line, all members of team CRDL minus the leader were bolting off in panic.

"Cowards get back here!" Ruby yelled but her cries fell on deaf ears. She groaned, "Let's go rescue him…" she said but Alexandrite stopped her.

"What? We need to…" Ruby said surprised at Alexandrite's actions, she almost pegged him for a coward to when he pointed.

Looking toward the location she saw, Jaune stood his ground combatting the Ursa.

"We should help him," Ruby said determinedly.

Alexandrite smiled, "No need, he's got this. Besides, it's something he needs to do on his own."

"Wah?" she turned her head just in time to see the golden-haired boy decapitate the large Grimm.

She gaped, "Incredible…" she had no idea he possessed the skill.

"Jaune has a lot of potential, he just needed a little push," Alexandrite said knowingly.

"Save it, it looks like we might have more than one to deal with," Ruby said pointing behind Jaune. The exhausted boy was spent from just one Ursa now faced with two more he readied his shield, closing his eyes to await his imminent fate. Yet it never came.

Ruby and Alexandrite had reacted instantly, and in the blink of an eye severed the heads of the beast simultaneously, two scythes arcing in glorious elegance.

"Jaune you're safe. You can open your eyes now." Alexandrite said spinning his scythe and wresting it on his back.

Jaune peeled open his eyes to see Alexandrite and Ruby standing side by side, one had his scythe slung around his shoulders while the other had hers standing next to her. They looked like gods of death if he had ever seen one.

"T-Thanks for the assist guys. I'm sorry I've been a jerk to-" he began but Alexandrite nodded.

"Jaune it's fine, plus we're not the ones you need to apologize to." He said pointing to the rest of team JNPR that had come in after hearing the commotion.

Jaune hung his head in shame.

Alexandrite smirked, "And Jaune," he said causing the boy to look up. "Nice work on the Ursa." He walked off to team ASHN with Ruby behind. All the teams and Professor Goodwitch had arrived to see what the source of the noise was.

"Excuse me, Mr. Arc what's going on here?" Goodwitch asked the boy.

"Ursa attack ma'am. We fended them off." Ruby said sheathing Crescent Rose.

Alexandrite kept silent.

"What could have caused an Ursa to come out here?" Weiss asked looking around.

Glynda looked to see Cardin who was still on the floor surrounded by broken jars of sap, she spotted a crate of something, upon closer inspection, her eyes grew wide.

"I think I know." She said in a low tone. She turned to Cardin, "Mr. Winchester would you care to explain why a crate that had been loaded with Rapier Wasps is doing here?" she tapped her riding crop against her arm.

"Uhh, well you see…" Cardin trailed off.

Glynda sighed, "You'll have enough time to explain in my office when we get back. For now everyone else, gather what samples you have and prepare to leave." She walked off.

Cardin cursed under his breath. "I'll get you Jaune, for disobeying me and ruining everything. You made me look like a fool so now I'll make sure I ruin you." He seethed to the blonde boy.

Jaune just stared at him, "Go ahead, your rule on me is over Cardin. Whatever happens from now on is mine to handle." Jaune stood up for himself.

Alexandrite couldn't help but feel proud of him, and from the looks of it, Pyrrha as well.

"Guys, I'm sorry I've been a jerk, and ignoring you. Can you forgive me?" Jaune turned to team JNPR.

Pyrrha and Nora both walked up and smacked him over the head.

"OUCH! I deserved that." He rubbed his head.

"Good that you're aware. Now we forgive you." The red-haired girl said with a smile.

* * *

**One more down, the frequency of these will decrease significantly once semester starts but I got a few weeks so hopefully I can at least get up to the events of Mt. Glenn out... which is around page 220 in the word document. To give y'all some scope this chapter stopped at around page 30.**

**Rate it? Review it? Suggestions or Criticisms? Just lay it on meh.**


	5. Chapter 5: Kitty ears and Dragon Horns

**Chapter 5: She's what?! He's a WHAT?!**

* * *

Time flew by as team ASHN adjusted to their new lives at Beacon, slowly but surely coming out of their shells and embracing the college lifestyle. They had grown quite close to team RWBY and JNPR. Alexandrite became especially close to the guys, the first time he's had more than one male friend. It was some time before the Vytaal Festival's official start and students from the varying kingdoms were arriving at Beacon.

"Remind me again why we're here?" Yang asked annoyed. Team RWBY walked through the grey streets of Beacon, in tow of one Weiss Schnee.

"Oh the Vytaal Festival! This is absolutely wonderful!" she cheered as they passed by banners and decorations going up.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda creeping me out." Ruby joked placing her hands on her hips. The team continued along their journey to God knows where as Weiss marveled at all the preparations taking place.

"I don't get what's the big deal, it's just some festival," Yang snorted earning a rather disdained look from the heiress.

"Ugh, of course, you don't get it. It's a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! Dances, parades a tournament! The amount of preparation that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Weiss gushed.

"You really know how to take something fun and make it sound boring," Blake commented.

"Oh quiet you," the girl in white returned.

"Okay but why exactly are we 'here, at the docks," Yang asked gesturing to their surroundings. They were on what appeared to be a pier.

"Ew it smells like fish!" Ruby said pinching her nose.

"The new students should be arriving any minute now and I believe it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this kingdom," Weiss said with a slight air.

Blake flipped her ribbon, "She wants to spy on them so she has the upper hand in the upcoming tournament." She stated with a smirk.

"You can't prove that!" Weiss defended.

"Woah…." Ruby said as they passed a broken down dust shop. It looked like someone cleaned out the place of house and home, then took the walls for added measure.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked one of the guys who were working around the scene, it had been taped off with yellow caution tape, a couple police officers analyzing the area.

The man who had been scribbling on his notepad looked up, "Robbery, second dust shop this week! I swear this place is turning into a mess." He said exasperated.

He moved to look around when he yelled out in frustration, "They left all the money again!".

"Huh, what kind of robber leaves all the money behind?" Yang asked, positively confused.

"No clue, but all the dust is gone." The man replied.

"Dust? Who would need that much dust?" Weiss wondered.

"Torchwick?" Ruby input.

"Probably but what would he want with dust?" Yang asked.

"Not sure, the first time I met him he was robbing a dust shop…," Ruby said.

"Who the hell is Torchwick?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, just some crook, criminal mastermind of some kind." Ruby brushed it off.

"Hey officer any idea who did this?" Ruby asked the man, he turned to his partner.

"Who would need this much dust an army?" he asked. The partner raised his eyebrow, "I'm thinkin' the White Fang," he responded.

"And I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough for this." The man commented.

"And I'm thinking I wouldn't put it past the White Fang to pull something like this either…" a new voice interrupted. A very familiar, slightly tall, dark-haired, heterochromatic boy stood with his hands placed up to his masked chin.

"Alex! What are you doing here?" Ruby asked sounding overly chirpy, instantly she moved to fix her clothes and straighten her hair, which didn't go unnoticed by Yang. The blonde smirked and leaned toward her sister, "Sis, I don't think he would mind if your hair was normal," she whispered ruffling the younger girl's head.

"Was out shopping… it's um, well it's Sapphire's birthday in two weeks so I figured I needed to find a present for her before something crazy happens and I lose track of time." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"OH! When is it? How old will she be?" Weiss asked excitedly, she really liked that small girl, she was adorable and brilliant.

"The 17th, she'll be fifteen." He responded. "Anyway, I was wandering around looking for something to get her when I found you guys over here. Thought you could give me some advice on where to look for this sort of thing."

"Aw, it's sweet that you're shopping for your sister so early," Yang said, "See sis, he's handsome and thoughtful, perfect for you," Yang patted Ruby on the back.

"PFFT HAHAHAHA!" Ruby laughed awkwardly, "Pay no attention to her, she's crazy." Ruby said gesturing to Yang, trying to cover Yang's mouth, much to the blonde's protest.

"Rriiight," Alexandrite blushed, he coughed into his hand, "Ahem, ah right so the White Fang are most likely behind this," Alexandrite said pointing to the scene.

"The White Fang? What an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss said raising her nose. Alexandrite visibly flinched, stealing a glance at Blake who looked ready to bury someone.

"What's your problem?" Blake asked, narrowing her eyes at Weiss' comment. She was clearly angered, the spontaneous burst of emotion was rare for the usually mellow girl. The slightly angry face sparked a rather, familiar feeling in Alexandrite as if he'd seen it before, especially the way her brows crinkled.

"My problem? I just don't care for the criminally insane," Weiss' heiress attitude was showing quite clearly now. Alexandrite knew the heiress of the Schnee company would hold some level of distaste for the White Fang but he didn't think it ran this deep that it warranted slander.

"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths, they're just a bunch of misguided Faunus." Blake huffed.

"Misguided?! They want to wipe humanity off the face of the earth," the heiress said incredulously. Alexandrite couldn't argue with her there, "In the past, they were just a peaceful organization, most still think they are, but since their... change in leadership... they have been more open about their extremism..." he added earning a cold glare from Blake, which turned to mild surprise... How did he know about the leader change?

"Okay so they are very misguided, but that doesn't change the fact that they are fighting for their freedom." Blake folded her arms.

"The police never caught Torchwick so it was probably him," Ruby input trying to ease the tension between her teammates.

"That may be, but it still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal." She said with a pout. "Why are you even defending them?! They're just a bunch of low life criminals who do nothing but cause anarchy and chaos." Weiss' fists were clenched in anger as her face flared with rage.

Alexandrite could feel his blood start to boil from the anger, the Faunus comment made him see red momentarily, not because it was racist towards his own people, but because he despised racial stereotypes, the same anger he felt now could be expressed if a Faunus had said all humans were murderers and slavers. He had to take a moment to breathe and calm himself, no need to lose his cool over this... afterall Weiss wasn't completely wrong, a lot of them were, but humans weren't any better.

"That's not necessarily true…" Yang started but was interrupted when someone yelled, "HEY STOP THAT FAUNUS!"

Team RWBY and Alexandrite turned around to see some crew members of a ship chasing a monkey Faunus with golden hair around. The boy in question ran straight past team RWBY and Blake could have sworn he winked at her; the thought made her blush a bit.

"That filthy degenerate is getting away! Quick we must observe him!" Weiss called out dragging team RWBY behind her. They chased him a bit before completely losing sight of him.

"Ugh we lost him." She said dejectedly.

"Weiss you need to stop slandering him," Blake warned.

"I'm sorry did that rapscallion from before catch your fancy?" she taunted.

"Stop that! Stop calling him a rapscallion, stop calling him a degenerate, he's a person!" Blake cried out in anger.

"Weiss you better ease off, before you say something you regret," Alexandrite warned, he could feel Blake's aura flaring wildly and if he had any less self-control, he would be the same.

"Oh, I'm sorry did you want me to stop referring to a trash can as a trash can or a lamp post as a lamp post?!" Weiss had crossed the line.

Blake was fuming, "Ugh you are impossible! Why can't you see that the Faunus have been oppressed and treated unfairly, discriminated and hunted since the beginning of time, and now they're just fighting back! Sure, they're doing things the wrong way but that doesn't give you the right to slander them, slander all Faunus like that!"

"The White Fang isn't a bunch of crazy killers and the Faunus aren't a bunch of degenerates! Yeah sure, there are a few bad eggs, but that doesn't mean all of us are bad!" Alexandrite couldn't hold back anymore, his brain almost exploded when he realized his own slip of the tongue before anyone could pick up on it he amended with, "We humans aren't any better, Weiss you should stop mouthing off on things you don't fully understand." calling himself human felt wrong in every sense of the word but he had to save face.

"Understand? Oh, I understand completely. Do you know what it was like living in fear all your life? Your family and friends, close business partners, murdered or disappear never to be seen again? Every day a shipment of dust goes missing or something happens and your father comes home in a blind rage, it doesn't make for a very comfortable childhood." Weiss finally released it.

Alexandrite was taken aback, he had no idea the other side of the fence was like that. He guessed that the actions taken against the SDC would have at least angered its owners but he didn't expect a blue-blood family such as the Schnee's to be domestically abusive.

"Weiss, I'm sorry about that I really am but it doesn't give you the right to desecrate the Faunus race based on a few rotten apples." Alexandrite sighed.

"I…guess you're right… I just, growing up, hurt so much…" She said solemnly.

"Blake I…" she paused.

"Hey, where's Blake?" Ruby asked raising attention to the situation. They all glanced at the empty spot where the girl once stood, she had long disappeared during the heated argument.

"She must've run off to cool her head," Alexandrite said knowingly, he'd have done the same in her shoes, her own team had no idea she was a Faunus.

"We need to go after her!" Ruby exclaimed bolting off only to crash into something hard, the recoil sending her to the floor.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry," the victim of the crash said, picking up Ruby and placing her back on her feet. She was an orange-haired, green-eyed girl with freckles, she wore a green and white uniform styled dress with black thigh high boots with a green stripe running up the side.

"This happens sometimes, I hope I didn't hurt you," the girl said, dusting off Ruby.

The dazed team leader steadied herself, "Ah I'm fine, hey have you seen a girl with long black hair and golden eyes pass by?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, you mean the Faunus girl?" She ran past but I didn't see where she went.

Alexandrite facepalmed, well that was it, secret's out for Blake. Let's hope she doesn't magically sell his out either.

"Faunus girl? But Blake's not a…." Yang started but slowed down as it dawned on all members of team RWBY.

"She does like Tuna a lot…" Ruby sealed it.

"Oh my god…and all the things I said… all those awful things…" Weiss covered her face in shame. "She must hate me…"

"Hate you or not she's still our teammate and our friend. We need to find her!" Ruby was distressed.

"Look... Blake will be back on her own, she just needs time to cool off, trust in her," Alexandrite said placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"But..."

"The best thing you can do for her now is giving her space," he tried to comfort her mind.

"Yeah I guess you're right," Ruby turned to the new girl.

"Hey thanks for the help…" she started but the girl was already halfway gone, "Friend…" she finished unsure of how to address her.

Instantly the orange-haired girl rushed back at a speed that sent wind whipping through everyone's hair. "What did you just call me?" she asked excitedly.

"Huh?" Ruby was confused.

"Friend, you called me friend. Is it true? Are we friends?" the girl said overly cheerful.

Ruby glanced at her team who were all feverishly shaking their head to say no.

"Uhh sure, we're friends." Ruby smiled awkwardly, everyone just groaned.

"Oooh my first friend, this is going to be great. We can paint our nails and stay up all night and talk and…" she started then realized she hadn't properly introduced herself.

"Oh, how silly of me. Sal-u-tations, My name is Penny Polendina." She stood quite stiff.

"That's an odd way of speaking," Alexandrite commented but no one paid attention.

"I'm Ruby, this is my sister Yang and my friends Wiess and Alexandrite," Ruby introduced everyone. Alexandrite dreaded attention being brought to him seeing as how Blake's identity was uncovered just at a glance.

"It was really nice meeting you all but I must be leaving... and the mask is very nice Mr. Dragon." Penny smiled before walking away. Alexandrite flinched at the name, he had no idea how she could see through his disguise but she did and that unnerved him, but he couldn't feel any hostility from her at all.

"Dragon? What does she mean?" Weiss turned to ask Alexandrite. The boy in question played it off as smoothly as possible.

"My sword, she was referring to me by Asura," he held out his blade, the golden dragon that curled around the base of the hilt and on the sheathe glinting in the sunshine.

"Oh, weird." Weiss nodded, no one questioned it surprisingly.

"Anyway. Blake will be fine, just trust her. I gotta get back before my sister gets suspicious about where I've been. I'm god awful at lying to her." He said placing Asura back at his side.

"So soon?" Ruby asked dejectedly. Alexandrite felt a twinge of guilt at her solemn face, she must have wanted to hang out with him.

"Yeah, but um, to make up for it how bout we hang out tomorrow around 2?" he asked, he was smiling sheepishly but she couldn't tell through the mask. Weiss and Yang just blinked incredulously, did he just...ask Ruby on a date? Spontaneously?

"Um s-sure that sounds great…." She blushed. Yang and Weiss gave each other a knowing smirk, he most definitely did, even if he didn't say it, or mean it like that.

It was only after he left he realized it sounded like he was asking her out on a date, the thought sent him into a frenzy of emotion, _It's just a friendly hang out, as friends._ He tried to reassure himself but he couldn't help but wonder if he had asked it as a date if she would have accepted.

* * *

The next day Nova woke up in a flurry as it thoroughly dawned on him, that he invited a _girl_ to hang out _alone._

"Nitro, you gotta help me, bro," he said shaking his friend out of the bed.

The red-haired boy woke up groggily, "Stuff it and go back to bed, it's too early for this." He groaned.

"It's like eight in the morning, so get your ass up. I need some advice." He shook him.

"Ugh, what's all the noise, we don't have classes today go back to beeed." Luna groaned from the top bunk.

"Sorry sis, I sorta invited Ruby to hang with me today and I'm freaking out." He apologized.

"Oh, for real? Here that Hex? Bro grew a spine." she called over.

Hex grunted, "Took him long enough," she said sitting up, her purple hair sticking up in various spikes.

"Is this what you woke me up for? Dude, just be cool, you're friends, aren't you?" Nitro said now fully awake.

"Well yeah but…" Nova paused, were they just friends? She definitely felt like a close friend, but compared to Hex and Nitro she gave a different vibe. She made him feel a constant state of euphoria just being near her.

"Dude just chill, and hope you don't make a fool of yourself," Nitro reassured him. "I'm spending the day at the gym with Jaune, said he needed a workout buddy."

"Why didn't he ask me to come to?" Nova raised his eyebrow, "I thought I told him I'd help him when he needed it."

"Yeah he was going to ask you but the gym has a strict no ninja mask policy." Nitro folded his arms.

"Really?" Alexandrite asked raising his eyebrow, genuinely curious about the rule.

"Of course not, you pyro. He didn't have your number so he asked me, but considering if you're going to be working out you'd be doing it in your disguise and do you honestly think that's a good idea?" Nitro explained.

"Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense," Nova nodded.

"What about you girls, any plans to help me?" Nova asked turning to Luna.

She peeked her head over the top bunk. "Sorry bro, Me, Hex, Yang and Weiss are decorating the auditorium for the dance."

Nova sighed in defeat.

He carried about his daily duties, going through class notes and cleaning his gear. It wasn't until around one in the afternoon when he decided to open the room curtains. The golden warm sunshine gleaming down, it was an inviting feeling, his dragon instincts took hold of him in that instant and before he could stop himself, he had stripped his gloves and long sleeve shirt and curled up on a floor mat, sunning himself, letting his scales bathe in the warmth of the sunshine. It wasn't long before he dozed off forgetting his plans.

Ruby checked her scroll for any messages from Alexandrite, it was nearly two in the afternoon, precisely when they said they would meet up but she hadn't heard a word from him. _Alexandrite wouldn't set me up, he probably preoccupied, I'll just go check on him._

She exited her dorm room and knocked on his and waited, no answer. She tried again, this time louder, still nothing. She rang up his scroll but it went to voicemail. Sighing she did the only thing she figured was an option, sneaking in.

Ducking out of her own balcony window, she used her semblance and zipped around the side of the building landing on his balcony window. Thankful for the fact that the curtains were drawn, she went to tap on the glass when she noticed Alexandrite curled up in front of the window on the floor.

_Wait…._ Her brain slowed to a halt, lying on the floor was a shirtless Alexandrite, instantly she blushed realizing he fell asleep on the floor. She wanted to look away but her eyes wouldn't listen, staring at the way the sunlight reflected off his fit body, his toned muscles, Ruby wasn't one to ogle at guys like Yang but she couldn't deny that Alexandrite was indeed incredibly hot.

Her eyes wandered upward and her brain instantly melted. He wasn't wearing his wig. She felt almost guilty staring but she could see it, the very white head of hair, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight, and two tiny black things poking out from the top, she leaned in cautiously but her shadow blocked out the sun causing 'Alexandrite' to stir, she instantly tore herself from the window, unable to bare the guilt of infringing upon one of her best friend's secrets. Is he_ a Faunus? Is that why he hides his identity?_ She couldn't help but wonder, unable to stop her mind from honing into the image burned into her memory, she still hadn't seen his face or the rest of him.

_It has to be more than that…._ She rationalized. He had his reasons for hiding his identity, and while she now knew what he looked like under his disguise, she couldn't pry. The guilt was eating at her, she had seen something she wasn't supposed to, she was betraying the trust he held in her, but she couldn't tell him, she just couldn't. So she did the only rational thing she could do, and that was play it off.

Heading back to the door, she knocked a lot louder, this time, actually calling him out. It took a while, she figured around ten minutes before he finally opened the door. He was wearing a red jacket and black undershirt, however, he wore black jeans this time and Asura wasn't with him, the mask and wig back on him.

"RUBY! Oh shit, I'm so sorry, I um…kinda fell asleep…" he rubbed the back of his head.

_I know, _she wanted to say but held herself back. "It's fine I wasn't waiting long," she lied through her teeth, he didn't notice.

"God, see now I feel bad, come on let's go grab some ice-cream, my treat." He smiled though she couldn't see his mouth, his eyes held all the emotion.

Vale city was abuzz with all the festivities and preparation, the streets were lined with decorations, banners hung between every lamp post. The people themselves seemed to be preoccupied with preparation, not a single thing was lazy. The food stalls seemed the most occupied, with tourists and visitors roaming the streets trying to get a taste of traditional Vale cuisine, not that Vale had much of a specialty when it came to food. The one thing they did have was amazing ice-cream, home to the number one ice-cream making company in the world of Remnant, Frosty Huntsman.

The two team leaders stood buying some frozen delights from a nearby ice-cream stall.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Ruby asked concern on her face, though she couldn't fight the temptation.

"Like I said, I made you wait for me, so as a means of amends, go nuts" Alexandrite folded his arms.

"Well, when you put it that way…" Ruby's eyes gleamed as she began ordering, to both the vendor and Alexandrite's surprise, a quadruple scoop double topped ice-cream cone.

"The little lady's got a big sweet tooth," the vendor said, his brown mustache covering his lips, the thick eyebrows seemingly bouncing with him as he laughed.

"She sure does," Alexandrite mused looking at her devour the monstrosity of flavours she opted to mix. His musings were laden with a level of horror as he watched her tear the ice-cream a new one... he silently prayed for the ice-cream's family if it could have one.

Alexandrite fished out a few Lien to give to the rather large stocky man, his blue uniform and white apron slightly stained from accidental spills. "Y'know, my mother told me that if you meet a girl with sweet tooth big enough to eat cookies for three meals a day then she'd probably be sweet in personality too. She told me if I ever met a girl like that to hold on to her, you might never find someone that good again," The old man chuckled.

Alexandrite gawked at his astute assumption, "How did you know she eats cookies that much?".

"Wait really? I was right?" The vendor said putting away his utensils. "What's with that weird saying anyway, I've never heard that before," Alex felt his sweat drop.

"It's not weird, my family has been in the confectionery business for generations, we have our own... unique idiomatic expressions," he said a little miffed. "Either way, your girlfriend seems like tops to me, you best not let her go, sonny," he finished, his tone changing back.

Alexandrite turned crimson, "She's not my girlfriend…" he muttered.

"You mean, not yet. Better snag her before someone else does." The man said before heading back into the freezer to prepare another ice cream.

Ruby, oblivious to the conversation, was eagerly digging into her confection when she spotted Alexandrite staring. "Oh, sorry did you want some?" Ruby asked apologetically.

Alexandrite laughed, "No, I'm uh, lactose intolerant."

"Shame, this is amazing… Well more for me!" she said as she finished the remainder of what was probably the most ice-cream anyone has eaten in three hundred years.

The rest of their time was spent exploring different shops, mostly dust and weapon shops, and talking about their experiences.

The two eventually found themselves on the docks again, the sun setting on the horizon, painting the sky in a mosaic of orange and pink.

"I had a lot of fun today," Ruby said smiling, Alexandrite could have sworn the radiance of it rivaled the setting sun. "We should hang out again," she said turning a little red at the implications of what she was saying.

"Y-yeah we should," Alexandrite affirmed, nodding his head. The two sat on the docks in silence, their feet hanging over the water. Ruby periodically stealing glances at Alexandrite as he gazed off into the distance.

"You know this was rather different for me," Alexandrite said taking a deep breath and looking toward the sky.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, I've never actually gone shopping with anyone before. I've never just hung out with someone when it wasn't life or death." He said almost quietly.

This took her by surprise, "Huh? Surely your mom or someone must have dragged you along to go exploring." She said without really thinking of it, instantly regretting it when she saw Alex visibly flinch. To make amends she offered her own story, "My mom um…kinda died, but as Yang was growing up she would drag me with her and now that I have my team we hang out like this all the time." She smiled. Alex could see the sadness in her eyes, even though she was smiling.

Alexandrite instantly felt sympathy for the girl, he knew all too well what it was like growing up without a mother, "While... I do feel for you... I won't say I'm sorry... pretty sure you're tired of hearing it anyway, still, I offer my condolences." his words, while on the surface quite stiff, there was an emotional tone that resonated with her.

She was a little shocked, that was probably the best thing anyone could have said in response, "Ah it's fine, it's been many years anyway." She said though it still hurt to think about.

"Mine, kinda…disappeared, when I was eight. There was an incident and my sister and I got separated from our parents, I haven't seen or heard from them in nine years and I'm beginning to think they might genuinely be gone." He said, his voice melancholy yet somewhat stoic. "My sister is still very young and Hex isn't one for shopping unless it's for tech." he laughed at that last part.

"Hmm? Wait, hold up. What makes you think they're dead?" she asked.

"There was a house fire, and...while no one found any bodies, they were proclaimed dead. Besides if they were alive, wouldn't they have tried to reach out to us by now?" he said almost angrily. The look in his eye said don't press for details so she didn't.

"Well... I guess you might be right." She said looking at no one in particular, "Then again, you might be wrong." She returned vaguely, a bright smile on her face.

Alexandrite stared at her incredulously. "What?"

"Never give up the hope that they might be alive. There's the chance they could be trying to find you like you are trying to find them. Alive until proven dead….err so they say." Ruby said with confidence. There was a moment of silence where Alexandrite just stared at her, baffled that someone would have this much optimism.

Alexandrite suddenly burst out laughing, "You're really weird you know that?".

"Hehehe. Like you're one to talk." She smiled.

"Touché Red." He ruffled her hair earning a pout from her.

A comfortable silence fell over the two again as Ruby stole a few glances at his face.

She couldn't help it honestly, after witnessing him without his wig, she couldn't help but try to figure out his real face, even if all she could do was imagine it from looking at him. The idea reminded her of her guilt, the fact that she knew his secret but didn't tell him was devouring her soul once more. She couldn't take it.

"Alexandrite." Ruby said, her voice calm but slightly shaky.

The boy in the red jacket turned to her with a raised eyebrow, " 'Sup Rubes?"

"There's um, something I need to tell you." She looked down at the boards of the pier as if the grains of the wood were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Sure, what's bothering you?" he asked, concern marring his features.

She breathed deeply and hesitated. Did she really want to tell him? It might ruin their friendship, today was the most fun she'd had in a long time and honestly, she treasured him above a lot of things in her life. No, she needed to say his, he had a right to know.

"I know." She said firmly, gathering the courage and staring into his eyes.

At first, he was confused, but the look in her eyes held something that sent a subconscious fear through him as he felt a shock instantly reverberate through his body, but he held firm. "Know?" he had to be sure.

"I know, that you're probably a Faunus," she said shakily.

His eyes went wide. "How? And Probably?" he instantly went rigid.

"Earlier today, when you weren't responding to my calls or when I came to meet you, I thought if I knocked on your window it might get your attention, so I came up and I saw you, lying on the floor asleep. I saw your real hair, the two black things on your head, I'm assuming they were horns" She said trying to calm herself.

Alexandrite was speechless. He had gotten complacent and careless. His time at Beacon he felt so safe he forgot how to be careful, HOW COULD HE ALLOW HIMSELF TO RUIN EVERYTHING?. _Calm down... Calm down... this is Ruby... she has proven herself to be a good friend._

_But what if she hates you now? What if this whole thing was a ruse to trap you?_ his skeptic side shot back.

His thoughts were torn when she saw his downcast gaze and concentrated eyes, laden with worry.

"It's fine, I swear on my life, on my reputation as a huntress and as a team leader, that I will keep this a secret, no one will know." She said trying to appease the situation.

Alexandrite blinked in surprise, he expected instant hate, that was the common reaction after all. It was all over, she would tell everyone and kick him to the curb, his new life, his team's new life, was over. At least that's how he expected things to play out but they didn't.

"I know you probably have your reasons to hide your identity but, it's okay, I don't care if you're a Faunus, you're my friend and nothing is going to change that." She said sternly. "I know I overstepped my boundaries and I'm sorry but, I needed to let you know."

Alexandrite released the breath he had been holding unconsciously. Of course, he had nothing to worry about. This was Ruby, not some stranger, she was someone he could trust, the fact that she came out of her way to tell him proved that.

"Thank you, Ruby." He finally managed. "My race isn't why I'm hiding my identity though, I…I'll tell you in time, everyone, but right now…It's not safe for you or anyone to know so no matter what, this stays a secret." He locked her eyes with his.

She nodded, the determined gaze said it all. Alexandrite had gained an ally on the inside that day.

* * *

**-Two Days Later-**

"So you mean to tell me the White Fang, for sure, are the ones causing the attacks in Vale recently?" Nitro said incredulously. Concern evident in his voice. Team RWBY and ASHN sat together in RWBY's dorm room. "Shhh not so loud," Weiss hushed the young man.

"Right right, classified info, so that's what you guys were up to this time?" he asked. "Yeah, a few days ago, long story short, we followed a guy named Roman Torchwick around the city, by 'we' I mean Blake. We found her trying to stop a group of White Fang members from getting away with crates full of dust," Weiss continued.

"Sun and I were around the city when we spotted Torchwick, you don't know who Torchwick is but he is a pretty bad dude, works with the white fang, they are planning an attack on Vale and we aren't sure when." Blake finished, she had opted to remove the bow this time.

"Who is Sun?" Yang asked a bit confused but overall understanding the situation.

"Me! I'm Sun, Sun Wukong wassup?" A voice came from the window. Everyone in the room flinched at the sudden interruption. Sun Wukong, a monkey Faunus with a golden coloured tail came in through the window. He wore a white unbuttoned shirt and no undershirt, blue jeans and sported blonde hair.

"Sun! How did you…" Blake began trying to rationalize how no one picked up on his aura. "Don't sweat the small stuff, I see you're out with the ears huh," he drew attention, particularly Alexandrite's to Blake's bow, well it wasn't a bow it was a pair of ears.

"Oh hey, you finally took the bow off," Alexandrite said unsurprised. Though the pair of black cat ears were sending a storm of thoughts in his mind, searching his memory... to recall where he had seen them before... No... it couldn't be... but black hair, cat ears, named Blake. It was like the signs had been staring him into the face this whole time...but he had to be sure... but how could he ask if she was his childhood friend without giving away his identity?

His thoughts were torn from him when Yang spoke, "Wait you knew? As in before, you met us at the docks?" she asked.

"Well I thought it was pretty obvious, plus I could tell," Alexandrite stated, returning to reality.

"You could tell? How?" Weiss interjected. Alexandrite began to sweat a little he had come to trust these girls too easily that he just let his mouth run unconsciously.

"Ahem, so Weiss you and Blake cool now?" Alexandrite asked the heiress.

"Yeah, I have decided that no matter what happened in the past, even if Blake was a White Fang member, it doesn't mean anything now, she is my friend and I will accept her regardless," Weiss said with a stern face trying to mask her emotion. Blake just smiled at her.

"Uh this Torchwick guy, he sounds like bad news so what's good?" Alexandrite was trying to bring attention away from his previous statement.

Thankfully Blake followed along with his diversion, "Yeah they plan on stealing some military tech and assaulting Vale, we aren't really sure how," she said. _'Oh shit she knows'_ Alexandrite thought.

"We can't do much about that now, Ozpin knows it's only a matter of time," Ruby said confidently. "Well this is all well and good but we have a dance coming up and we aren't even prepared, we need to stop thinking of things above our authority," Sun said.

"Dance?" Nitro who had been sitting quietly with the rest of his team asked. "Yeah you don't know? The Beacon Dance, it's some stupid social thing Ozpin wants us to do," Weiss replied. "When is it?" it was Hex's turn to ask, "It's a few weeks away…" Sapphire's eyes widened as did Hex's.

"We need to prep A.S.A.P come on Sapphire," Hex said as she grabbed the younger girl's arm and bolted out the doo leaving a bewildered Alexandrite and Nitro. Yang saw the confused look on their faces, "Girl stuff you wouldn't understand,".

"Well then I guess, we should get done with our 'guy' stuff," Sun said as he gave Nitro a wink who understood immediately. Sun grabbed a confused Ren and Jaune while Nitro grabbed Alexandrite. The trio were then escorted out of the room.

"Um I like being manhandled about as much as the next guy so can you put us down?" Alexandrite said slightly peeved. "And what guy stuff?".

"Well duh, we need to get you outfitted for the dance!" Nitro said frantically.

Thus Jaune, Ren and Alexandrite were reluctantly coerced into a guy's only shopping trip to find Vale's best suit fitter while the girls ventured off on their own expedition.

* * *

**-Flashback two nights ago -**

Blake stumbled into her dorm room, around 2 a.m. "Mind explaining where you've been?". The lights in the darkroom turned on and Blake jumped at the surprise. She didn't expect anyone to be awake at this hour much less her whole team. "What it's perfectly normal for me to be out this late ahah….." Blake held her left shoulder with her right arm, her ears drooping a little in shame at being caught.

Yang took a look at the girl before her. She had dark circles around her eyes, her skin quite pale. _'She hasn't been resting'_ came the conclusion. Weiss snapped, "Blake you don't think we know what you're doing? Every night we see you going out and never coming back until the morning, you're out every night looking for Torchwick aren't you," the anger evident in the heiress' voice. Blake held her tongue unable to speak.

"Blake you need to get some rest, stop doing this to yourself, Ozpin knows we'll get 'em eventually, just calm down, take it slow," Ruby said trying to be reasonable.

Whether it was the exhaustion or some other third party controlling her emotions, Blake finally snapped as well, "SLOW?! Slow?! You expect me to take things slow? When there is..is this CRIMINAL out there? You expect me to just sit by while Torchwick is out there doing who knows what?!" fury radiating off her. She looked at her young leader's face and immediately regretted it.

Yang had had enough, "Listen, Blake we just want to help you, like FRIENDS are supposed to, so if you want to keep doing this then it's on you, just get some rest," Yang said. That was what they thought to be the end of that discussion.

* * *

**-Back to present-**

"So... any of you have a date?" Yang asked as they browsed clothes in one of the local stores.

"Nope, didn't know that was a requirement," Ruby said as she eyed a particular dress.

"You could ask Alexandrite? Though I'm surprised he hasn't asked you out yet." Hex said smirking to Yang, the two of them had grown particularly friendly over their time at Beacon.

"Yeah baby sis, hear that? Alexandrite is free." Yang nudged her sister causing her to blush furiously.

"Stop it's not like that… plus I don't really like dances and I don't need a date!" she defended, though she wouldn't mind if he did ask her. Their relationship wasn't anything further than platonic, she was sure that's all they were.

"Speaking of dates, how _was_ yours with our leader a couple of days ago," Hex said skimming through some clothes. Yang suddenly became interested, the whole ordeal with Blake made her completely forget about it.

"It wasn't a date!" Ruby practically yelled. She calmed herself down, "We just hung out and... ate ice-cream... nothing happened..." she said almost trying to convince herself.

"That 'nothing happened' doesn't _sound_ like nothing happened..." Yang input, narrowing her eyes.

Ruby looked around for a way to change the subject, "Uh... BLAKE! Who're you going with?" she turned to the cat Faunus.

"I uh…don't really plan on going," Blake said, under her eyes were black from lack of sleep. Ever since she discovered Torchwick and the White Fang's involvement she spent several sleepless nights searching for clues, much to the distress of her team.

"Blake you really need to get some rest, relax, we can't do anything about him now!" Yang practically yelled, apparently tired of this conversation. Blake brushed her off and left the store. Yang's anger flared, her eyes turning red... but she immediately calmed herself, "Ugh what she does is none of my concern," she muttered. Hex nodded to Sapphire. Paying for her stuff, Sapphire left the store to follow after Blake. Sapphire was the best diplomat they had and was the best at calming people down.

She found the older girl sitting at a water fountain a couple of blocks away from the store. It was a particularly crowded area but she stuck out like a sore thumb. Blake seemed lost in thought, too engrossed in her own mind she didn't pick up on Sapphire, it wasn't until she spoke did she acknowledge her. "Blake…" the young girl placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. Blake jolted eyes wide turning to the pink-haired girl.

"Oh it's you… if you want me to stop or make amends or whatever I'm not," stiffness was evident in her voice though she made no attempt to move.

"That's not what I came for," Sapphire said. "What do you mean?" confusion evident on the cat Faunus' face.

"I know what it's like you know," Sapphire said after a long pause. Blake turned, now facing her, "Know what?"

"I know what it feels like, to feel helpless and angry, angry that there are things you want to put an end to but no matter how hard you try, you can't." she waited for Blake to respond but the older girl didn't. She simply stared as if those words echoed her feelings to a T.

Sapphire continued, "I… I'm pretty sure you know or at least think you know, but Alexandrite and I, we're like you, ah I shouldn't really be saying this here, especially without Alexandrite around but," She beckoned Blake to come closer, she obliged lowering her head to meet Sapphire's.

"The White Fang took a lot from us, they took more than you realize, we were forced to do some pretty unspeakable thing's just to survive when I was still a kid I was practically raised by my brother, without him, I wouldn't be standing here today. I spent a lot of my life feeling hopeless and trying my hardest to be better, at fighting, at cooking, at learning, I wanted to make things easier for my brother but more often than not it turned out the opposite. What I'm trying to say is, stop focusing on what you could be doing and think about what you want, try to be the best YOU, you could be and things will work from there."

Blake was taken aback by the younger girl's words. "But... he's out there... right now doing god knows what..."

Sapphire shook her head, "The more you run yourself ragged latching onto the possibility of finding and stopping him, the weaker you get. By the time you find him, you'd be too tired to fight back, you'd be dead." her words were cold but true.

The black cat just rubbed her arm raw, "But _something_ has to be done..."

"And it will, but for now you need to be what your team needs you to be. And that's a regular teenager, enjoying her first school dance."

Blake just eyed the younger girl, as if weighing the options in her mind, eventually, she conceded, "I... fine, I'll go..."

Sapphire smiled in triumph, "And get some sleep to, those bags under your eyes make you look old."

Blake began walking back in the direction of the store with Sapphire, "Hey kid?".

Sapphire turned to look up at Blake. "Thank you... you're really mature for your age you know that?"

The two hadn't made it back to the store yet when they spotted Yang fuming walking up to them. "

Yang wait!" Blake said holding her hands in front of her. The fiery blonde stopped. "Listen I, I need to say that, that I'm sorry, I've been a major pain and I've made you guys worry, and…" she was cut off when the angry blonde walked up to her face, stared the frightened girl directly in the eye. "Yang?" she said clearly scared now. Yang enveloped her in a tight hug, "Don't go all moody again on us, please? Tell us what's wrong, let us in, we're your team, your friends," Blake leaned into the hug. Sapphire watched the exchange with a knowing smile.

* * *

**-With the Guys-**

"Well that didn't take long," Sun said, Nitro, Alexandrite, Jaune and Ren followed behind. They looked like an extremely colourful gang. Albeit the looked a little to handsome to be a group of ruthless gangsters but nevertheless people in the streets avoided them. The group didn't seem to notice or if they did they didn't care.

"So… Alexandrite, what's up with you and little red hm?" Sun put Alexandrite on the spot.

The young hooded boy blushed furiously, "There's nothing between us, just good friends, yeah that's it," he said as if trying to convince himself that was all they were and he felt nothing for her beyond that.

"Mhm and my tail is fake, come on dude you need to tell her, be confident, the chicks dig confidence," Sun said while flexing his right arm.

"Wait Alex? And Ruby?" Jaune said completely clueless.

Ren deadpanned. "You can't be serious, it's as plain as day!", the raised voice was very odd for Ren.

"What's plain as day? Someone, please explain," Jaune looked very confused, everyone just sighed in exasperation.

Nitro shook his head in disbelief, "Dude, really you didn't pick up on the vibes these two were givin off since day one?" Jaune simply shook his head.

"Ugh, let me spell it out for you, you see this dude right here," Nitro said as he pointed to Alexandrite, "Is head over heels for Ruby, and he won't acknowledge that he is."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh," it finally dawned on Jaune.

Alexandrite clicked his tongue, "Listen it's not that I don't want to admit it it's that things are complicated for me."

"AHA SO YOU DO ADMIT IT!" Sun exclaimed a little too happily. This earned a groan of exasperation from the teen in question.

"Dude the dance is like a couple of days away you should ask her to go with you," Nitro said his arms behind his head.

"I'll think about it…" Alexandrite said nervously. "Well you better think fast you only have a matter of hours," Sun butted in.

* * *

**SOOO That's that. This entire chapter felt awkward and difficult to properly write, but this is like the 9th time (No exaggeration) I've revisited and practically rewritten it. Every single time it came out so... off key, for lack of a better term. I'm just going to write this off as the black sheep of the chapters and leave it as is. Next chapter hopefully soon, Engineering semester 2 starts in a couple weeks so I don't got alotta time. Reviews, Suggestions and overall Criticisms are more than welcome.**


	6. Chapter 6: Robots, Rats and Riots

**A/N I know chronologically speaking they didn't actually pep talk Blake out of the sleep deprivation until _after_ the events of painting the town but plot wise to this fic, these events are minor and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. Plus I really...hated... writing about these events and I'm not sure why.**

**Shout out to the people that are insane enough to actually follow this story and possibly enjoy it, y'all are the best, especially putting up with the occasional inconsistency.**

**Gonna make this a long chapter so buckle up.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: It should be illegal to have this much fun**

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" A talk gray-haired teen asked, following behind a green-haired dark-skinned girl. The boy wore a gray and black jacket type shirt and black jeans, his hair slicked back, while the girl wore a top exposing her midriff and white combat style pants.

"Absolutely positive, that being said," the girl passed and purposely bumped into an old man standing on a ladder. She politely helped him up after apologizing, her sleight of hand working to steal his wallet, hr movements were quick and trained, perhaps a result of years of practice. Once he was up she asked, "Excuse me sir can you point me in the direction of this address?". The old man didn't say simply made a somewhat happy noise and gave her a direction.

"I knew you were lost," the boy said smugly. "Mercury I will seriously pay you to shut up," the girl threatened. "That's not your money," he said as a matter of factly. "No but it could be yours for 5 minutes of silence," she said waving the old man's cash in Mercury's face. "Hmmmm no,". She relented with a grunt and they moved on.

"So how far away?" Mercury asked. "A couple blocks," came the reply from the girl.

"Uhh this place is so dull," Mercury commented.

"Ehh, I kinda like it, tall buildings, diverse culture…"

"And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket," Mercury finished for her.

"That's every city," came her reply.

"Ooo Emerald! Master Thief, please don't take my money, I barely have enough to get by," Mercury feigned distress. Emerald, as the girl was called, simply shrugged him off with a grunt. "Ugh you're no fun today," he relented.

The duo entered into a bookstore, the owner came in from the back carrying a load of books, "Tukson's book trade, home of every book under the su-," he faltered when he saw Emerald. "Home to every book under the sun, how may I help you?" He recovered wit ha smile. "Just browsin," came Mercury. Emerald leaned over the counter, "Actually I was wondering if you had any copies of the Thief and the Butcher?". "Ah yes we do, would you…like a copy?" the owner asked. "No just wondering," she said with a fake smile.

"What was this place called again?" Emerald asked.

"Tukson's book trade," the owner responded. "And you're Tukson?" she continued.

"That's right," he responded.

"So then you're the one who came up with the catchphrase?"

"Yes."

"And what was that again?" this time it was Mercury. "Home to every book under the sun," Tukson said heavily.

"Except for the Third Crusade." Mercury looked angry. "It's just a catchphrase…"

"It's false advertising!" Mercury exclaimed.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep," Emerald said ominously. Mercury began dimming the store lights. "I hear you're planning on leaving, moving all the way to Vacuuo, your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that, and neither are we, you know who we are?" her eyes darkening.

"Yes," came Tukson now quite nervous.

"Are you gonna fight back?"

"Yes!" Tukson launched himself at her but was easily evaded. His face then came crashing into Mercury's foot.

* * *

-Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, weeks after the incident with Blake-

Semester two was beginning soon, and after all the events of the break, with Blake going off with Sun on her moody soul searching adventure, meeting Penny and overall shenanigans, team ASHN were eager for the respite of classes.

"You know, they really have great chef's here, the food just keeps getting better," Nitro said stuffing his face with breakfast, a rather common occurrence these days, as the red-haired boy spent most of his time that wasn't in the gym, in the cafeteria scarfing down copious amounts of food. Team RWBY, ASHN and JNPR sat together eating food, Nora using a fork as a catapult to occasionally launch food at Yang who was, impressively catching it in her mouth... much to the amusement of Hex.

"The staff here probably know you personally by now..." Alex said droning, feeling a little queasy with the sheer volume that was being inhaled.

Yang just shot Hex a quizzical glance to which the purple-haired girl facepalmed, "No Yang, this isn't normal, I'm not sure what's gotten into him..."

"HMM mmmMM Mhmm!" He answered to appease their curiosity.

"New training regimen? Ugh of course..." Sapphire rubbed her temples.

Everyone in team RWBY, minus the R, felt their sweat drop at the young girl's ability to decipher Nitro's incoherent murmuring.

"Where's Ruby?" Alex asked noticing the absence of the red leader.

"Of course _you_ would be the first to ask that," Hex snickered earning a few giggles out of Sapphire and Yang.

"W-what? It's just a question..." he said bashfully, his question was quickly answered when a rather unrealistically large, white book was dropped onto the table with a loud thud, startling everyone.

Carrying said the large book was none other than the Rose herself.

"Friends, Sisters, Weiss," She began, a rather miffed "HEY!" coming out of Weiss, hidden behind the huge book.

"Four score and seven minutes ago... I had a dream..." she continued, Alex could swear he heard heroic inspirational music playing but he couldn't tell from where.

"This atta be good..." Yang said to her team as she caught another bit of food flung at her.

"A dream that one day, the four of us... err... twelve of us would come together as a team and as friends and have the most fun, anyone has ever had... EVER!" Ruby continued triumphantly, waving around her arms.

Weiss was not impressed, "Did you steal my binder?"

"I am not a crook," she said holding up peace signs. Alex eyed the girl curiously before leaning over to his friends, "Has someone been teaching her to be a cat burglar? No offense Blake." They all just shook their head except for Hex who looked rather guilty.

"Ugh... she's just so... RUBY... I couldn't deny her..." Hex confessed with exasperation. They all nodded in understanding.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked turning to Ruby. The leader smugly continued, "I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!"

Yang smirked and everyone in the room felt the wind change, "I always start my semesters off with..." everyone's eyes widened in the split-second realization

"OH god please don't..." came Jaune.

"... A _YANG!"_ the female blonde finished and everyone just fell on the floor clutching their hearts for fear of their life leaving them. The pun was too...awful. Yang burst into laughing and Hex just weakly clutched her friend, "Why... why would you kill me... I trusted you..." she said fake dying.

"Booo!" An apple came flying at Yang bonking her on the head from a rather annoyed Nora.

"Look guys it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great!"

"Classes start back up tomorrow! So I've prepared a schedule a series of wonderful events for us today!" the leader finished.

"I don't know whether to be proud... or scared for what you have in store..." Weiss said earning a vigorous series of nods from ASHNJNPR. "Red... scheduling... these words do not go hand in hand..." Nitro commented with a rather surprised look on his face.

"It could be fun, give her a chance guys," Pyrrha said trying to be the mature voice of reason, meanwhile Yang had gotten up and thrown a green apple, breaking something and a rather annoyed cry of protest was heard from across the room.

"I... think I'll sit this one out..." Blake said rather downcast... she was still worried about Torchwick despite the convincing from both ASHN and RWBY. Sapphire glanced worriedly at her, they needed _something_ to pull her mind away from it.

"Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day we should do it as a team..." Weiss began.

"I got it!" Nora yelled out in the distance and all the members of team JNPR watched in horror as Nora missed the catch on what appeared to be a pie, as it came soaring through the air...

"...I think we sh-" Weiss was instantly cut off when the projectile pie smashed directly, into the face of the heiress.

ASHN JNPR watched in absolute horror as the baked food slowly slid off the once clean face of Weiss Schnee. Pyrrha and Jaune both had their hands over there mouths in shock while Ren had his face down in his hands, Nora pointing accusingly at her partner.

"This... means... war..." The heiress said stomping her foot on the table.

* * *

"Anyway so we were fighting side by side, and she was super fast and I threw a banana at a guy which sounds gross but it was awesome!" Sun explained enthusiastically to his partner Neptune. as they strolled just outside the mess hall. They were on their way to meet RWBY, Sun rather hyped for his partner to meet Blake and the rest of team RWBY.

Neptune was a rather handsome looking man, sporting light blue hair, goggles resting atop it. He was wearing a red sweater vest and tie, accompanied by black pants, the collar on the vest was rather large.

Neptune just humored his friend's rant with a "Nicee!"

"Right!" Sun continued, "And the best part is she's a Faunus." At the mention of her secret, he instantly held his hands to his mouth. "That parts a secret! So don't tell anyone!"

Neptune just laughed, "Yeah I gotcha."

"Nono, not the, I'm going to blab to Scarlet as soon as Sun turns his back kinda secret. I mean secret secret!" the monkey Faunus emphasized.

"Woahh, chill out man, I got it.. I got it." He affirmed.

"You better!" Sun threatened lightly. "I just don't wanna screw this up you know? The people here are the coolest! No offence to you guys..."

"None taken." They were completely oblivious to food smashing against the windows and students flying across the room.

"They're just in here, I'm really excited for you to meet them, so... be cool okay?" The blonde said stopping. "You're gonna be cool right?"

Neptune just went heh, "Dude..." he said striking a pose, folding his arms.

"Good point..."

The two opened the door and were greeted with the screaming terror of multiple students screaming "FOOD FIGHT!"

They just stood there marveling at the scene before them. The tables were stacked upon each other, Nora standing at the very peak while the other members of JNPR stood guard. Team RWBY stood on the opposing side of the area looking up at them. A traditional stand-off, while team ASHN sat back attempting not to be roped into all of this.

"MWAHAHAHAHA! I'm Queen of the castle~" Nora said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh god, they've given her power..." Alex said looking mortified.

Ruby stood atop the table drinking a carton of milk, "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful... AND DELICIOUS!"

"YEAHHH!" Came the resounding sound of the rest of RWBY as they stormed JNPR's fortress.

ASHN felt their sweat drop... this wasn't going to end well.

Sun and Neptune narrowly dodged a few watermelons as they made their way over to ASHN, Yang was soaring overhead, using turkeys as gauntlets. "That's her," Sun said pointing at Blake who was engaged in sword? baguette? Duel with Pyrrha.

"Not bad dude! Who're these guys?" Neptune said pointing to team ASHN who were mesmerized by the spectacle before them. How did a food fight blow out of proportion like this.

"YO! Alex! Mini-blue!" Sun called waving at ASHN.

The team turned around surprised to see the monkey Faunus and friend.

"Mini blue?" Sapphire asked questioningly.

"Yeah 'cuz you wear blue, and you're short so..." Sun rationalized. The younger dragon rubbed her chin, unsure if to take it as an insult.

" 'Sup Sun, what brings you and..." Alex began searching for a name.

"Neptune, pleasure to meet you and your lovely team." the blue boy responded winking at Hex and Sapphire who shuddered, Nitro faintly blushed.

"Not into guys... and Sapphire is off-limits unless you want your head torn off by our leader for hitting on his sister." Hex said instantly sending his attention away. Neptune glanced nervously at Alex who shot him a rather dangerous looking smile that sent varying levels of fear through him.

"I'm Alexandrite, this is my sister Sapphire and my mates Nitro and Hex, nice to meet you," Alex said trying to be polite.

Before Neptune could respond a rather long sausage came flying through the air and hit Hex in the chest. Everyone's eyes grew wide...

"NO! CIVILIAN BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILLED, WAR CRIMES HAVE BEEN COMMITTED!" Alex got up with enthusiasm, shaking his fist to the air. Sapphire just watched, her sweat dropping at his act.

Yang instantly dropped onto her knees after shooting her turkeys at Pyrrha.

"OH THE TRAGEDY, Such are the horrors of war..." the blonde cried running over and clutching the fallen Hex.

" You must *cough* avenge me *cough cough* the assailant was..." Hex's words died in her throat as she fell unconscious, her finger pointing to Nora. Yang got up with fury in her eyes, "You. Will. Pay."

The following series of events were loud and involved lots of crashing, and a cat screeching... and a flurry of soda cans spiraling out from behind Pyrrha as if she was a soda bender.

"Is it always like this?" Neptune asked fearing for his life only to be blasted with purple soda. He was not impressed.

"Oh yeah, it's great!" Sun chirped happily.

Alex and Sapphire's ears perked up under their hoods, they could hear the very distinct clopping sound of heels stomping rather angrily toward their direction. "Oh no..." they said simultaneously.

"Oh no? Why Oh No?" Neptune asked positively confused. The two just pointed wordlessly to the doors which burst open momentarily to reveal a rather fuming Glynda.

The furious teacher used her semblance to reset the entire dining hall, including damages in a graceful display of power.

"Children... Do not. Play. With. Your. Food." she glowered, ready to exact punishment.

"Oh let it go," Ozpin said moving into the scene and placing a hand onto Goodwitch's shoulder. The professor just sighed heavily, "But they're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And they will be, but right now they're children, let them play the part." the headmaster appeased.

Glynda just sighed again and let them off.

* * *

**-In a Warehouse somewhere in Vale City-**

White Fang members were busily working, off-loading and loading cargo, crates of varying sizes. Roman Torchwick stood at a table, sheets of papers, blueprints, and plans lay strewn about the desk, a single steel briefcase rested atop them. He was deep in concentration, looking over his schemes, assessing his assets and determining the next courses of action. Honestly, he hated this job, this isn't what he liked doing, everything about it felt wrong... but the pay was good. Large scale operation, weapons of mass destruction, guerilla warfare, full-blown terrorism, these things just weren't his style. He preferred working jobs with much more class to them, like complex cat burglary, and heists, not terrorism and committing war crimes for a war that hasn't exactly started yet... but a job was a job.

His concentration was interrupted by the sound of unfamiliar tapping of shoes into his quarters, he turned to see Emerald and Mercury arriving onto the scene. "Oh look, she sent the kids again..." he said monotonously walking up and roping the two in a hug that was more meant to kill than embrace. "... This is turning out just like the divorce..." he said releasing them.

"Ugh, spare us the thought of you procreating," Emerald said shoving him off.

"That was a joke... And this..." he said waving a piece of paper he lynched off of the green-haired girl, "Might tell me where you two have been all day."

Emerald gasped in shock searching her person, "How.."

"I'm a professional sweetheart, pay attention maybe you'll learn something..." he held up the paper to his eyes to read it, "Where did you get this address..."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald shot back

"Yes I would, so where have you two been all day?"

"Cleaning up your problems... One of them at least," Mercury said finally speaking up.

"I had that under control." Roman seethed.

"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise."

"Listen you little punk, if it were up to me, I'd take you and your little street-rat friend here an-"

"And do what Roman," A mature looking girl in a red dress that went just above her knees, said sauntering up from atop a platform. She had black hair and amber eyes, her bangs covering the left eye. She was, in every essence of the word, beautiful, in dark and dangerous sort of way, like a black widow.

"I'd uhh... Not kill them?" Torchwick offered in amends, clearly scared of his benefactor.

"Cinder!" Emerald instantly perked up, looking rather... overly happy.

"I thought I made it clear to eliminate the would-be runaway?" Cinder asked dangerously.

"I... was going to..."

"He was going to escape to Vacuo. Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat." Emerald said proudly, gesturing to Mercury.

"I think he was some sort of cat actually..." Mercury said in amusement.

"What like a puma?"

"There you go."

"Quiet... I thought I specifically instructed you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" Cinder asked angrily, Roman all the while pointing and laughing.

"I just thought..." came Emerald. "Don't think. Obey." Cinder countered while Roman made a decapitation gesture behind her back.

"Yes ma'am. It won't happen again..." Emerald said dejectedly.

"And you... why wasn't this job done sooner..." Cinder narrowed her eyes at Roman. He just looked around and began gesturing to all the various crates of dust. "Sorry if I've been a little busy robbing every single spec of dust in the kingdom."

"You're an inspiration to every man with a gun and a ski-mask," Mercury said sarcastically.

"I've got this town running scared... police at every corner, dust prices through the roof and we're here sitting in a pretty warehouse with more dust, vials, crystals and rounds than we know what to do with. Speaking of which if you would fill me in on your grand-master plan, it'd make my next string of robberies go even smoother!" He vented out, gesturing wildly to everything he'd done.

"Oh have a little faith Roman, you'll need to know when you need to know." She placed her hand on Roman's chin, her eyes glowing causing Roman to look in fear. "Besides, we're done with dust."

"Uh... so what now?" he asked confused.

"We're moving. Have the White Fang clear up this warehouse. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." she continued.

"Coordinates?"

She looked back and smiled, "We're proceeding to phase two. Onyx has been making... arrangements..."

"Onyx? The White Fang high commander? What does that giant bear have to do with this? I thought he fucked off high and happy when he killed the dragon family nine years ago," Roman looked bewildered.

Cinder practically groaned, "How do you think we enlisted all these soldiers hm? They aren't hired guns, the esteemed commander is our precious 'business' partner. You'll be taking these shipments up to one of their most important outposts for phase two of the operation."

"Can you be more specific?" Roman asked hopeful.

Cinder felt just about ready to punch something, "Ugh... fine... you've done a good job so I guess I can give you a bit more detail. You'll be heading to Mt. Glenn, the White Fang has a genetics research lab up there. They're moving a... specialist of sorts... up there to further work on Onyx's pet project. That specialist is going to help us with phase two..."

"Project? Specialist? What in the hell is this plan all about?" He countered, his brain working to decipher the deep web he'd gotten himself trapped in... a web spun by that black widow, Cinder. Though... the hairs in the back of his neck told him there was an even bigger spider behind all this.

"That information I can't disclose. You'll know it when it becomes necessary." She was about to move on her way when Torchwick spoke up again.

He'd tried to play dumb but, she wasn't the only one with information. "You mentioned a genetics lab right? Didn't they have one right here in Vale? What happened to that?"

Cinder's eyes went wide, "So... you know about that? Tell me... what else do you know..." her eyes began glowing, heat radiating off of her.

Roman chuckled, realising he know had a foothold in the stakes, "Just that a year ago, an underground White Fang research complex that had been constructed under the nose of the kingdom, just at the edge of its borders to Atlas sea, had gone completely dark. Frozen over by an unknown phenomenon, the kingdom of Vale chalked it up to climate change, that the freezing cold of Atlas had begun to affect their outer borders, my sources say otherwise."

Cinder narrowed her eyes, "And what do your sources say?"

"They say that there was a freak accident, emergency evacuations. Huge loss for the White Fang."

"Is that all?"

"Maybe... maybe not... Information for information, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

"Listen here you miserable excuse for a human. The only reason you're here is that you're good at what you do. However, your 'usefulness' is running thin, so if you dare step out of line, you won't just get a pay cut... you'll get your life cut. Understand?" She roared her arms enveloping in fire.

Roman backed off scared, "Easy, easy. I understand completely, your wish is my command." he lightly bowed.

She calmed down and walked off leaving Roman to groan and pull out a cigar, he searched his pocket for his lighter but came up empty, his head whipped around when he heard the distinct click of the object, in apparently the possession of Emerald.

She just stuck her tongue out in triumph of pickpocketing him.

* * *

"So run me through the plan again?" Alexandrite asked leaning back against team RWBY's dorm wall.

"Yang, Nitro, and Neptune will be going downtown to look for clues, she's got some connections or something. Weiss, me and Hex will be heading to the CCT Tower, Blake and Sun will be going undercover at a White Fang gathering at the docks while you, Sapphire will be scoping out the slums for any extra clues, " Ruby said laying everything out in a summary.

"This is going to go downhill fast…" Weiss sighed. "Maybe you and Yang should go together 'cuz you're sisters," Weiss said nervously.

"What? And then who would go with you?" Ruby questioned.

"I was thinking maybe Neptune could come with me?" she returned. Ruby just stared at her for a long two seconds before bursting out into laughter, "Pfft No."

"But but..." her cries of protest faded as she was dragged off by Ruby and Hex.

Alexandrite shook his head, "This is a plan has more holes than rat bitten swiss cheese...but it's the best we got." He clasped his hands together around his mouth.

* * *

**-Vale City-**

"Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit system as a way for the four kingdoms to communicate with one another, it was their gift to the world after the great war." Weiss said proudly as the trio strut just outside the CCT tower.

"Ooo look at me, my name is Weiss, I know facts, I'm rich~" Ruby tried mimicking but it turned to complete laughter when Hex couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Don't be a pest, besides, the only reason we're here is because _you _like the tower so much." she stated matter of factly. "We could have just as easily made a call from the library."

"She has a point there little red, but this does give me an excuse to... pry... into their system..." Hex rubbed her chin, thinking of the possibilities. Weiss just recoiled in slight horror at the potential that information had in the purplette's hands.

"I know, but it's so cool! I'm gonna take a picture!" Ruby squealed in excitement, but fumbling with her scroll and dropping it. It bounced a bit before stopping at someone's foot. The person was none other than Penny.

"You dropped this," she said with a slight smile, though no emotion was in her voice.

Ruby recoiled, "Penny?!"

"Uhhh..."

"Where have you been! We haven't seen you since the night at the docks!" Ruby said remembering how she helped them fight off the White Fang the day Blake went missing **(A/N: I know I lazily left it out, but it held no relevancy to my plot and I'd just be rewriting what the show already had... not something I enjoy doing. Besides, it's not like you don't know what happened anyway)**

"S-Sorry I think you might be confused *hiccup* I... I need to go." Penny responded quite awkwardly, her hiccup launching the phone into Ruby's hands.

"Well, that was weird... any idea what's going on?" Weiss asked confused.

"I don't know... but I'm going to find out," Ruby said leaving Weiss and Hex.

"Who was that?" Hex asked concerned for the red leader.

"A girl named Penny, she helped us out a while ago, Ruby's friend." the heiress explained.

"Friend? She acted all stiff and pretended she didn't know you." the tech master folder her arms.

"She's weird like that. Come on let's head inside, we'll catch up with Ruby later.

The tower was massive for lack of a better term. The now duo took the elevator up, lines of desks with computers, occupied by students of Beacon, all talking to either their parents or friends elsewhere in the world. The dark floors and green accented decor gave a rather futuristic feel, Hex just marveled at it all, like a child in a candy store.

The duo sat at one of the unoccupied desks. "Alright, I'll do my thing... you can plug your device into the server room back there, just be careful not to get spotted." Weiss instructed. Hex nodded and quietly slipped away while Weiss booted up the machine. A woman with caramel-colored hair and blue eyes answered she was wearing a dark grey Atlesian uniform.

"Thank you for calling the... Oh! Miss Schnee! Would you like me to patch you into your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well..." she asked the heiress.

"Ah no, I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me, I've compiled a short list." Weiss responded plugging her scroll into the terminal.

"I see... if you don't mind, what may I ask is this for?" the woman asked.

"They're... for a school project." Weiss lied.

"Okay... there are some very sensitive files on this list..." She said looking worried.

"Then I'll be sure to handle them with care." the Schnee responded.

"Very well... the data is being transferred to your scroll now... Are you sure you don't want to see your father before you go?" the woman returned looking a little nervous.

"Absolutely. Thank you."

"Have a nice day!" The woman concluded with a smile just as Weiss turned off the monitor. Her face solemn.

It was then Hex came out of the back room, "Got anything?" the heiress asked her friend.

Hex bit her lip, "Not exactly... There are a few records of Faunus, all different names, contacting one direct line, the records do show them on different occasions too far apart to be linked but... the funny thing is when I tried to trace the location of the receiver... it was encoded. I can't crack it right now but... in time maybe..."

"We don't really have time..." The Schnee returned.

"Then I'll just have to work faster. On the plus side, I got the information I needed to build a portable cross continental communicator." Hex chirped merrily. "We should hightail it out of here before they figure out what I just did to their systems..."

Weiss thought for a moment, she wanted to meet up with the others but she needed to find Ruby. "You can go on without me, I'll get Ruby and catch up."

Hex quired her eyebrow, "Alright then. I'll be off."

* * *

Downtown Vale was... dirty, grimey dark. Most of the street lamps were either lynched or defective, the majority of the buildings were either condemned or under construction... and this was the good part of town... the place Alex and Sapphire were scoping out was even worse. Nitro and Neptune shuddered as they passed a few places on the way. Yang was riding her motorcycle and Nitro in the sidecar while Neptune rode backseat, both looking rather disoriented, Neptune because of the speed and Nitro because of the small cart he was being dragged in. Their tortuous ride was brought to an abrupt end when Yang pulled up to a rather, crummy looking club.

"Come on, my friend's in here." She said getting off. The other two followed suit, "And where exactly is... here?" Neptune glanced around nervously. His question went unanswered as they entered the club. It was a mix of black and white flooring, neon and strobe lighting. "Stand back boys." Yang said as she waltzed up to the bouncer. The man instantly recognized her and rushed inside in fear. Nitro and Neptune just shot each other curious glances.

"Quickly, shut the doors, she's coming!" They heard one of the henchmen yell. The men were all dressed the same, in suits with orange shades.

Yang just smirked as the great iron doors closed infront of them only to be blasted open by Ember Celia.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" Yang said as she strode in, a warm welcome of pointed guns and armed men awaited the trio inside.

"WAIT STOP! Don't shoot!" A short man in a bartender outfit said making his way through the crowd. "Blondie! You're back... why?"

"You still owe me a drink!" Yang said as she sauntered in past the armed men with no fear.

"What a woman..." Neptune gushed and Nitro just made a gagging noise.

The trio sat at the bar while the man, who was apparently the owner, poured them all drinks... non-alcoholic of course, wouldn't want to be drinking on the job.

"So... you can't be here for just a couple drinks," he said leaning on the tabletop.

Yang took a long sip, "Yeah, I need information Junior."

"Junior?" Nitro asked raising his eyebrow.

"Junior Xiong, information broker, and club owner. What'd you need to know?" he asked eyeing her.

"I want to know what Roman Torchwick is planning." the blonde returned. Junior's eyes went wide, of course, it wouldn't be simple.

"That kind of information is costly... and it ain't worth what I owe you... so no dice," he said looking her in the eye... bad idea on his part. Yang instantly grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him close, "Listen up shorty, you got five seconds to cough up the information or me and my boys here are going to tear this place limb from limb and rip the secrets out of you. So... you either spill, or you and your club here get reported for illegal operations."

The man was terrified. Nitro flexed his arms, which were incredibly muscular, for emphasis, "I'm just as strong as she is... so if you want to live with three Yangs running around your place... I'd suggest you comply." he said.

"Okay, okay. I'll talk." he relented, Yang just smiled and released her hold on him.

"Good... now tell me."

"So you know I also loan my men as mercs. I haven't seen him since the last night you came in here, I rented a few of my guys for jobs. He doesn't tell me the job, I don't ask, he pays me. None of my men ever came back, but what I can tell you is that they've been robbing tons of dust. But you already knew that. They got a warehouse dock on the other side. You'll find what you need there. Now hurry up and get outta my hair." Junior explained everything. Yang just patted his shoulder, "Good man."

"Warehouse? Think it's the same place Sun and Blake are at?" Nitro asked as they left.

"Oh most definitely."

"Chance of this blowing out of proportion and turning out horribly?"

"Absolute certainty."

* * *

**-Vale City Slums-**

On the adjacent side of downtown Vale, a place where only the criminally insane and otherwise black-hearted, tended to reside.

"Like a blemish upon the shining face of the pristine city, this particular part of town was so bad, most regular low-lives tended to avoid it. It was the type of place where lawlessness went off the deep end, so far that it was organized. Yes, Vale City had a mafia, or rather, the mafia worked globally, they just had a division in Vale. The people here answered to only one man, a man so feared than he made people like Roman Torchwick quiver like puppies at the very mention of his name. That is to say if anyone actually knew his real name, most people just knew him as the Mortus Noir, the underground lord, King of the Rats or so they say."

"Would you quit narrating? We're in the worst part of town and you're seriously narrating?" Sapphire said viscously, in a hushed tone. Alex just rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Sorry, been reading too many detective novels... Blake got me hooked." the younger dragon just shook her head.

"How the hell do you even know all that anyway?" she asked as they strode down the dimly lit pavement. "Wait how do you even know where we're going?"

Alex looked nervous, "I uh... saw the graffiti and composed an exposition?" He offered gesturing to the numerous walls they had passed by with writing, 'Mortus Noir the Rat King' on it. It was sprayed practically everywhere on the garbage littered streets. **(If you need reference, think of a grittier version of The Bronx)**

Sapphire seemed to have bought the lie. In truth he had been here before, during their break, on the day he went shopping for Sapphire, he accidentally wandered into this part of town. Being the curious idiot he was, he ignored his instincts to leave and had a bit of exploration, that's when he met... him.

"Alexandrite Lucius, what brings you back here hm? Come for another round with my boys? If so I'd rather not, we're still recovering from your last visit..." A male voice came from the shadows, it sounded like if a rat had been given human speech. Alex and Sapphire whipped around to see a figure emerge from a dark alleyway to their right. Sandwiched in the space between two condemned buildings, was a man standing at around six feet, four inches tall, his back hunched over with a large black trench coat draped around his incredibly thin figure, his poise was hungry and a wild look in his eyes said he was dangerous. His face hidden behind a plague doctor mask and a large top hat on head, which drooped as if it was melting ice-cream, he walked around with a cane, pure white and clean in contrast to his dirty, black look.

"Mortus... glad you saved me the trouble of finding you." Alex greeted, his face holding every inch of seriousness. Sapphire glanced between the two nervously, "You know this guy?" she asked concerned.

"Ah you must be his little sister, I'd like to say I see the resemblance but those disguises make it hard." the man said narrowing his eyes in the dim yellow street light. Sapphire felt a shock reverberate through her body, how had this man seen through her disguise so easily?

"Surprised? I'm an underground crime lord dearie, it takes a lot more than some thrown together wigs and hoods to make me believe a disguise," he said leaning onto his cane.

"We're not here for tea Mortus. We're here for information." Alex said taking hold of Sapphire and placing her behind him protectively.

The man leaned in and his eyes were smiling wickedly, "And why should I provide this... information?"

"Because you owe me."

Mortus seemed to think for a moment, "Yes, that does seem to be the case... would you like to come back to my lair? so we can discuss this properly?" he asked, his voice dripping with ulterior motives.

"No... I don't have time for that. This will be quick. What's Roman Torchwick's plan, what's his next move?" Alex stood firm and stared down the man.

"And what makes you think I know anything about that brat?" he returned, implying there was a significant age gap between them, the word brat was said with such vile contempt, it was the only thing that contrasted to his words, it was the only thing he said with real emotion.

"Don't play dumb with me Noir, we both know nothing happens in this town without you hearing about it. So 'fess up."

Sapphire who had been quiet this whole time, eyeing the man and his non-verbal communication. He was good at negotiating and stalling out conversation, there were about seven armed men lurking in the shadows, ready to strike at his command. She had no idea what type of debt her brother held over the crime lord but this situation wasn't exactly optimal.

"Roman Torchwick was... your student? a son perhaps?" she said garnering courage. This surprised both males, "Impressive deduction young lady. Tell me... what gave it away?"

"You called him a brat, you said it with such fury that it implied you once knew him personally, and that cane you have... unless you're a copy-cat I'd say he took his weapon as inspiration from yours." She said gesturing to the ornate white object in the older man's hands.

Mortus laughed, a deep throaty chuckle, "Yes he was indeed my student, I raised him, taught him everything he knows. Then the brat backstabs me, burns down one of my prized warehouses and steals half of my funds. It was quite impressive actually..." he mused.

"Then you must know what he's up to... an esteemed crime lord such as yourself would surely keep tabs on his ex-protege... you might want to call for more guys to... seven might not be enough..." Alex said smirking through his mask.

Mortus just burst out into a louder laugh and began clapping, "As expected of the one who saved my life, your senses are impeccable. You are mistaken in that these men are here for you, they simply follow me around as bodyguards, my constitution is rather frail as you know."

"Saved his life?" Sapphire asked turning to her brother.

"I... accidentally wandered in here a few weeks ago, saw someone about to get the jump on a sickly old man, so on instinct I tackled the guy and took him out. His boys then jumped me and took me to his hideout where we became 'pals'... after I beat the ever-loving shit out of about forty of them." Alex explained.

Sapphire just facepalmed, "Of course that happened, what else would I expect."

"Torchwick's been dealing with some broad much younger than him. She seems to be his benefactor, don't know her name, all I know is she's been comin' round his place with her goons, bringin' a bunch of White Fang with her. They got an airship and some Atlas tech stockpiled in a warehouse down at the docks, more Dust crates than you'd know what to do with. I don't know what they're planning but I can give you a location..." he said and Alex heard his scroll ping, he pulled it up and there was a GPS marker pinging red on his map. "How did you..." he began to question but Mortus pressed on.

"The woman he's working with has black hair and amber eyes, she looks dressed like a fashion model and struts around like some sort of succubus. I don't know her name... they've somehow managed to keep that information from getting out... any of my men that seemed to have discovered something all get taken out... so I've stopped prying. One thing I do know is... that anyone who needs that amount of dust... is raising an army..." He finished.

Alex nodded, "Thank you... you can consider your debt..."

"No... the debt can never be repaid. You saved my life, I intend to honor our debt as long as I live, I may be a criminal mastermind, but I am before all else, an honorable thief." he said holding up his hand.

"Honorable thief? If you intended to give us the information anyway... then why drag this out?" Sapphire asked curiously.

Mortus turned his head back just as he was about to disappear into the shadows again, "Can't an old man enjoy some company?"

Once he was gone Alex and Sapphire shuddered, "He's really creepy... you need to find better friends..." she said.

Alex couldn't help but agree.

* * *

Team ASHN, minus the N, stood in the middle of the street sharing information. After raiding the CCT tower Hex left Weiss and Ruby to recon information, she wasn't fully confident in her own tech to mask wireless messages from the communication monitoring hub of Vale.

"Where's the rest of the guys? I got some information on what

As if on queue a large crash came in through the side of a building leaving an awestruck and confused team ASHN, heading the chase were Blake and Sun practically running for their lives, followed closely behind by Yang, Neptune and Nitro, Ruby and Weiss on their tails... and a hoard of White Fang soldiers on bikes.

"Is that.." Alexandrite started with his finger raised, the team too dumbfounded to react while the rest of the street's occupants were panicking and screaming. "I think it is…" Hex answered.

Team RWBY, with a Nitro in tow, were barreling down the streets of Vale with the hoard of White Fang members on motorcycles behind them. Giving each other shocked glances, they instantly took off behind them, Hex hooked two of the bikers with Loki and tore them off, allowing for the trio to occupy the spots, with Sapphire riding backseat to her brother. As they neared the robot, the could see it was an Atlesian Paladin, Yang and Nitro long abandoned the bike and were now practically riding the robot while Neptune was atop a car with Sun.

"Yang! What have I told you about riding giant robots?" Sapphire yelled over the commotion as if this was a regular occurrence.

"Sorry _Mom_ I didn't realize it was a rule of _thumb_ to avoid 'em," Yang laughed as she pointed to the robot's hand while being thrashed around.

Alex and Sapphire groaned loudly at her puns.

Just them Ruby came swinging around with her scythe grabbing Yang, Weiss skating on ice around the thing trying to get it to stay put. Blake stood on top hacking away.

"Yang seriously this is no time to be- Oh hi Alexandrite, fancy meeting you here!" Ruby said in a sweet voice.  
"Um Ruby? What's going on?" Alexandrite was confused. "Oh, you know the usual, White Fang, Torchwick in the giant robot, trying to wreck Vale, etcetera." She said as she spin and crescent rose and tried to slice the robot.

"Oh ok, need a hand?" Hex asked as a literal robot hand slammed the ground. Yang started laughing hysterically, "NICE!". Hex just did a slight bow. "YEAH, THAT WOULD BE GREAT THANKS!" Weiss screamed as she was whisked away by the robot.

Alexandrite drew Asura in its scythe form and launched himself full throttle at the bot. However, the team assault was cut short by a large mechanical arm impacting them all at once careening them forward.

"Okay direct assault isn't working we gotta get this thing away from the civilian area," Alexandrite beckoned the two teams as Nitro fell in behind him.

"Right, HEY ROMAN, YOU AND YOUR SHITTY HAT COULDN'T EVEN KEEP UP WITH US KIDS EVEN IF YOU TRIED" Yang yelled gaining the attention of the criminal.

"Why you little…" he chased after her. The teams took turns leading him away eventually careening him onto the highway.

"Uhh guys we got company!" came Blake pointing to another wave of bikers.

"Don't worry we got this!" Nitro and Hex said as they intercepted an incoming gang of White Fang members on motorcycles. Nitro pushed a button on his wrist bands as they unfurled into Atomizer, then he gripped his left arm then flexed his left index finger, the left and right sides of the arms opened outwards like a rocket booster. Using this he launched himself at a high speed knocking one of the bikers of and taking the bike. Hex saw this as her queue and drew on Loki and Eres, switching them into dua pistols, she shot rounds at the oncoming hoard. The bikes whizzed past her, as Nitro approached, he extended an arm to which she caught and swung onto the back of the bike. Together with Nitro as the driver Hex took down half of the bikers with little effort before joining her team the rest were hard-pressed on their heels. If they needed to fight the mech they couldn't waste time on these bikers.

"Can I trust you two to handle them?" Nitro yelled to Sun and Neptune as they whizzed by the two who were frantically trying to catch up to the mech.

"Sure… *pant* that would be *wheeze* fine," Neptune said completely out of breath. The two stopped and turned to fight the hoard of bikers.

"Ughh you insufferable brats didn't your parents ever teach you not to get involved with the affairs of adults!" Torchwick yelled as he shot at the teens.

"Weren't you ever taught it's wrong to steal! _And_ bully kids?!" Weiss responded as she tried to ice around the frame of the machine only for it to be broken easily. They needed to shut this thing down fast before it caused any more property damage.

"Nitro, Hex, Earth Shocker!" Alexandrite, yelled as his team sprang into action. Nitro and Hex got off the bike and drew their weapons. Nitro opened the rocket booster on his left arm and began charging it, Hex shot a strange gel-like substance onto his fist which then began to glow with green electricity. "I need him to stand still for like two seconds!" Nitro yelled.

"We got yah!" Alexandrite yelled as he and Sapphire began their own combo move. Alexandrite drew Asura Zero over his head, Sapphire then jumped high into the air and raised Galaxia in its axe form, she landed on the flat of Asura's scythe and Alexandrite launched her at the mech like a baseball. Sapphire zoomed through the air spinning her axe in a pinwheel fashion smashing into its optical system stunning it, the only reason the components weren't destroyed was due to the powerful shield.

"What the hell is going on?!" Roman Torchwick screamed while inside the robot.

"Come on…come on!" he began fiddling with the controls desperate to move. Team RWBY saw this as an opportunity and began a rain of hell onto the stationery robot. The armor proved to be too strong, as did the shields.

"We can't scratch this thing!" Ruby yelled.

"Leave that to us!" Nitro came in, his attack done charging, he aimed his fist at the robot and let loose. Instantly he shot off with an incredible acceleration. Collapsing the distance of nearly 40 meters in just under a second the fist collided with the machine. Instantly it was flung backward with a reverberating shockwave, asphalt of the street beneath them cracking from the force of the impact. The robot pivoted off the rails of the highway onto the floor below. Team RWBY and ASHN jumped down to meet their foe.

"What just happened?" Yang asked incredulously.

"High impact electromagnetic charge, Nitro's weapon can go up to Mach 3 speeds, when combined with my special gel it penetrates strong shields and causes impact onto the machine under it, the combo releases an electromagnetic charge that transmits and shorts out any electrical devices it comes into contact with," Hex explained.

"Oh, that's pretty efficient," Weiss commented.

"Not really, long charge time," Nitro said a little exhausted, "plus the human body isn't meant to travel at such speeds without some level of protection so it kinda gives me," he stopped short to throw up on the floor.

"Motion sickness," finished Sapphire as she and Alexandrite joined up with the team.

"Ugh what the…. Who the hell are you? It's like Red and her friends keep multiplying..." Torchwick finally got the robot to move, apparently, the E.M.P only worked as far as the robots shields, the main circuits were still intact.

"Oh he's still kicking," commented Blake.

"Ok guys we got this!" Ruby drew Crescent Rose.

The eight of them launched a barrage of attacks onto the machine. Alexandrite rushed in with Asura still in its scythe form slamming an attack onto the machine's head. The young huntsman didn't expect the material to be so dense as his blade got caught in the material, he struggled desperately to pry it loose but he wasn't strong enough.

"Gotcha!" Torchwick swung the robot's arm around to hit Alexandrite. The members of team RWBY got ready to save him when they were stopped by Nitro. "It's fine, he's more than okay". Confused the girls looked on to see Alexandrite release the blade and catch the robot's arm with his own, stopping it. "What?!" Torchwick was surprised at the boy's enormous strength. Alexandrite had adapted his body strength with his semblance to overcome the stuck blade and in turn the mech itself.

Suddenly the blade he couldn't pull out before slipped out as if it were embedded in butter. He jumped back into formation and the team continued their assault onto the mech. The strength adaptation quickly ran out when it was no longer necessary and Alex was back to fighting as he normally was. It was now RWBY's turn to take control of the fight.

They launched their series of combination attacks, freezerburn, where Weiss froze the floor and Yang exploded it creating mist, then checkmate which was a combo attack by Weiss and Blake and Ladybug which involved lots of dashing between Ruby and Blake. Yang stormed the mech herself in the confusion only to be caught and shoulder rammed through three concrete pillars.

"YANG!" Blake and Hex yelled simultaneously.

"Don't worry, with every hit she gets stronger," Ruby explained as the blonde got up glowing, her eyes red with rage having taken enough damage to dish back.

"Yang, Blake, Bumblebee, Weiss, Ice Flower!" Ruby yelled. "Are we still using those ridiculous names?!" Weiss screamed as she pulled off her signature combo move with Ruby. The mech was knocked backward and slowed when Yang sucker-punched it and Ruby, with Weiss' help, shot several rounds of ice at it.

Sapphire rushed forward and dashed under it drawing her weapon, instead of unfurling the blade, had it as a staff with glowing ends she impaled the robot from behind at a point where the armor was weakest, narrowly missing a certain criminal inside.

"Hey Ruby?" Alex said signalling the fellow leader.

"Yeah?" She responded, panting heavily. The fight wasn't over, they had a few seconds before Sapphire wouldn't be able to hold it back.

"Improvise with me?"

Ruby was confused, glancing up with quirked eyebrows, "What do you... ohhhh." it dawned on her when she realized she wasn't the only scythe wielder. "Gotcha"

Alex took Ruby's hand and together they launched at the mech in a flurry of rose petals, and like a deadly helicopter blade, they spun together, scythes rotating like a blender, they cut right through the cockpit of the machine, again, just barely missing Torchwick. They landed gracefully, Alex helping Ruby to her feet, holding onto her hand as they watched Roman ease himself out of the cockpit.

"So, there are two reapers now, do you kids ever think that those oversized gardening tools are a bit... much?" he asked pulling out a cigar and lighting it.

"It's over Roman, give up." Ruby announced as she and Alex pointed their scythes at him.

Roman stepped off the robot only for it to spark and then combust, he winced, "Yeesh, and I just had that thing cleaned. Sorry Red and Red's boyfriend, not today."

"I don't think you're in a position for non-compliance here." Yang said gesturing around them.

"Aand that's where you're wrong."

Yang in her rage shot a burst of Ember Celia at them only for it to be blocked when a pink parasol and its owner came swooping in and blocked it. A short girl with an ice-cream themed look about her and heterochromatic eyes stood smiling smugly next to Torchwick. Her mismatched pink and brown eyes and similarly coloured hair, with a single white streak, accentuated her outfit. "Ladies, Ice Queen, friends of red, it's been a pleasure as always."

"Hey!" Weiss complained at the nickname, even Roman knew it.

"Neo if you will," he gestured to the short girl, she lightly bowed and Yang in her rage dashed toward them and threw a punch only for their image to be shattered into shards leaving everyone confused.

"So mind explaining to me why we just fought like a 20ft tall robot that looked like Atlas Military tech?" Alexandrite said a little exhausted as he joined the team.

"You know how Blake and Sun were doing the undercover operation?" Ruby began to explain. Team ASHN nodded simultaneously. "At the white fang meet up, Torcwick revealed stolen robot and one thing led to another and yeah," she finished.

Alexandrite nodded getting the gist of it.

"Any clue how we're going to explain this when we get back?" He asked.

Everyone just nodded negatively.

"Right... but I am assuming everything we learned from our separate missions was useful?"

They all just nodded affirmatively.

"Hey where are Sun and Neptune?" Blake questioned only for her to be met by the shrugging shoulders of her team.

* * *

Team ASHN and RWBY snuck back into Beacon under the cover of the night. Blake teaching her team a little thing or two on stealth didn't hurt either, they made it into the academy undetected, at least until Nitro got carried away dashing from a bush to the nearest pillar for cover and smacked face-first into it. Almost instantly they saw a light coming down one of the hallways. The two teams shared a panicked look each mirroring the either they made a desperate dash for their dorms. They dispersed in different directions to avoid making too much noise, each returning to their dorm after the other.

Alexandrite opened the door to his room quietly, looking up and down the hall ensuring he wasn't seen. He quietly closed the door behind him and began walking inside he almost turned on the lights when he stepped on something on the floor, a cold metal object. Looking down in horror he realized it was Nora's hammer. He wasn't in his dorm he was in team JNPR's. Turning around slowly he opted for the door again only to trip over the hammer he just came into contact with. He crashed to the floor in a light thud, softened by him altering his bodyweight, ninja skills did come in handy. He cringed slightly knowing the soft thud was deafening in the quiet of the night, especially to the trained ears of a huntsman. Almost nearing the door he breathed a sigh of relief until the sound of ruffling sheets was heard behind him.

"Alexandrite? What are you doing here?" it was Pyrrha. "Um, wrong room, got lost, gotta go now BYE!" he almost whisper-yelled.

_"Why would he possibly be out of his room at 3 am in the morning?"_ Pyyrha hazily thought as she laid back down, sleep taking over her mind again.

* * *

**Boom, it took a while but it's finally done. This chapter was originally around 4k words and now its about 10k... yeah... that happened. That's primarily of why it took so look, like three days to make, usually I just have to do minor editing to the chapters I already have but... I didn't want a short chapter, and short chapter became longest chapter yet...yet.**

**Like it? hate it? Reviews, suggestions, criticisms, you know the drill.**


	7. Chapter 7: Red Headed Fury

**So Explaining time. To answer Ethos The ET's question: I did mean just for the Blake pep talk because in my head that specific part of the story holds little significance to my actual plot and I figured that I'd just get that part out of the way early without having to actually revisit the whole theme of moody Blake. Timeline wise, since I'm playing god with the timeline and it's operating to fit my plot points, the dance is in like a two weeks. So not to _spoil _ anything but major stuff is about to happen between now and that dance.**

**How I name the weapons is complicated, it's not really a feeling more like I literally changed the names of all my OC's weapons except for Asura and Galaxia maybe four times. If I explain the meaning behind them it might give some idea on how I name stuff.**

**Asura: It's a Ninjato(Yeah apparently a straight edge katana is called a Ninjato)/Semi-Auto Sniper/Scythe . It's a weapon of war and a weapon of death and it's named after Asura as in the deity embodiment of wrath and war.**

**Galaxia is named as such because of Luna's special powers, which everyone knows exists but I haven't explained them as yet so feel free to speculate. Also if you've ever played Terraria and know of the Calamity Mod then the weapon name should be familiar.**

**Loki and Eres: Norse god of trickery and deception, and Eres is the goddess of chaos and discord, which are references to Hex's style of fighting.**

**Atomizer is a reference to the destructive potential of Nitro's abilities combined with his weapon.**

**Hex and Nitro's names are self explanatory: Hex is a tech wizard and Nitro is speed incarnate.**

**Nova Alexandrite and Luna Sapphire, explaining their names might be giving away too much so again, feel free to speculate.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Red Headed Fury**

It had been a couple days since the incident with the robot, team RWBY, and ASHN did their best to hide their involvement but a certain red-headed prodigy couldn't shake the image of a masked Alexandrite in her room at an ungodly hour. She might've chalked it up to him grabbing a late night snack and accidentally walking into their room, but team RWBY had been acting rather strangely as well. No one had reported seeing either team that afternoon and for some reason, when she asked them about it, they all acted suspiciously.

Questioning Alex, he told her they were just out hanging out in Vale. Ruby told her they were working in the forge helping Yang with her motorcycle. Weiss straight up dodged the topic twice, Sapphire would blurt out something incoherent and run away, Nitro could never be found and Hex was always in the dorm. They were hiding something, now she was sure of it. She trusted team RWBY, she didn't trust ASHN. As far as she could tell, since day one they've been keeping secrets, the only team never to be around campus, stuck in the dorms, the heavy curtains, and team RWBY even told her about the weird precautionary measures that ASHN took with their dorm. The tech sweeping, the soundproofing, it was unnerving, to top it all off it seemed to be flying directly under Ozpin's nose. She wanted to trust them, she really did, her instincts told her they weren't a threat... but the secrets they were keeping might, and whatever it was, team RWBY was being roped into it. She was the voice of reason, the Alpha Female of her team, it was like an instinct, the strong could detect the strong, and were wary when the strong were keeping secrets.

Team JNPR sat together at the cafeteria, Nora gorging down on a stack of pancakes as per the usual with Ren in his constant state of disassociation, Jaune trying to figure out where Nora stored it all and Pyrrah just drumming her hands on the desk nervously, observing ASHN and RWBY.

"Guys something is up, with ASHN," Pyrrha said in a lowered voice as she beckoned her team to draw in closer.

"What do you mean? They seem normal, well about as normal as two ninjas a boxer and a tech master can get but that's just huntsman bizz," Jaune commented, stuffing his face with mashed potatoes, desperately trying not to look at the pancake massacre.

Pyrrha shook her head, "No I mean don't you think it's weird, ever since they got here, I haven't been able to read their auras, well Nitro and Hex are fine, they aren't hiding it, but Sapphire and Alexandrite," she clasped her hands and rested her chin on them thinking deeply, "Those two siblings... I can't read them at all, I can't even sense they exist, if I didn't know any better I would say they didn't have any aura, but the fact of the matter is, they do or at least I think they do."

"Pyrrha don't you think you're overreacting? I mean they said they were ninjas, they have their own secrets, what did they do something to make you suspicious?" Ren was attempting to be a voice of reason.

The red-haired prodigy shook her head again, "Not exactly... Alex accidentally wandered into our room a few nights ago, at three in the morning."

"And? He probably went out for a late-night snack and accidentally opened our door, his dorm is literally right next to ours. Wait... why wasn't our door locked?" Ren returned trying to shake off her suspicions.

Jaune blushed, "I may have forgotten to lock it back after I went to grab some water.." The rest of JNPR just groaned.

"Look, if you are dead set on finding out what's up then we can go talk to them, simple," the golden-haired team leader tried to reassure his friend.

"Yeah, but how are we so sure they will tell me what I want to know? I'm willing to bet that even their looks are a lie," she said a little exasperated. It was strange seeing the usually calm and all knowing Pyrrah Nikos devolve into a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

"Pyrrha you need to chill out if Ruby and the others trust them then so do I, and I think it's the same for all the others, they seem like capable huntsmen," Jaune tried calming the girl.

She just couldn't shake this feeling of suspicion. "If I could just read their aura, I could tell, everyone's aura reveals something about them... but how..." she began muttering.

"Well you can figure it out after combat class today, we don't have much time left to get there..." Ren said as he got up from the table.

* * *

**-At the Arena-**

Pyrrha deflected several strikes from Sky as he made a desperate attempt to go close-quarters combat against the spear wielder. Pyrrha's weapon Milo was capable of transitioning from spear to short sword to rifle, making it capable to short, medium and long-range combat, allowing her complete versatility and her shield Akouo paired perfectly with it allowing her to deflect and parry simultaneously. Her defence was impenetrable and her offence even deadlier as she was able to use her shield as a throwable weapon.

She juggled the four members of team CRDL effortlessly, parrying and countering flawlessly. Their weapons were like molding clay to her, moving exactly how she wanted them to, her flexibility and agility gave her complete combat area manipulation, utilizing her surroundings by bounding off of walls and ricocheting her shield for blindside attacks. Cardin, whose entire existence was fit to purely tank and dish damage was knocked around like a football. Pyrrha had essentially demolished an entire team, single-handedly, taking minimal damage, her aura barely reading below 90%. The match would have gone a lot faster if she wasn't partially distracted by team ASHN, who was just standing off to the side with RWBY.

"Well done Miss Nikos, you will have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Professor Goodwitch said striding up to the champion.

"Thank you professor." she returned nodding her head.

"Well I know that was a tough act to follow but we have time for one more match, would anyone like to volunteer?" Glynda said addressing the students. "Miss Belladonna? You've been docile for the past few classes why don't you..." Blake, as well as the rest of RWBY, flinched, they were still sore from their fight against the mech, mostly because they did take a decent beating. Thankfully, a hand shot up before the professor could finish, "I'll do it."

It was Mercury.

"Very well... let's find you an opponent..."

"No thanks. I want to fight... her." He said pointing to Pyrrha. She just blinked incredulously, "Miss Nikos has just had a match, I'd recommend you chose another partner..."

"No! No! I'm fine. I'd be happy to oblige," the redhead said turning to Mercury.

The two fighters approached the stage, Mercury getting into a boxing stance. With a smirk, he launched himself at Pyrrah with a flying kick, she blocked it instantly with her shield, a resounding clang echoed off it, just as he dropped to the floor Pyrrah countered by sweeping Milo under his legs causing him to trip and fall. In response, Mercury angled his fall to land on his hands, using the momentum to spin kick and then backflip to disengage. An impressive feat, being able to fight evenly with the champion.

Smirking again, Mercury rushed her again, this time in a flurry of kicks, all blocked by her shield. He then rotated to roundhouse kick knocking away Milo.

"Wow, your friend's really good!" Ruby said, speaking to Emerald who just had her hands folded.

The grey-clad boy continued his assault, just as he rotated his kicks again, his leg was blocked by Pyrrah's hand, a solid clang was heard, like metal being struck. Pyrrha's eyes widened momentarily, this sensation, there was metal in his legs, implants? prosthetics? she couldn't exactly be sure. The only reason she could tell was because of her semblance, polarity, allowing her to manipulate magnetism with metal.

Mercury let out a curious hum as he attacked again, another roundhouse kick, this time, instead of blocking it, Pyrrah used her semblance to deflect it causing Mercury to stumble to the floor. _Well that's interesting..._ he thought before getting back up.

Pyrrha was ready to strike again but he raised his hands, "I forfeit." causing Pyrrah's assault to stop.

She was confused, "You don't even want to try?"

"What's the point? You're a world-renowned fighter, we're obviously leagues apart."

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, he was clearly holding his own in the fight, they were pretty even, even if she did have an advantage with her semblance it still didn't garner reason for him to forfeit.

Glynda cleared her throat, "In that case, again, Pyrrha Nikos is the winner of the match. Next time you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." she said eyeing the boy.

Pyrrha glared daggers at him. _He _was definitely suspicious, and unlike ASHN, she could feel the uneasiness, a clear, distinct unsettling feeling. She hadn't picked up on it before, not until they fought could she feel that this man was dangerous.

"Wait... that's it!" Pyrrha exclaimed causing everyone in the room who had just been about to leave stop momentarily.

"Alexandrite!" the boy in question who had originally been observing the match intently was now focused on the red-head. "Alexandrite, I challenge you to a duel, you, me right here, right now." She gestured her finger at him and herself while speaking.

"What? Out of the blue?" Alexandrite was a little more than alarmed, the way she spoke, it felt as though this challenge meant more than just friendly competition.

Jaune was quite alarmed, "Pyrrha what the hell?! Didn't you just fight five people?"

"I must share Mr. Arc's concern, Miss Nikos. Not only is class dismissed but your sudden desire to fight Mr. Lucius seems rather... well... sudden," she said pushing up her glasses.

"Yeah your aura isn't even fully recovered yet. Pyrrha, what's brought this on?" Alex questioned.

Pyrrha just blushed, the realization that her declaration was out of place and lacked explanation. "I... just really want to fight you, and that last match with Mercury left me feeling a bit empty since he forfeited. You seem strong, you'd give me a good fight."

Alexandrite eyed her confused, her aura right now was around 70%, given that she'd taken no injuries, it around fifteen minutes to recover... Well, he couldn't deny the spirit of a warrior.

Nitro and Hex shared a look that silently spoke, something was up, while Sapphire was nervously glancing back and forth between the two huntsmen, she could feel the tension in the air. They were practically locked in a staring match, Pyrrah deliberately letting her aura flare forcing Alexandrite's to challenge it. Alexandrite knew he couldn't back down, whatever was going on with her, he needed to settle it. Why was there such animosity being directed from her? He didn't know why she was acting this way but he'd rather have her on his side than against him and if dueling her is what it took then so be it.

"I accept," he calmly said, his gaze never faltering. "I'll give you time to recover your aura."

Glynda just gawked, as if they were carrying about without her consent. She wanted to berate them for this unsanctioned challenge but seeing the two glaring daggers at each other, she figured they'd just fight even if she didn't referee it.

"Alright... I'll allow this duel, however Miss Nikos, you have twenty minutes to recover your aura." She said looking at the champion.

"Professor WHAT?! DON'T ENCOURAGE THEM!" Jaune was flailing. The three seemed to disregard his existence and Ren placed a hand on his leader's shoulder, "Let them," he said. Jaune backed down.

* * *

The students filed into the room, apparently word spread fast when it concerned the school's number 1 prodigy and the mysterious transfer student from Mistral, people had signs with 'We love you Pyrrah' and... surprisingly enough, there were a few signs with 'Go Alex!' and 'Marry Me', much to Ruby's displeasure. Alexandrite himself was taken aback by the support from people he didn't even know, and slightly mortified that he apparently had a fan-base, when did they even get time to _make _those signs? Team RWBY filtered into the room taking a seat in the front row next to JNPR.

"What's going on Jaune, why are they fighting?" Ruby questioned, nervousness evident in her voice. Weiss looked concerned as well, she may not show it but she was attached to the masked boy. Yang seemed to understand the situation, she folder her arms and leaned back against her seat "Pyrrah's been kinda suspicious toward Alex since day one. Alex hangs out with Jaune, Nora, and Ren but when it comes to Pyrrha, she's almost never there. She might think he's a threat.. and when an unknown wolf wanders into your pack and smells suspicious, as a pack leader you need to assess him, judge him and find out how much of a threat he poses."

"I don't get it why would Pyrrah have suspicion for Alexandrite? He's really kind and a super nice person," Ruby couldn't wrap her head around it. Blake understood better than anyone, Faunus can usually tell each other apart even under a disguise but Alexandrite and Sapphire did extra to ensure not even a Faunus could spot them. She didn't know why they would go to such extremes to hide their identities. Pyrrha is the strongest one of all the members of their year and close friends with everyone. Alexandrite and his team popped into their lives suddenly, bypasses initiation and was already growing close with everyone. Normally that wouldn't be a problem but they were hiding a lot, Pyrrah's aura control was above everyone else, she picked up on their auras or lack thereof, constantly hiding their faces, their auras, she could respect privacy but call it a sixth sense. Something was up and she needed to know that they weren't a threat. She needed to get a feel for who they were and she decided the best course of action was to go for the head.

"They'll be fine, this isn't the first time Alexandrite has had to deal with this situation," A new voice spoke up beside Blake. JNR and RWBY turned their heads to see Nitro, Hex, and Sapphire walk in and take up seats next to team RWBY. "What do you mean this isn't the first time?" Weiss asked raising her eyebrow. "Back at Haven, when these two were new students, I did the same thing."

The two teams looked at him wide-eyed. Hex spoke, "Yeah back then, Alexandrite and Sapphire were part a two-man team, they joined the semester late and normally the standard was four people but the academy made an exception, saying they couldn't split them into two five-man teams and there weren't any more students left to form a full team."

Sapphire then joined in, "The headmaster told us that we could operate as a duo if we worked with a full team on operations," her voice was calm, her eyes were transfixed on the arena.

Nitro continued, "Back then my team, THRN (Thorn), Thorian Callous, Gale Rouge Ebons, me and Hex were the team assigned to operate with them. Thorian, Gale, and Hex were getting really close to two newcomers, as team leader, of course, I was willing to carry out my duties as a huntsman but back then I was a little…. Over the top..."

Hex burst out laughing. "Over the top? Dude you were like general overbearing, you were super protective of us," she fake wiped a tear from her eye after calming down.

Nitro blushed in embarrassment, "Yeah I was also a little arrogant, felt I was in charge of protecting my team and treated them like kids sometimes anyway I saw those two as a threat, they hid their identities, they never joined us when we offered to hang out. I felt like they were deliberately plotting something and I feared for my team when Alex was appointed team leader after... an incident... I challenged Alexandrite to a duel to test his mettle, determine if he was trustworthy... also I was still hot-blooded from that 'incident'. As the old saying goes, a man can lie through anything except his fists. Long story short, I got my ass kicked but I made the most loyal friend a person could ask for." His eyes looked distant as if reminiscing.

Nora looked in awe, "That story was" she sniffed, "So MOVING!" She burst into tears and clung to Ren who looked slightly uncomfortable but humored his orange-haired friend.

Jaune felt a sweat drop. "Wait you said you had an old team, those other two, what happened to them? Alex became leader... how did that fit in?" Jaune asked.

Nitro turned to him, his normal carefree face was dark, "That... incident... was big...Another long story, one that I'm not inclined to share sorry, _but _what I can tell you is that Thorian and Gale are dead."

Everyone looked mortified, an incident that cost the lives of two team members? That was very heavy news to deal with, it would explain why they don't like talking about their pasts.

"Oh look the match is starting!" Ruby said pointing to the arena.

Pyrrha and Alexandrite stepped into the ring, both standing at the center face to face. It was like a staredown.

"Don't take this personally Alexandrite," she said, in her eyes, she was going to win.

"What's this really about Pyrrah, if you just asked me I would tell you, at least if it's within my power to." He said calmly his tone even, trying to appeal to her.

"Humour me if I don't take your word for it," she said as she turned back to her side of the arena. Alexandrite followed suit both reaching equidistant from the center, drawing their weapons.

Pyrrha readied Milo and Akouo in combat stance while Alexandrite held Asura's scabbard in a drawing stance.

Professor Goodwitch stepped onto the scene, the aura meters of both fighters appearing above her head on the display board. "Combatants ready?" She glanced at them, both were locked in the staring match. With a deep breath, she yelled out, "FIGHT!"

Neither duelist dare move. The atmosphere in the arena was thick with tension, so much so, one could cut it with a knife.

Alexandrite waited patiently. Taking on her fighting style by rushing in was suicide. If he hoped to fight her on even ground she would need to make the first move. Ruby felt her breath hitch in her throat as she looked on from the stands.

"If you won't come to me, I'll just come to you!" Pyrrha yelled as she rushed into him. Exactly as he wanted, he readied his stance, pulling the trigger on his weapon, the blade shot out with incredible speed, Alex caught it and parried her oncoming thrust, deflecting her to the side with the sheer force behind the swing.

She was momentarily stunned, her semblance refused to work on the blade, whatever it was made of, it wasn't traditional metal. Using the momentum of the deflection to pivot on Milo, she launched herself back against him. Pyrrha ducked low and threw her shield with deadly accuracy, aiming for his head. Alexandrite used the flat of Asura's scabbard to block the shield causing it to ricochet skyward, in that moment Pyrrah had already closed the distance, catching the shield and uppercutting with Milo in its sword form. He reacted almost instantly dodging backward, the tip of the blade narrowly missing his chin as he stretched his head back to avoid it.

Alexandrite was shocked, was this the power of her semblance? Was the accuracy and masterful manipulation of her weapons the result of some force? He didn't have time to rationalize it as Pyrrah launched herself to meet him mid-air as he was falling, slamming the shield into his chest sending him crashing to the floor in a crater. She landed at the edge of the arena, staring at the bruised boy in the center, knocked flat on his back. The crowd gasped in shock at the level of brutality being displayed, Alex's aura was, at first being taken down by a solid 5% with each blow, now it had crawled, that last hit, however devastating it looked, barely did 2%. His aura was currently sitting at a clean 88% while Pyrrah had taken only 10% damage.

"This can't be all the power of team ASHN's leader is it? Come on, stop holding back and come at me!" she practically yelled, her aura radiating off her. She was furious, how could he be holding back? Did he underestimate her? Was he holding back because he looked down on her? Whatever his reason, if he wanted to make it out of this duel in one piece then he needed to go all out.

Ruby couldn't understand the sight before her. Alexandrite flat on the floor, the normally calm and cheerful Pyrrah, practically steaming with anger. She looked over to the SHN of team ASHN but all three pairs of eyes were glued to the fighters, not one of them looked worried.

"How can you be so calm, Alexandrite is getting tossed around like a bag of wheat!" Ruby practically shouted. Her teammates looked at her quizzically, "Ruby it's just a duel if he loses, that's all there is to it," Weiss tried to rationalize with the young leader. "BUT HE IS GETTING HURT! FRIENDS SHOULDN'T FIGHT LIKE THIS! It's like Pyrrah is actually trying to kill him..." Ruby was frantic, perhaps she and Yang were the only ones that felt the emotions embedded into the duel, that it was far more than 'just a loss'.

"Are they friends? Ruby, we might be friends with Pyrrah, and Alexandrite may be friends with us, that doesn't necessarily extend the relationship. Pyrrha hasn't talked much to team ASHN and they aren't nearly as close as they are with us." Blake's input was sound. The young leader looked like she wanted to argue again but Sapphire stopped her. "Just watch, Alexandrite is our leader because of more than just his charisma."

Back in the arena, Alexandrite slowly got himself off the floor. "Pyrrha you're right, I am holding back, but not because of what you think, I just wanted to feel the fight without pulling out all the stops" he coughed out. He knocked his chest with his fist a few times then brushed the dirt off his clothes. The hoodie he wore up all the time had come off, his black hair and mismatched eyes were now in full display, if one looked closely enough they could see a little bit of white just above his ear, but you had to be really close to see it.

Most of the girls in the crowd squealed at how cool he looked, getting up from that crater and stretching himself. Ruby just rolled her eyes, "When did he even get fans? As far as I knew, no one even knew he really existed." she said rather irritated. Yang and Hex just shared a look and snickered, "Ruby, are you really jealous right now? And to answer your question, I think our class has secretly had a fan club for him since day one, I mean, most teenage girls lose their minds when they see a tall, lean and muscular edgy guy. His mysteriousness just adds to the glamour." Yang said chuckling.

Ruby instantly turned her namesake, "Pfft, me? I'm not jealous... why would I be jealous? It just pisses me off that a bunch of strangers are going bananas over him and they don't even know him, he's not some piece of meat you can drool over." she huffed causing everyone to just facepalm at her denial. Sapphire felt a sense of pride knowing that there was someone out there, that wasn't in their tiny circle of ASHN, that respected her brother so much that they'd be willing to get angry on his behalf.

"Thanks, Ruby, that means a lot." the blue girl said hugging her friend. Red in question awkwardly returned the hug, "Uhh no problem?"

"Quit it guys the match is still going on." Nora chirped causing everyone to refocus their attention.

Back in the arena, Alex had gotten back into a battle stance.

"Are you finally ready to stop pulling punches then?" she asked raising her spear and shield.

"You have no idea …" Alexandrite's aura suddenly spiked, his aura drained slightly. He got back into drawing stance again and closed his eyes.

This move made Pyrrah angrier, "If you don't wanna fight then I'll just end it quickly."

Alexandrite inhaled deeply and let out a slow exhale. His hand gripped around the warm handle of Asura before opening his eyes again, and staring down the sights of the raging tempest that was Pyrrha Nikos. Holding the sheathe in his left hand he got into a stance unfamiliar to those outside of Menagerie.

Pyrrha came at him full force, her spear at the ready. Alexandrite waited until she was exactly two arms lengths away before pulling the trigger on his weapon. The blade shot out with tremendous speed, the vibrating ninjato humming through the air at lightning speeds, the air practically burning with heat as the sword connected with the red-head. Pyrrha was caught off guard, she tried to block with her shield but the strike was just inhumanely fast. It caught her in the side and she was rag-dolled across the arena like a smooth rock on a calm lake, scorch marks on her shield.

"Was that too much for you?" he taunted.

Pyrrha stood up a little shakily, her aura had gone down a whole quarter in that one strike. She smiled a battle-hungry grin, "Not even close to enough!". Her actions were instant. They met at the center of the arena, both moving faster than anyone had ever seen. Incindium clashed with magnetic steel, both fighters not missing a single breath.

Jumping backward into the air Alex unhinged Asura's trigger and shot several rounds of the semi-auto sniper at the champion who just deflected them effortlessly with her shield.

"So your bullets aren't made of the same metal as your sword," Pyrrha said noticing her semblance's effect. Alex flinched slightly, "You would be correct in that, though it's a family secret what the metal composes off."

"Unique alloy? Well, that makes sense why my semblance won't affect its polarity." She returned. The mood between them had lightened greatly. Pyrrha was beginning to thoroughly enjoy the fight. He just unloaded the rest of his clip.

"Useless!" she yelled as her shield easily deflected the bullets.

"The bullets were a distraction!" Alexandrite retorted as reared Asura in its scythe form and came down hard with added acceleration due to gravity. Pyrrha blocked with her shield but still sustained damage, she countered while he was stationary against her shield by thrust her spear into his unguarded side. They traded blows for a while, Alex poured every ounce of his spirit and earnestness into each strike. They both jumped away to reset. Their auras around 20% each now.

The crowd watched in utter amazement as the battle between the two expert fighters was reaching its endpoint. Their performance reminded Blake of two expert fighters dancing to the sound of war, their movements were sharp and precise yet graceful and purposeful.

Their aura's were both sitting at around 20% now.

"Pyrrha! I'm really having fun here!" Alexandrite called over to her, his breath labored and panting.

"Let's end this!" She replied. The crowd held their breath in anticipation for the final strike, a clash of blows, the deciding hit.

Alexandrite reared Asura in a reaping stance, a style that Ruby could swear she'd seen before... but where? Just then his blade began to whir with a vibrating him as Alex revved the trigger, this caused Pyrrah to snort in amazement.

"Just full of surprises aren't you!" Pyrrha smiled, looking rather battle-hungry.

"I have a lot, and honestly for the sake of the peaceful lives of my sister and I, I'd like to keep them hidden," his words held the full truth, the weight behind it held the prodigy in an iron resolve. Pyrrha recognized him and nodded.

The two ran at each other both exhausted, their breathing labored and ragged as the two fighters clashed. The spear came down and scythe curved up. In what seemed like a standstill moment, the sound of clashing metal rang deafening in the silence of the stadium. The audience whose breath they had not realized they were holding came out near simultaneously as the two warriors were flung backwards onto the floor in a double knockout.

Ruby who sat white-knuckled grip against her seat stood up, her hands covering her mouth.

After what seemed like a moment in eternity, the two fighters rose from the dust, both aura meters blinking red. Glynda, who had been silently observing this time, was in absolute shock at the battle that had just happened before her eyes, never in all her years as a teacher, had she seen such a viscously beautiful display of skill and precision.

"I-I declare, that the match between Pyrrha Nikos and Alexandrite Lucius is... a draw!" she stuttered out in disbelief.

As if someone had rung the imaginary stopping bell, the arena erupted in cheer, the members of team JNPR, RWBY and SHN rushed onto the field.

"You goddamn idiot!" Sapphire screamed as she launched herself at her brother and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Ah! Woah calm down kid, I hurt all over and then some," he ruffled her hair.

Jaune and Ren helped Pyrrah to stand properly. "Honestly, was it necessary?" Jaune was exasperated, but the relief in his voice didn't go unnoticed.

"One day you'll understand Jaune, as team leader, you will learn eventually," she said before turning to her rival. "Alexandrite!" she called, the young leader turned to her, "That was an outstanding match, you're an amazing fighter and anyone who fights with as much spirit and resolve as you has earned my respect," she smiled a tired smile.

The teen flashed her a grin, though she could not see it behind his face mask, his eyes said it all. "You to Pyrrha, the same goes here," he nodded.

Ruby couldn't hold herself back, she ran up and smacked Alexandrite over his head. "Ow! What part about injured person do you people not get?" he rubbed the area sorely.

He was about to complain further when Ruby hugged him tightly. "You idiot, friends shouldn't fight like that, that was way too scary," she said almost too quietly. The shocked team leader was at a loss for words.

Ruby held onto him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. Alexandrite was finally easing into the embrace and was about to return the hug when Yang coughed loudly. "AHEM!". Ruby's eyes opened wide and immediately separated from Alexandrite as if he were hot coal, not that he wasn't _hot_ to her.

"Ummm yeah haha….you should uh…go to the infirmary or whatever," she blushed furiously as she tried to recompose herself. The bewildered boy could only swallow hard and nod as he was led away by his team. As ASHN left the arena, Hex turned back to Yang and nodded, she caught the silent exchange, something was up between Alexandrite and Ruby even if they didn't know it themselves.

The last set of people to leave were none other than Emerald and Mercury, who had been observing the match very...very closely.

* * *

**-In a dorm room in Beacon-**

"So... anyone else?" A female voice spoke as she observed Emerald and Mercury who sat on the floor of the dorm room. The voice belonged to none other than Cinder Fall.

"Pyrrha Nikos." Emerald returned looking to her leader.

"Ah, the invincible girl."

"She's smart, but I wouldn't say invincible," Mercury added in. "Her semblance is polarity, though you wouldn't be able to tell just by watching her." Emerald input, the fact that Cinder was paying so much attention to this girl was bothering her.

"When she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted. But... she only made slight adjustments. She doesn't broadcast her powers thus putting her opponents at a disadvantage. You should be able to take her no problem." Mercury finished.

Cinder smiled devilishly, "Interesting, everyone thinks she's fated for victory when she's really taking matters into her own hands..." she pondered for a moment looking thoughtful. "Is there anyone else?"

"The Lucius siblings. Specifically that 'Alexandrite'." Mercury said snorting. "If you ask me their masks are so last year."

"Ah the one who went one on one _with _Nikos. He was quite the powerhouse... and something tells me he was still holding back." Cinder said remembering the account of their match. "He's hiding something big... and what about his sister? What's on her?"

"No idea, but what we do know is that anyone capable of wielding an axe that big and getting into Beacon Academy at the age of almost fifteen, is pretty noteworthy," Emerald said speaking highly of someone for a change.

"Well... let's make an effort to find out those secrets then hm?" Cinder said slyly. At that moment, across campus, Alex felt a cold shiver run down his shoulder.

* * *

**Well, it's a lot shorter than the last chapter, I really did want to make this longer but I figured this would the best place to cut it off without divulging into another plot of interest. Next chapter is already under edit so I'll try to push that one out soon...hopefully.**


	8. Chapter 8: What it means to be young

**Chapter 8: What it means to be young**

* * *

Nova had thoroughly wedged himself and his team into the entanglement of Beacon Academy and its lifestyle no longer was he paranoid or afraid that their secrets would be discovered, that he and his sister were really the last two dragons, that they had unstable powers that could potentially go out of control if they used it carelessly. In this entire time, there were very few occasions where his power to manipulate heat itself acted out, the only instances were those minor flares when he felt his emotion spiking. He purposely used it in the fight against Pyrrha to deal damage but he couldn't just display it, anything more than minor manipulation of temperature would prove dangerous. Sapphire hadn't been experiencing any difficulty, in fact, her power was probably the most stable to have ever manifested, perhaps because it was unique.

As a child, he remembered the stories his father told him, about the older Aspects, there hadn't been a single Aspect in several generations. Aegis gene usually manifested in some alteration of a natural element, his family had Aspects who could control fire itself, similar to the Fall Maiden, at least most of them did. There was one recorded who could use lava, apparently the child of an Earth and Fire Aspect, and one who could manipulate gaseous chemicals, a child of an Air and Earth Aspect. The chemical manipulator was said to be the most unstable, he was the reason for the disappearance of the earth and air Aspects.

Nova's power was different, he could manipulate heat, as far as he knew that was the limit of it, but unlike fire, his heat was instant and could skyrocket air temperature to unearthly levels. On the surface not the most unstable, but for some reason, he could never control it. It was volatile and dangerous as if it were on a broken pipe that was hastily repaired, use it too much and it would explode.

Luna's power was by far the most peculiar, his father said it was the first of its kind, a unique evolution. Even she wasn't sure how it worked, all she could do right now was 'telekinetically' move objects, at least that's how it looked to him. He forbade her from practicing it to avoid any unwanted outbursts but there had never been any, at least as far as he knew. Sometimes, it would feel like she was hiding things from him, but to him, it was a sign she was becoming her own person, so he had to respect that. These thoughts would wander their way into his head ever so often as he sat under this one tree in Beacon's courtyard.

Every night Nova would be spotted out in the courtyard, under that same tree, practicing his swordsmanship and scythe mastery, dressed in his guise as Alexandrite. Occasionally a certain red hooded team leader would be seen sitting on the grass with him, watching as he trained, talking and smiling fondly, exchanging stories of their days, their team, enjoying their time as teenagers, something Alex hadn't really been able to do until now.

One such night was this one.

"Alexandrite, can I ask you something?" Ruby leaned against the trunk of the oak tree, her hood down as she was intensely polishing and maintaining Crescent Rose.

"You just did." he chuckled once he saw her 'seriously?' face. "Ruby, you know I'll tell you anything you need to know…within my ability to answer, that is," the male team leader said as he spun Asura in his hands, the scythe cutting clean through the air, a crisp humming sound from the vibrating blade, and the rush of wind in the leaves were the only other sounds.

"It's kinda personal…not about like your past or anything but you know in general I guess," her nervousness was quite apparent.

"Yeah shoot your shot," he morphed Asura and sheathed it before taking up a seat next to his friend, his black hoodie and matching tracks were pressed against his form in the slight breeze, the colors of he wore stood near monochrome while those heterochromatic of his eyes shining admits the black.

"Okay you don't have to answer this but, do you know what it feels like to well like someone...as in more than a friend?" her face was red and she wouldn't meet his eyes. The question caught the young teen off guard, how the hell should he respond? He just looked up as if the branches of the tree held the meaning of life, a strange bubbling erupted inside of him, unsure of how to even begin to answer the question.

Deciding to just go for it, he answered with the first things that came to his mind. "Um, well…. I guess when you're with them, you could spend hours talking about nothing in particular and it'd be the most interesting thing in the world to you. Everything they do, their quirks, their expressions, all of it becomes endearing. Your heart starts beating really fast when you're with them and you can't get them out of your head." He realized with a brief shock, that the words he spoke hit so close to home that it was directly on the mark. He had accidentally described how he felt towards the adorable girl sitting mere inches from him without directly telling her. Saying those words out loud, for the first time, it felt like he had just confirmed to himself that he was indeed, crushing on her...hard.

She looked at him wide-eyed, he was afraid for a second he had given himself away. She turned her head and blushed once again, still not responding.

He gulped, his anxiety rising, telling him to back off, not to make things awkward but he went straight in and tried playing it cool. "If you're asking me this you must have someone you like right? More than a friend?" his voice wasn't shaky, a good sign.

"W-whaa! N-No um.. well yeah but they don't know I like them," she stuttered and began fiddling with Crescent Rose again. Alex felt himself die a little on the inside, _she liked someone?_

"What about you? Got anyone you like?" she tried to redirect attention. He felt almost sad, a sickening feeling in his stomach, she said she liked someone but they didn't know she liked them. It could be anyone, he shouldn't get his hopes up that it might be him.

"M-me? Um, y-yeah…." _You_ he wanted to say but kept the last word to himself. He mentally cursed his cowardice. He was one word away from possibly ruining one of the best friendships he's ever had.

An awkward pause fell between the two.

"I know it's not my place but, are you going to tell anyone that you're a..." she gestured to the top of his head. His eyes followed her finger realizing. "Oh... Maybe one day…when…" he stopped himself from finishing that. He wanted to say _One day when I catch the man responsible for ruining my life_.

She wouldn't let that last part go, "One day when?"

He was caught red-handed, "Umm…. One day when Sapphire and I are safe to reveal ourselves, yeah that's it," he opted for the cheesiest way out.

She just hummed in response, "I still don't know what you look like under there, all I saw was your hair and horns. You might as well tell me everything now." she teased.

Alex flicked her forehead playfully, "You can't get it out of me that easily Red." he chuckled.

Silence fell on the two once more, this time comfortable and calming. Ruby had been slowly nodding off, the atmosphere between them was just too comfortable.

"Hey Ruby we should head back…" he turned to see the young leader and fallen asleep on his shoulder with a soft thud as she landed._ She is really cute when she sleeps_ he couldn't help but think. Sighing to himself, not wanting to wake the angel that was on his shoulder he gently scooped her in his arms bridal style and carried her back to her dorm. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, he slung Crescent Rose in its compact form around his back and launched himself up the tree, near team RWBY's room window, which was almost always open at this hour because Blake was a late sleeper.

He gingerly climbed into the room carefully trying not to wake anyone. Glancing around to see if Blake was inside, before walking carefully to Ruby's bed and placing tucking in the sleeping girl.

"Look who finally came up," A quiet feminine voice spoke as he was about to leave. His head whipped around almost inhumanely to see Blake in the shadows of her bed, where he could have sworn, she wasn't before. "Um I can explain?" he was at a loss. Blake beckoned him outside.

"Don't worry I won't tell Weiss you two were out late together," she giggled.

"Ugh it's not like that…we were just hanging out and it got late and she fell asleep so I brought her here," he was flustered, he silently thanked the darkness of the night for hiding his shame.

"Mhm, and I don't have cat ears, listen Alexandrite, you should REALLY ask her out," Blake's words were unexpected.

"It's not that I don't want to but, she doesn't like me like that I think, she said she has someone she likes…. Besides, I'm not…my life is…it's dangerous for her to get that involved with me," he solemnly said.

"What type of reasoning is that Alexandrite I can tell, you like her, you should at least let her know, even if she doesn't reciprocate it'll make you feel better. Besides, did she say that it wasn't you that she liked?" Blake reasoned, folding her arms, her amber cat eyes glowing the dark. Alexandrite seemed to ponder over it, "Blake It's not like I don't want to tell her but, I have my reasons," he was tired.

"Yeah the same reasons you can scale a tree that is nearly two stories and the same reason you hide your face," she said. His eyes widened, "How do you…"

"How do I know you're a Faunus? Easy, I used to be a member of the White Fang, there are telltale signs of a Faunus trying to hide their identity, albeit you're the most well-hidden one I've met but nevertheless, I'm a ninja, an actual ninja so I can tell." She was frank. "Your skills are a dead giveaway, your style of fighting doesn't use the deception of tricks that the those trained as shinobi use, yet you claim to be one. You're ultra-sensitive to sound, sight and smell and emotion. And your addiction to fish, perhaps one of the Faunus kinds most notable traits."

"Really? My food preferences to?" He raised his eyebrow and rolled his eyes.

"Yes well, there may be an innumerable amount of species of Faunus that like fish that much but the fact is, your attraction to the food is _inhuman_." She concluded.

"Yeah, Sapphire and I are Faunus, but the reasons we hide aren't because of our race, it's because of who I am, if certain people knew that my sister and I were alive and who we really were, they would stop at nothing to end us, so we hide ourselves in plain sight," Alexandrite said.

"I'm not sure if I have the right to say this but, you know you can trust us, right? At least Yang, Ruby and me, even Weiss." Blake's eyes were ridden with concern for the young leader and his burden. She knew all too well what it was like to run from her past.

Alexandrite nodded, "I know Blake it's just...".

"It's just you're worried for us I get it, just know, we can handle our fair share of fights, and you are our friend, you may not want to drag us into your problems but one day we will make it ours to, whether you like it or not. Who're you running from anyway?" She had a fire in her eyes that Alexandrite couldn't ignore.

"The White Fang." His answer was short but impactful. Blake's eyes were like saucers, she hadn't expected him to answer, "But you must know that I..."

"Used to be one of them? That doesn't matter, Blake. Just as you said, I do trust you. You're running from them too."

The two were silent for a moment, _well this is as good a time as any_ Alex thought. "You know, you remind me a lot of someone I once knew," he said garnering her attention.

Her ears perked up, "Huh?"

"It's nothing, hey... what's your last name again?" he asked, her face was perplexed but she answered anyway, "Belladonna"

Alex had to suppress his laughter, of course. He should've seen it when he saw her cat ears. Blake Belladonna, he could excuse it for the fact that he hadn't seen her in nine years but when the evidence was spitting in his face he just had to acknowledge it. She was his childhood friend, though they weren't very close, they did play together and attend the same combat school so of course, she would recognize his sword style.

"Why did you need to know my last name?" She asked but instead of replying, he disappeared into the night with only the faint words of, "Good talk, see you in the morning."

* * *

The next day was quite the buzz, Team ASHN and RWBY were spending their time in the city, Yang wanted to show Hex and Sapphire where she goes for girl R&R, whatever that meant.

Nitro had some business to sort out with a local dust shop, apparently, he placed an order in three days ago and hadn't heard a word since. Thus leaving Alexandrite, Ruby, Weiss to themselves, seeing that Blake chose to stay home and read.

"Hey guys," Weiss spoke trying to get the attention of the two team leaders. Ruby walked in front of Weiss, side by side with Alexandrite, the two were talking non-stop, something about how the rotational axis on a foldable scythe needed a certain level of torque or something. They kept turning back to ask her opinion for various topics but she was no weapon enthusiast, eventually, she stopped trying to answer and gave in to exasperation.

"GUYS!" the heiress yelled once more, the two teens turned around to see the slightly peeved Schnee, "Um, I'll be heading out, Neptune asked me to meet him for lunch," she twirled her thumbs, feeling slightly embarrassed having said it out loud. She and Neptune had hit it off since they first met, she was playing hard to get having a trailing blue-haired boy in tow.

"Oookay? I guess we'll be seeing you?" Alexandrite was a little sad, he really wanted to talk to Weiss, at least get to know her more, afterall his sister was quite attached to the heiress. "Yeah, later bestie!" Ruby waved as she watched Weiss leave.

Suddenly it dawned on Alexandrite that he was alone with the girl he admired most, the air seemed to spontaneously increase in temperature and his self-awareness shot up tenfold. It wouldn't have been that bad had he not realized he was thoroughly crushing on her. The young girl, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it. The two continued walking and for some strange reason, Ruby ended up leading the conversations, the male leader's brain having shut down.

Meanwhile, behind some nearby bushes, the SHN and WBY members of the two teams were gathered, apparently, all those excuses to not be with the two leaders were all well-crafted lies.

"Okay operation 'Clueless' is a go!" Yang whisper shouted. The members lurked in the shadows, watching the two teens go about their merry way when Ruby wasn't looking Alexandrite could be seen staring at her, and vice versa. It was almost infuriating the way these two danced around each other without getting anywhere.

"Remind me again what this plan is?" Nitro asked rather annoyed. Everyone just looked at him, "Duh, we need to get Ruby and Alex to confess, phase one was getting them alone, phase two is causing some cliche intimate moments to happen." Yang explained.

"Are you sure forcing the situations is a good idea?" Sapphire asked trying to be the voice of reason. "Seems to me they might be able to just handle things on their own..."

The two leaders had entered a relatively crowded street, Yang looked at Nitro, "Ok you're up!" she slapped a bowler hat and sunglasses on the red-haired teen and shoved him, where did she even get them?

He passed by the two leaders on the street, ducking his head he pushed Alexandrite causing him to stumble before hustling away. Alexandrite was caught by the young Rose, the two chest to chest, a welcome reversal to the usually cliche scene.

Alexandrite couldn't look away from her eyes, once they met it was like a steel trap he could not escape. The world seemed to zone out for the two as they suddenly became lost in their own bubble. All was going according to plan until a passer-by accidentally stepped on Alexandrite's foot causing him to yelp in pain and flinch away from Ruby.

The girl in question burst out laughing at her friend's misfortune causing him to groan in embarrassment, once the pain subsided they returned on their walk. "Hey Ruby do you wanna grab something to eat, I'm kinda starving," he asked the young scythe wielder.

"Yeah sure I could go for a bite, plus anything to get out of this," she gestured to the area by spinning her finger in a circle gesturing to the increasingly busy sidewalk. It was amazing how many people flocked to Vale for the Vytal Festival.

The two made their way to a nearby café, a rather unusual place, with dark brown walls and gothic style windows, it looked like something out of one of those Larry Cotter movies Alex had watched as a kid. The vines wrapping around the black iron arches just accented it's allure. Inside was rather cozy, with a definitive cream and chocolate colour palette, especially the table at which they sat, complete with pull out chairs and gothic patterned table cloth.

"Are we gonna follow them? This wasn't part of the plan" Sapphire asked as the two disappeared into the building. "Nah I think my boy's got it this time, screw the plan let's just observe," Nitro said proudly. Hex shook her head at his manly bravado. Despite this the six of them found themselves staring out of the corner of a large café window at the two leaders inside.

"I can't hear what they're saying!" Yang yelled only to be shushed by the rest of her friends.

Inside, Alexandrite was chatting with Ruby over some old childhood memories, "And then, the water ended up all over the floor!" Alexandrite reminisced. Ruby burst out laughing, "You're kidding! I swear this kind of stuff only happens to you!" she wiped a tear from her eye from laughing too hard. "It's funny now but at the time I was screaming in pain from the burns!" he returned.

A comfortable silence fell over the two as they ate their meals. _It's now or never_ he thought.

"Hey Ruby?" the young girl turned to him. "Hm?" she had a mouthful of cookies. He couldn't help but find her stuffed face endearing. Mentally slapping himself out of his stupor he followed up, "So the Vytal Dance is coming up…." He was nervous, "And um, I was wondering if you had a date for it?" he finally asked.

The young rose blushed and swallowed, with her face beet red she replied, "Uh n-no, I d-didn't even know we were s-supposed to get dates," it was her turn to be nervous.

"Oh…" Alexandrite trailed, steeling his resolve he finally asked, "Well… if you…you know don't have one…. doyouwanttogowithme?" he finished barely able to get the words out. It was at that exact time however a large bird slammed directly into the window that was next to the two causing a loud noise and incidentally startling Ruby. The bird, oblivious to its disruption, shook itself off and flew away. The unseen observers below were just as startled.

"Aww was that a bird? The poor thing… You know bird's can't see glass." Ruby lamented. "I'm sorry were you saying something?" she turned to Alexandrite clearly having not heard a single word that was said.

_Of course this happened…just my luck…_ "I was asking if you would like to go to the dance... with me." Alexandrite tried again, gaining more confidence. *WHIRRRRR* As the words left his mouth however, it was at that moment one of the cafeteria staff chose to start up the blender, which was deafening enough to drown out his words.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Ruby yelled over the blender noise. Alex just groaned in frustration and rubbed his temples, instantly deflating his confidence. Once the noise was over he just waved his hands, "I was saying... I'm hyped for the dance." he said cursing his bad luck.

"Yeah me to, not sure why people get all dressed up, seems impractical to me," she said not noticing his look of dejection.

The sudden awareness of her environment once more alerted her to the pairs of eyes that watched them through a store window. _These guys I swear….._

She nudged Alexandrite, the boy turned and raised an eyebrow at the hooded girl. "Wassup?" he questioned only to be dragged closer, she pretended not to look at him and whispered "Pretend like you see nothing but look outside the window right now,". Losing all sense of depression before, he curiously looked outside.

Alexandrite glanced briefly toward the window only to spot an all too familiar yellow top of hair and white. She pretended not to notice and finished up her meal. She smiled as an idea popped into her head, if they wanted to see something interesting then…

She put a napkin to her mouth and whispered to Alexandrite, "I see em, wanna do something fun to get em back for spying on us?".

Alexandrite tried hard to suppress his grin but the mischievous glint in his eyes were apparent as ever. "Oh you know it."

Ruby took his hand in hers, the contact causing both teens to blush, "Follow my lead," she said.

She dragged him out from the table, not before paying their bill, towards the back entrance of the café.

Yang strained her head seeing the two leave, she pushed down onto Nitro's head causing the boy to yell out, "Gah blondie what are you doing?!" the red-headed boy grunted.

Yang released the pressure on him, "They got up and left but I don't know where they went,".

Blake, knowing what could potentially arise quietly slipped away leaving the rest of her friends to suffer whatever wrath the leaders would bring upon them.

"Well they have to leave the store at some point come on let's stake out the entrance," Hex said beckoning them to follow. Weiss and Sapphire shared wary looks before following her.

Alexandrite and Ruby left through the backdoor and climbed the fire escape on the small building landing themselves on a small iron ledge overlooking the entrance. Just below them hid Yang and gang in the bushes scoping out the front entrance as predicted. The busy patrons bustling in and out of the building paid no attention to the two teens, not giving them away. Ruby snickered and pulled out two small vials of purple dust. Alexandrite raised his eye brow, "Is that what I think it is?".

"Yep, sticky dust, stole it from Weiss' stash this morning before we left, don't tell her though!" she quickly piped. Alexandrite smiled, "Wouldn't even dream of it," he raised his hand in the form of a pledge.

"So do you wanna do the honors?" she said handing him the vials.

"OH DO I?!" he unclipped Asura from his belt in scythe mode, clamping one end to the grate of the fire escape and using it like a hook he lowered himself stealthily above the group. With immense upper body strength he held himself on the scythe pole and uncapped the vials, taking extreme care not to lose balance. He dumped the contents onto the team, making sure NOT to get any on Yang's hair, he wanted a prank not a death sentence.

Once he was done he lightly tapped Nitro's shoulder. "Hey guys, who're you lookin for?".

The teens slowly turned around all simultaneously shocked.

Ruby gave them a two-fingered salute before pulling Asura with Alexandrite attached upward onto the fire escape. "See yah later, good luck getting that out of your clothes," Ruby yelled as she used her semblance and dashed off with Alexandrite.

"What are they talking abo-" Sapphire's question died in her throat as she moved only to have every inch of her restricted by sticky purple goop. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Weiss shrieked. Nitro and Hex just burst out laughing knowing they deserved it while Yang was furiously checking her hair to make sure none got on.

"BAHAHHAHA!" Alexandrite was cackling madly as he and Ruby finally managed to get far enough away from their friends. They were at Beacon's courtyard after taking an airship back, Ruby leaning on Alexandrite's left shoulder out of exhaustion, she used her semblance longer than she was used to. She tried stepping on her own but immediately tripped up only to be caught by him.

"Hey Rubes you good?" he said steadying the young girl. She turned to look up at him and he could swear the world around him had stopped. Tired as she was those gorgeous silver eyes staring into his own, looking past the wig, behind the mask, he felt her gaze could see him, the real him. He couldn't hide who he was with her.

"I'm just not accustomed to using my semblance this much that's all," she said, staring intently into his eyes. They captured her, if she was honest, feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her up she could feel his biceps stiffen under the tension and by no means was that unwelcome. It wasn't a fleeting attraction, she knew for sure now, she was crushing hard on this boy and fast. She didn't know if it was love but what she did know was that right here and now she would kill to taste the lips that hid behind the mask.

Instinctively, as if they both thought the same thing they drew closer, her hands gently cupping the side of his face, however the moment she touched the edge of his mask, Alexandrite snapped out of his daze. He quickly stopped her and reeled back sharply.

"AH! Sorry! I am so sorry ohmigosh," Ruby frantically apologized realizing the gravity of what she was about to do. Alexandrite blushed in embarrassment, "Ah no no it was just instinct and um…."

"AHEM!" A feminine voice coughed loudly behind them. The two teens flustered and beet red turned around to see Goodwitch looking at them with folded arms and raised eyebrow. "Not to break up whatever love fest is happening here but no PDAs on school grounds!" she said quite irritated.

They sprung apart, "Ah it's not like- Well I mean- NO we aren't," the two teens said simultaneously, further cementing the teacher's hunch. "Mhm, right, well once it's understood," she huffed and walked off.

"Phew dodged a bullet there aye Ruby?" Alexandrite said wiping a sweat from his brow. The girl didn't answer.

"Uh Ruby?" Alexandrite turned around to see the young leader frozen solid, "WAH!" he exclaimed in shock.

Her eyes moved frantically behind the frozen eyes pointing to her right, he glanced seeing a very angry looking Weiss and Yang, "Ah hey guys fancy meeting you here, you know me and Ruby were just about to leave….." he was about to prance away with the Rubycicle when Yang grabbed him by the shoulders, a wide, terrifying smile on her face. He paled, "Please don't hurt me I made sure not to get any on your hair I swear!" Alexandrite was terrified.

"Oh I got nothin on you, Weiss already dragged off Ruby, you, on the other hand, have something much worse than a Schnee Heiress to worry about," the blonde said, her tone menacing.

What could be worse than Yang?

"Hello, beloved brother, I believe we have some things to address," a sickeningly sweet voice came from behind him. Stricken stiff he turned around to see Sapphire smiling with her staff drawn. His blood ran cold. "You get a 5-second head start," she said. Taking his queue Alexandrite bolted away.

That night Alexandrite's screams could be heard across the hall….

* * *

Hex stood, her back leaning against the wall of the gym. Sweat dripping off of her flawless dark skin, she had just finished benching a set of a hundred and sixty pounds. She was casually stretching out against the wall, a rippling set of finely crafted abs lined her midriff and her gracefully toned muscles were now in full view since she was wearing a crop top and fitted gym shorts, displaying an impressive amount of skin. Yang stood there marveling at the display before her, having just come in for a workout herself, this was the first time she'd seen Hex wearing something other than a jacket and jeans, to say she was surprised by the tech wizard's body was an understatement.

"Impressive," A female voice said with a whistle.

Hex's head whipped around to see Yang standing against the entrance to the gym, wearing a tank top and shorts, the display caused Hex to blush. Noticing this Yang smirked, "Like what you see?".

Hex wanted to deny it but she couldn't. Yang was packing, as she bent down to pick up some of the weights, her abs flexed showing off their toned lines. Hex couldn't help but stare.

"Shut up! I just got done with those so you can use them," the purplette pointed to the weight plates. Yang just raised an eyebrow at her friend's sudden bashfulness. It was late at night so they were the only ones in the gym. Yang usually didn't do late-night training but she hadn't gotten the chance all day with the escapade down in Vale, so this was the first time she was seeing Hex here.

"Yeah those are nice, but I was hoping for something more, physical." She said waltzing up to the girl. Hex turned slightly red at the boldness of Yang, the two of them were close, they were friends for sure, but they'd been playfully flirting with one another since day one. Hex chalked it up to just their personalities but she was starting to believe maybe it wasn't all just a rouse in her mind.

"Like what?" She said now pressed against the gym wall, Yang's right arm pressing against the concrete just above her shoulder.

"A sparring match, no weapons, just fists. I've never seen you fight outside that time we took down the bot, I wanna see how good you are." Yang relinquished her position allowing Hex to stand up normally.

"S-sure, I gotta warn you, I'm a better tech wiz than I am at fisticuffs," Hex said as she grabbed her towel and walked to the boxing ring. It was standard size with blue ropes, usually used for practice by the students, the ring wasn't anything impressive.

"Mhm whatever you say, but after I watched you fight the first time against Cardin, then when we fought that robot, I'd say you're pretty skilled. What gets me the most right now, is that you're in peak physical performance despite being a technological maniac."

"Yeah well, just because I can reverse engineer an aircraft in using spare parts from my garage, doesn't mean I can't throw a car or two if the need arises. Gotta break stereotypes you know?" Hex returned smiling and placing a strand of hair behind her ear. Yang couldn't help but stare momentarily, the girl before her was astoundingly gorgeous _and _she lived to break societal standards? It was like the heavens were sending signs,

Yang and Hex walked in on opposite sides, both sporting boxing gloves.

"Ready?" Yang said with a 'bring it on' gesture. She hopped up and down on both legs like an actual boxer, warming up.

"Ready!" Hex yelled, and as she called it out both fighters rushed at each other.

Yang threw a straight left but Hex was quick to react, ducking to the right and countering with a solid uppercut. Yang barely dodged, not expecting the speed the young tech master had in store, she quickly recovered and sent two rights and a left in quick succession. Hex blocked the two rights but was unprepared for the fast left that followed just after, causing her to take the blow to the arm throwing her off balance.

"Nice shot, but it'll be the last," Hex said with a smile, thoroughly enjoying their little sparring match.

Yang just smirked and rushed forward but Hex read the move like an open book and sidestepped it. She then proceeded to layer Yang with a barrage of punches that sent the blonde sprawling into the rope.

Yang got up and wiped the corner of her mouth, "Seriously, for a girl that claims to not be proficient in hand to hand, you got some moves," she said panting.

"When your little brother is a hypersonic boxer, you tend to learn to react quickly," She said referring to Nitro.

"Yeah you're fast, I'll give you that, but your punches lack well….punch!" Yang said before charging at her again, this time instead of rushing forward, quickly feinted right and then swung left catching Hex off guard again. A nonstop barrage of punches laid out until Hex took a solid uppercut and went face-first into the mat.

"OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY?" Yang said frantically rushing over to the girl. She had forgotten her semblance would activate unconsciously, and the damage she took was dealt to Hex. Yang cradled the purple haired girl in her lap.

Hex groggily opened her eyes, her head was spinning and she felt like she got hit by a train. "Ugh… shit that fucking hurt…" She said looking up at the blonde. Hazel met violet and the two just stared at each other. "So pretty…" Hex said hazily as she stared into Yang's eyes, she was slightly disoriented from the blow.

"Huh?!" Yang said with a severe blush, sputtering. Hex realized she said that out loud.

"UH! I MEANT YOUR HAIR IS PRETTY! LIKE YOUR EYES! I MEAN YOU ARE PRETTY! I MEAN Ah fuck-" She tried and failed to justify herself.

Yang just laughed, a gentle smile gracing her lips; her face was a bit red but she managed to get a coherent sentence out. "You got a date for the dance?"

Hex just turned red, "N-no…." she responded realizing where this was going.

"Do you want to be mine?" Yang asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Hex replied a little too quickly. "As in date for the dance! Um yeah, that's what you meant right?" Her leader may be one of the greatest examples of a human being, but she would _not _be a coward when it came to romance. Every fiber in her body said yes and she refused to deny it.

Yang was confused for a second before realizing the double meaning, "Y-Yeah…. U-unless… you know…" She said accepting just how attracted to the purple tech wiz she was.

"W-we can give it a shot…" Hex said nervously.

And that was the beginning of Violet Dynamite.

* * *

**This chapter was probably one of my favourites to write, just because I'm a sucker for all the mushy stuff. It's a nice break before I smash the heavy content later. Get ready for the next arc in the story starting next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9: Team Ashen Ruby

**Chapter 9: Frozen Wastelands and Dusty Crows**

* * *

"Team RWBY and ASHN Please Report to the Headmaster's Office," the announcement was sent out over everyone's scroll.

ASHN were in their dorm when they received the message. Tossing his signature hoodie onto the bed Nova pulled off his wig and ran his hands through his hair. In the privacy of their room he was free of the stuffy outfit, at least he _was_.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I JUST CHANGED!" Nova was rather annoyed being forced to don his disguise again. It was a task to put on. "Dude I told you not to take it off, you never know who might barge in here," Nitro said, a pen hanging from his mouth as he was scribbling something onto a sketchbook.

"Yeah, but we have locks on the doors for a reason….Not that it could stop Nora, she broke the lock the last time she came in thinking Nitro had stolen some of her pancakes." Hex reasoned she was in the middle of coding something on the computer.

"Well in all fairness I did eat like two," Nitro began getting ready as well.

"Hey, where is Luna?" Nova asked looking up to the top bunk for his sibling. "I'm not sure, she ran off earlier saying something about hanging out with Weiss today," Hex said. Weiss and Luna were strangely close, apparently, the Schnee had soft spot for the small and adorable.

"If she's with Weiss then it won't be a problem, she'll just meet us up at his office." Nova rationalized.

Team ASHN arrived at Ozpin's office to be greeted by the members of Team RWBY and Luna dressed as Sapphire. They were all standing in line looking down at Ozpin who sat at his desk, Professor Goodwitch standing next to him like his sidekick.

"Ah welcome, we can finally begin, If you would please," he gestured for them to stand to the side, they did as they were told and Goodwitch who had been standing with Ozpin at his desk pulled down a large white screen.

"Where did she….." Ruby started but was interrupted by Ozpin, "Quiet please Miss Rose, this is important."

"But…"

"No buts."

Ruby sulked.

A projector showed an image of a sparse frozen landscape, ice and snow as far as the eye could see.

"This is the north coast, about two hundred kilometers from Vale City," he said gesturing to the screen. Clicking a button on a small remote he held the scene changed, the screen showed vast meadows and thriving forests and a clean beach, "This was the coast about a year ago."

Yang gaped, "What that makes no sense!" she almost got off her seat, "I call bullshit. No way that's the same place."

"Language Miss Xiaolong." He warned, earning a pout from the blonde. "I am no liar, about a year ago the temperature in that area dropped from a casual 27 degrees Celsius to a freezing -10, and it keeps getting colder, our scouting data over the last six months show that the temperature that started at around -10 steadily drops 3 degrees every month, it currently sits at -30. We aren't sure why or what the cause of this phenomenon is, but what we do know is it can't be good." Ozpin pushed up his glasses and spun on his heel now facing the teams.

"I've heard about this. Meteorologists said it was because of a freak cold drift from Atlas that carried over the sea and hovered around the North coast for too long, changing its climate." Weiss said proving her extensive knowledge.

"Yes you are well informed Miss Schnee, however, that was actually a lie we told the public to cover up what really happened," Ozpin said a stern look on his face.

"So... if that's a lie then... what's really causing the ice? And why choose to do it now?" Hex asked, her mind running through hundreds of possibilities. Yang couldn't help but find her scrunched up face rather endearing.

"Kinda looks like Weiss would thrive there, being one with her element." Ruby joked earning a light smack from the heiress.

"Well now that's the interesting part. We don't exactly know what's causing it, at least we didn't until very recently. If you would refer to the footage, you will see in this frame..." He clicked the slide to show an image of the frozen area, in the center of a valley, surrounded by a range of mountains, the coast just on the outside. He zoomed in on the center and, though the image was very pixelated, it was clear there was a metallic looking tower, and a hatch point amidst the snowstorm.

Ruby's eyes widened, "What is that thing?"

"That Miss Rose, is what we believe to be an access point. To a machine, or some larger underground structure. We think that whatever is causing the weather phenomenon is related to that tower." Ozpin explained, teams RWBY and ASHN all glanced at each other then back at the image.

"Ok so a big field is now a frozen wasteland, whoop de doo, what does this have to do with us, why not just send trained Huntsmen to deal with it?" Sapphire said a little too rudely, earning an elbow from her older brother.

"Firstly, we have sent a few agents in the field but none have been able to get close to the point. We'd enlist the help of more people but... we'd rather keep this as quiet as possible. Why we're sending you in is because this footage was sent by none other than one 'Randolf Wulf'," Upon hearing the name Alexandrite and Sapphire both alerted, leaning in intently, staring at Ozpin.

Noticing the sudden interest, Ozpin turned to the two, "Figured that would get your attention, the footage came with a message," Ozpin handed a faded yellow paper to the two siblings, the faded scribbles and terrible handwriting were unmistakable. This was the writing of their mentor, it read 'Campfire and Little Blue, the black bear and the red bull have found pandora's box if you get this message come to this location. You must get there before they do. Trust no one but Ozpin with this.'

"Who's this Randolf Wulf?" Weiss finally asked voicing the collective question in everyone's mind.

Alexandrite and Sapphire looked at each other and nodded, then looked to their team who simply lent a thumbs up. They turned to team RWBY, "Randolf Wulf is our mentor, well Sapphire and mine. He was kind of like a father to us before we enlisted at Haven Academy, Randolf raised us, taught us how to survive, one day he disappeared leaving a note telling us he enrolled us in the academy, that he was going to hun-….he was going on a mission,". Alexandrite explained, he wanted to say that Randolf was really going to hunt down traces of the man that caused the disappearance of his and Luna's parents.

"Oookay….but who are the 'black bear' and 'red bull' and what's this about Pandora's Box, explain," Weiss said quite agitated feeling as though she was left in the dark of all the information.

"The red bull, couldn't mean Adam Taurus? Could it?" Blake asked, her ears slightly drooping.

Alexandrite nodded, he and Sapphire had history with Adam and the White Fang, a dark history, that didn't mean they needed to involve team RWBY. "Without a doubt it's him. The Black Bear could be referring to someone else, though we aren't sure... Pandora's box might be a codename for something..." Alex said placing his hand on his chin in thought.

"Our scouts in the area did a sweep on Grimm activity, it seems that large clusters of Grimm are amassing around the location, upon doing a signal sweep we discovered a strange high-frequency signal coming from the epicenter of the frozen wasteland. A practical hole in the ground leading to a series of underground caves, I believe these caves could lead to wherever the signal is coming from but... we lack the technology to do that. We haven't been able to get anywhere near the hole as the density of Grimm is too much for large squads or lone scouts, the frequency it generates also messes with our equipment, so we can't get an accurate reading." Ozpin explained.

"And that's where we come in, you knew I had tech that could trace it, even with interference." Hex said gesturing to her team, narrowing her eyes at Ozpin.

"Guilty as charged as they say." He responded.

"Okay but I still don't get why _we_ are here, this whole mission thing is nice and all but the dance is in a week and I'd rather not miss it. Not that I don't care for my friends, in fact, I'm glad we can help them but I'd rather not endanger my only sister and my team" Yang said gesturing to all of team RWBY. Ruby smacked her sister for being rude, "Don't listen to her Professor. If Alex and his team need our help then we'd be more than happy to stick our necks out for them." Ruby said folding her arms. Blake and Weiss nodded in confirmation.

"I second Yang's statement Oz, the more you explain this to us, the more it feels like this is just an ASHN and Beacon problem. Why would we need to endanger team RWBY." Alex said stepping up. Ruby looked slightly hurt that he didn't want her there.

"Why send eight huntsmen in training on a dangerous mission? Why not just one team?" Weiss asked trying to understand his reasoning. "Not that I don't want to help." she amended.

"While this may be a one team mission, I believe I see potential in your collaboration," Ozpin said pushing up his glasses, hinting at ulterior motives.

"What does that mean?" Nitro, who had been quietly listening all this time finally spoke up, eyeing Ozpin carefully.

"Simple Mr. Zephyr, after your escapades about the town last week, I'd say you're team's synergy with team RWBY is unparalleled."

Everyone just blinked slowly. "YOU KNEW?!" They all said simultaneously.

Glynda cleared her throat loudly, "Yes, we were aware of your excursion. If it were up to me you'd all be suspended for your recklessness but the headmaster has seen to it that you remain here, under the pretense that you cooperate with us." she sat on Ozpin's desk looking sternly at the teens. They all just felt a cold chill run up their spine.

"So... we don't exactly have a choice do we..." Ruby said sheepishly.

"No, you do not Miss Rose." Ozpin continued, clasping his hands over his cane, turned to everyone, "From now on, your teams will be considered a single unit. While you can operate as team RWBY and ASHN you are to also operate as team ASHNRWBY (Ashen Ruby). Think of yourselves as... special operatives in training..."

The two teams just looked at each other, "Well... this is interesting..." Yang said wiggling her eyebrows at Hex who just blushed in reaction. Everyone just blinked in surprise at the interaction.

"So professor, how does this affect our team assignments?" Weiss asked looking to her headmaster for answers.

"As you would expect Miss Schnee, you will all be deployed as a single unit, you are still to respect both of your team leaders as they now share joint power," Goodwitch answered for him. Ruby and Alex shared a moment where their eyes met. "So... you and me huh?" Ruby said nervously, a faint blush on her face.

"I-It seems so..." he answered, though in his mind he wished that the 'you and me' meant something more than just cooperative leaders.

"Wait is this even allowed? I've never heard of a joint operations team before..." Blake asked curiously.

"Well Miss Belladonna, this is _my _academy, and you'd find that I can allow it even if it has never been done before." He said, a cunning fox-like smile appearing across his face, something no one had seen on him before.

"With regards to your mission, your team is to be led by a professional Huntsman, someone we can trust to keep you safe, incidentally this Huntsman we enlisted specifically requested to work with team RWBY, you'll meet him this afternoon after classes are over."

"When do we leave?" Alex asked folding his arms.

"You depart tomorrow, and to answer Miss Schnee's earlier question, you will be receiving full credit for this semester's team, assignments course... As for the dance, this excursion should only be for a couple of days."

Ozpin eyed the ASHN leader, "Team RWBY you are dismissed, there are some matters that must be discussed with ASHN, privately." Ozpin ended the slideshow and gestured the students out. Weiss raised her eyebrow if they were now a joint team, why did he need to exclude information from them?

"But Professor..." Alex wanted to protest.

"No buts Mr. Lucius, you may not want to involve your friends in this but with the way fate seems to be working, I'd say it is inevitable."

As they were leaving Blake cast a worried glance at the two siblings, who understood what it meant. She was worried about Adam, so were they, if there was the chance, they would confront him then the mere thought was bone-chilling.

When team RWBY left, Ozpin finally turned to the two teens.

"Nova, Luna, I understand your need for secrecy but for the sake of the lives of team RWBY I recommend telling them as they are part of your team now. The guide we selected happens to already be aware of your situation, in case, I already informed him of your aliases."

"Sir, if I may be so bold, for the sake of their lives they shouldn't even be on this mission." Hex said crossing her arms. She didn't want to endanger Yang, or anyone else.

"I understand your concerns Miss Magenta, but know this... some things are... unavoidable," Ozpin said cryptically. Truthfully, he wanted them to cooperate as a collective unit because he was training them.

"Thank you, Professor, we do intend to consider telling them, or rather we already have put thought into it... who might I ask is the guide?" Sapphire asked, curious as to who Ozpin trusted with their identities.

"It's a surprise," came Ozpin's response, frowning he looked to Alexandrite who had been relatively quiet the whole time.

"There seems to be something plaguing you, what is it?" he asked.

"Well sir, why?" Alexandrite spoke at last.

"Excuse me?" Ozpin was confused.

"Why go through this trouble of informing us, why does Randolf's whereabouts concern you? Why partner us with RWBY? What do you hope to gain from all of this?" Alexandrite let it out.

Ozpin looked at the boy, after giving a moment of thought he responded, "Randolf's message was a by-product of my investigations, I was already searching the area for a cause for the cold, believe it or not this is my problem. Once I received the message inside a metal canister along with the videotape, it became somewhat personal, I do owe him a great deal after all." He said matter of factly.

Alexandrite looked at the older man as if studying his every feature attempting to detect hints of deceit. Yet wherever he looked he found none. It felt odd to simply accept the help of others, especially ones he didn't particularly know.

"Randolf never mentioned you, Ozpin, what is your relationship really?" Sapphire was still skeptical.

The young girl's tongue was as sharp as her mind, "Luna, I'm sure your master must have told you stories of his time as a huntsman had he not?" Ozpin held his cane and began twirling it slowly.

"Ah he did, he would always tell us how he hunted with a great wizard and a tin soldier, I always imagined the wizard to be the….WIZARD OF OZ!" Alexandrite realized the memories of his childhood returning.

Ozpin smiled, "Yes he was quite fond of that nickname, I owe Randolf my life, he's helped me with more than I could ever hope to repay, the least I could do is help his students. Does that satisfy you?"

Sapphire said nothing, she simply nodded to Ozpin, realizing this was a man she idolized her whole life without knowing it. In Randolf's tales the wizard would accomplish great feats of magic, she strived to follow those footsteps, knowing that the wizard was Ozpin, it simply put her at a loss for words.

As soon as they left the room Professor Goodwitch finally spoke, letting out a deep sigh she turned to Ozpin, "Do you really think this is safe? I held back during the meeting because I realize regardless of what I said you would still push them to go. But do you really think this was a good idea? Are they ready?". Ozpin sat back into his chair, his hands folding across his chin, "Honestly Glynda? No, they aren't but, they don't have a choice anymore. The winds of change have begun, something big is coming, and they need to be prepared."

"I understand that sir but, why them? Why choose them over all other students in Beacon." She asked, referring to team RWBY.

"Glynda, this team cooperative has the potential to be the strongest unit of huntsmen the world of Remnant has ever seen. Two Aspects, of the dragon bloodline. A master inventor and technological specialist, and an unparalleled genius in controlling his own semblance, teamed up with a girl with silver eyes, her talented sister, a brilliant Schnee and an ex-white fang agent. To me, this seems like the makings of a team of elites." Ozpin smiled at himself.

"It sounds like a recipe for disaster," she said rolling her eyes. "But... it could work."

In the elevator, Alexandrite started laughing hysterically, "OZ IS THE GUY YOU IDOLIZED? REALLY? AND YOU WERE SO RUDE!". Sapphire blushed madly from embarrassment and punched her brother, "S-shut up! How was I supposed to know….anyway we need to prep for our mission tomorrow, any idea of who our guide is?".

"No clue but if Oz trusts him then so do I," Alexandrite said.

"Trusting them before meeting them? Have you gone soft?" Sapphire raised an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe, maybe it's time we let loose a little. All this secrecy might break us mentally before we have to deal with anything physical."

Sapphire didn't respond but she knew he was right, she was growing weary of the charade, she hated the lies, she finally found friends she could trust and she wanted to just be herself.

* * *

The two teams assembled in the training hall, aka the arena, awaiting their guide.

"Oi when is this guy supposed to get here? Oz told us by 5:00 pm but it's almost 7," Yang complained as she stretched her arms above her head. The sunlight was fading as it disappeared behind the horizon. Team ASHNRWBY were about done with waiting, they still had a decent amount of preparation to do before they deployed, more specifically Hex, who had to calibrate her instruments and devices to the cold climate.

"Honestly if you're gonna come late at least give us a heads up," Nitro said leaning an elbow on Hex who just shook her head.

"Ugh, my legs are killing me..." Hex groaned as she hopped from one leg to the other. Yang saw her opportunity and shifted so she stood right behind the purple-haired tech wizard, wrapping her arms around her and allowing her to softly lean back, her head just resting on Yang's shoulder, "You can just lean on me, babe." Yang said winking. Hex just blushed furiously but made no attempt to move, "I thought we were gonna play it secretly?" she said still flushed. Everyone just stared wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape, "WHAT?!" was the simultaneous response.

"Mind explaining what's going on here?" Weiss said pointing at the two girls.

Yang just snickered, "Weeeellll... We were gonna keep it a secret but, I can't hold myself back when my girlfriend is this cute." Yang said proudly, pulling Hex closer causing the purplette to just bury her head in Yang's neck in embarrassment.

Sapphire just squealed, "AW YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE!"

Nitro broke out into a fake sob, "My sister *sniff* is all grown up *sniff sniff*." he wiped away a fake tear, "In all seriousness, Hex, if you're happy. Then I'm cool with it." He told his adopted sibling.

Ruby had joined Sapphire in the gushing, "I agree with Nitro. Sis, if you're happy then, by all means, you have my approval."

Hex and Yang turned to Alexandrite, "And what say you oh fearless leader?" Hex asked turning to him. He was her leader, and her friend but before all that he was like family, someone she genuinely respected above herself, his approval was like asking a father to give away his daughter.

"Me? Hex you know I can't stop you, you can date whoever you want." He said, she looked a little dejected so he continued, "If you must know... I solidly approve. Yang is a good choice, please take good care of her will you?" He said turning to the blonde. They both looked ecstatic, "Thanks cap'n..." Hex responded smiling warmly.

Just then the great black doors to the arena opened, a tall black-haired man in a grey waistcoat and white jacket with black pants and slicked-back hair walked in. He had a light stubble on his chin and his eyes were red coloured and behind him flowed a red cape.

"Sup kids, I'm.." he never got to finish when two extremely high pitched squeals rang out, "UNCLE QROWWWWWWWWWWW!" Ruby ran at blinding speed latching onto her uncle's right arm, and to everyone's surprise, Sapphire was right beside her on his left arm.

"WOAH KIDS CALM DOWN!" Qrow said a little taken aback by the sudden assault.

_Wait did Sapphire call him uncle to?_ Ruby pondered as Yang stepped up to greet her uncle.

"Sup old man, the retirement home treatin' you good?" she said a big grin on her face.

"Hey firecracker, long time no see," Qrow smiled at the blonde bombshell.

"Um gonna introduce us?" Weiss said a little peeved being left out of the loop.

"Oh sorry about that, everyone this is my Uncle Qrow," Ruby and Sapphire said at the exact same time. This caught them both by surprise. "Uncle?!" they both finally registered the situation and pointed at each other.

Qrow laughed noticing the confusion so he stepped in, "Girls calm down, you're both my nieces," he turned to the rest of the team, "I'm Qrow Branwen, professional huntsman, Ruby and Yang's blood relative uncle and Lu- Sapphire and Alexandrite's adopted uncle." He cleared up with a throaty ahem, almost slipping up on the aliases.

"Yeah Uncle Qrow taught me everything I know about being a huntress," Ruby said while grinning like a kid.

"I'm trusting this guy less then," Weiss said sarcastically while Blake and Nitro just snickered silently behind them.

Qrow noticed the white-haired heiress, "You got a Schnee on your team? That must not be fun," Qrow commented. Weiss sputtered feeling offended. "That's Weiss my bestest bestie in the whole world and my partner!" Ruby clung to the heiress' arm.

"The silent one is Blake, the spikey red-head is Nitro, you clearly know Alexandrite and Sapphire... and..." Ruby continued to introduce.  
"The purple one here is my girlfriend, Hex." Yang finished, the tech wizard just shyly waved her hand. Qrow's eyes bulged, "Seriously?! Already?! I swear you were just a tiny brat yesterday..."

"Hey don't harp on my girl!" Yang said punching Qrow lightly in the arm. He just laughed, "Sorry if I offended you Miss..." he was searching for a proper name.

"Zephyr, Hex Magenta Zephyr, but you can call me Hex. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Branwen." She said slightly bowing. Qrow was impressed, "Wow she has manners, good pick Yang. Seriously though, you don't need to be so formal with me, just call me Qrow, or whatever you want just don't call me old man. And you have my blessing, just don't break my niece's heart okay?" he said smiling.

"Don't plan on it... ever." Hex replied grinning madly.

"Wait so how did you become Alexandrite and Sapphire's uncle?" Blake was confused.

Ruby joined her team, "Yeah Uncle Qrow... how do you know my other bestie?" she asked, Alex felt himself practically cough blood in response to being called her bestie.

"Well that is pretty simple, hey Ruby? Remember back at Signal when I went on this three-month-long mission?" Qrow turned to the dark-haired leader.

"Yeah, something about Ozpin having you check out Mistral or something," Ruby said not quite remembering the details.

Qrow nodded, "I was roaming the forests of Mistral looking for…well that's not important right not but, I was resting when I got poisoned by a King Taijutu lurking in the tree line. I didn't notice it because my ears were water clogged from having to swim through….you know what let's not sweat the details. Anyway, I got poisoned and practically incapacitated, it locked me in its death grip, my scythe lying on the floor." He said telling the story with many hand gestures, everyone listened in intensely, especially Ruby who looked like a mesmerized child.

"How did you get out?" Ruby asked bouncing up and down in excitement.

"In a desperate attempt, I called out for help, though in that Grimm infested forest I might have met a worse fate having made so much noise. As if by a miracle, a young boy about twelve years old stumbles upon me, I have no clue what a boy this young is doing in the forest and at this point, I didn't even care, I was desperate but not that desperate. I urged him to run, ready to accept my fate, instead, the boy picks up my scythe and in the most fluid movement decapitates the thing." Qrow continued gesturing to Alexandrite and making a swinging motion.

"Needless to say I was impressed. He took me back to his place where I find out he has a younger sister, being taught how to be a huntsman by an old friend of Ozpin. I wasn't in any condition to move for a while so I stuck around. The kid was being trained with a sword but I knew he was a natural with the scythe. So I taught him how to use it to it's fullest potential, and taught his baby sister how to wield a staff. She was tiny at the time not much older than ten." Qrow wanted to continue but he was interrupted by a loud cough from Alexandrite.

"Come on old man you gonna bore them with stories?" Alexandrite finally stepped up to greet the older huntsman. He turned to Alexandrite, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear, how's it going Charcoal?" he smiled fondly. Alexandrite's features were hidden behind his mask but the emotion in his eyes showed it all. He was overjoyed to see him again.

"Oh come on what're you holdin back for your sister is already in some get in here," Qrow smiled warmly. Alexandrite obliged giving him a content hug, enjoying every moment of it. The affection did not go unnoticed by Ruby and Weiss. "How's the eye?" Qrow tapped his own left eye as a gesture to Alexandrite's mismatched eye.

"Huh?" He made a motion trying to look at his own eyeball, the goofy action making Ruby giggle. "Oh yeah it's alright, depth perception still sucks though," Alexandrite said.

"What happened to you, last time I saw you, you were 15, just heading out to be a huntsman, now I find you here at Beacon a few thousand miles away from where I left you and a team leader to boot?" Qrow patted the boy's shoulder roughly.  
Alexandrite coughed into his hands, "Uh… a lot has happened….honestly, I made a lot of great friends here," he said referring to everyone, but his gaze was locked briefly on Ruby, she caught his eye and smiled affectionately. Qrow eyed the exchange, "Hmmmm a lot indeed, so wanna show me what you got? I'll take on all of you one at a time, I need to know what I'm working with, first up is you firecracker," Qrow signalled everyone to step back leaving Yang in the arena.

"Well what are you waiting for short fuse? Come at me!" Qrow bowed and beckoned the blonde.

"You're damn right I'm coming for you!" she yelled with a battle cry as she used Ember Celia to propel herself at Qrow, she swung right with blinding speed only to be blocked by Qrow's sword. He used her own body weight against her and flung her back. Sheathing his sword he drew his fists in a boxing position, "I said to come at me not drag your weight around," this seemed to infuriate Yang as her aura flared up. She rushed at him again and a heated exchange of blows came forth. Each strike Yang threw Qrow blocked and struck back only to be met by a swift counterblow. This torrential exchange went on for a few minutes before Qrow broke momentum by pushing Yang's fists upwards and launching a direct attack at her core sending her sprawling.

Weiss and Blake simply gaped at the prowess of the old Huntsman. "That was incredible, near-flawless execution!" Weiss was impressed.  
Qrow snorted, "Don't praise me, Yang's power is incredible however she is impatient, her anger gets the better of her forcing her into a pattern that became easy to predict," he dusted himself off.

"Ugh, you're still an ass as always," Yang got up smiling.

"Alright who's next, umm… you Redhead," he said pointing to Nitro, "What's your name again?".

"Nitro Zephyr, I specialize in hand to hand combat," he said donning his mechanical arm greaves.

"Nice come up here and take a swing," Qrow waved. Nitro jumped in the ring and readied himself. This time instead of waiting for him to move first, Qrow came at Nitro. This caught the boy off guard, quickly blocking the blow, Nitro ducked and circled around Qrow. The speed at which he reacted was almost inhuman as Qrow was now forced to take a solid punch to the ribs that sent him stumbling backward.

Qrow smirked, "You're good kid, I'll give you that," Qrow then swapped his style now bouncing back and forth between his feet, Nitro saw this as a challenge and boosted his speed with the jest thrusters on his arms. Instead of punching he launched himself into the air and dropped a kick onto Qrow's head. Qrow was forced to use both arms to block, in that brief moment he grabbed Nitro's legs and threw him out of the ring.

"Good stuff kid, you got guts and style, you just lack my experience," Qrow gave him a thumbs up. Nitro returned the gesture, he himself growing fond of Qrow.

"Alright Ruby you're up," Qrow drew his blade and transformed it into the scythe form. Grinning ear to ear Ruby jumped into the ring readying Crescent Rose, "I've gotten a lot better since you last fought me," she said still smirking. Qrow couldn't help but notice how tall she'd gotten, her face still held her youthful innocence but the aura she carried was one of determination and will power, a true leader.

"I'll be the judge of that," Qrow got into his stance. With blinding speed from her semblance Ruby dashed forward swinging Crescent Rose downwards, Qrow dodged and hooked his scythe under hers and used it to flip her back. Instead of falling Ruby did a somersault and arced Crescent Rose toward Qrow's head. Jumping back Qrow spun and used the momentum of the strike aimed at her waist. She backtracked and parried him, a deadly flourish of blades and blows were exchanged, it didn't look like fighting it looked like an ornate dance, riddled with the heat of combat. An impressive display, Alexandrite was absolutely mesmerized, he had never seen Ruby fight like this before and he couldn't help but feel more attracted to her. The way her hair danced as she dodged, or the way her eyes just seemed to radiate happiness or the sheer skill she wielded, it captured his attention. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the young girl brandishing one of the world's deadliest weapons. He hardly noticed when Qrow disarmed her and sent her sprawling, to him even her fall was hypnotic.

" …o….ello… HELLO!" Weiss snapped Alexandrite out of his trance.

"BAH! What? Who?" he was startled. Qrow recognized that reaction, the boy was in love even if he wasn't fully aware of it. "Oi Yang's girl, it's your turn, Kitty cat, you to, I wanna get this over quickly before I miss happy hour at the bar." Qrow readied his scythe.

Hex and Blake just glanced at each other, "Well you asked for it..." Hex said climbing into the ring with Blake.

The two got into stance, both standing stock still, leaving Qrow very confused. "Are you two just gonna stand there? Fine!" He rushed them only for his scythe to contact with absolutely nothing, passing through Blake's shadow clone and Hex's hologram as if they were thin air. Now he was very confused, using this brief moment both girls came from directly above, Hex bringing down Eres and Blake stabbing downward with Gambol shroud. Qrow barely had a moment to react as he rolled out of the way just in time for their weapons to make contact with the ground. Without taking a moment to lose Hex threw out Loki and Blake, her ribbon. Both latched onto Harbinger (Qrow's Weapon), and the made a solid pull to disarm him.

"Impressive display of synergy girls, but not enough power!" He grunted as he not only yanked back his scythe but also pulled the two girls forward and then sent them flying with a solid kick.

"If you think that was cool you should see some of our other synergies." Hex said dusting herself off.

"I'd be glad to, on the mission. Now next up is you Ice princess." Qrow said looking at Weiss. The Schnee just fumed, "Really? Even you're gonna call me that?"

"Well, I call your sister Ice Queen so that just makes you Ice Princess." Qrow smirked.

"You know Winter?!" Weiss asked incredulously, how could her esteemed sister be acquainted with this ruffian.

"Know her? She's the biggest pain in my ass to ever exist... I swear you try to take her out on a date ONE TIME and..." Qrow trailed off when he realized he was garnering stares. He coughed into his hand, "Anyway come on up Schnee."

Weiss stepped into the ring and drew Myrtenaster. "A rapier? Really? You're fighting me with your family's signature style? Classic Schnee..." He shook his head in disdain. Weiss looked offended, "What's wrong with my family's style of fighting?"

"Nothing, it works, and if it ain't broke don't fix it. But... see it enough times and..." He rushed at Weiss who dashed under him and tried to parry but he looped counter-clockwise and tripped her up, "... You learn loopholes."

Weiss was red with rage, she used her glyphs to stabilize her mid-air and the blast Qrow with a barrage of ice. Qrow flicked away a few shards and caught Weiss with his blade, flinging her out of the ring. "Well, that's unique, nice job kid. Alright blue, you're next." He said calling up Sapphire.

The tiny girl strutted into the right proudly, "This won't be like when I was a kid..." she warned. Qrow just laughed and retracted his scythe to a sword, signifying he wasn't going to fight her fully, this made her very angry.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" She glowered, for such a small girl, she had a rather short fuse.

Qrow raised Harbinger, "I don't wanna hurt my precious baby niece now do I?" to which Ruby just yelled a muffled 'HEY WHAT ABOUT ME!" Alex just patted his fellow leader on the shoulder.

"Alright... don't say I didn't warn you..." Sapphire said, her eyes glowing blue. Qrow felt a chill run down his spine...

Sapphire raised Galaxia and morphed it into its ax form, the massive weapon towering over both combatants. "When did you..." Qrow started but was cut off when he was forcibly pulled by an invisible force, to the outside viewer it looked like both fighters had moved at the same time but Qrow knew he was being pulled. Before he could even react Galaxia smashed right into his abdomen sending him flying into the wall, a massive dent in the infrastructure where the huntsman landed. He clawed himself up, checking his aura on his scroll, it actually took heavy damage, sending him to about 75%

Everyone just gaped at the massive strength displayed by the girl, even Nitro visibly shuddered, "Remind me never to piss her off..." he whispered to Alex who nodded stiffly, having experienced her wrath firsthand.

"Anyone get the plate of the truck that just hit me...?" Qrow said groggily as he got up from the crater. "Alright Blue, you win this one..."

Sapphire just curtsied and beamed a dazzling smile that made Weiss want to pick her up and squeeze her to death.

"Alright now for you Charcoal."

"You sure you want to fight me now after taking that hit old man?" Alex taunted.

"She may have taken down 25% of my aura but that's more than enough to fight you. Call it a handicap."

"Hey, break a leg, don't actually break a leg but you know," Ruby smiled warmly at him, clearly exhausted. He nodded before looking to Qrow, "If I remember correctly, we have a score to settle don't we?" Alexandrite said as he jumped into the ring.

"Yeah ten to twelve as I recall," Qrow spun his scythe in a circle before Anchoring it at his side.

"Really I seem to remember it being thirteen to thirteen," Alexandrite was quite smug even if you couldn't see his expression behind the mask.

"Huh what twelve? thirteen? Wha?" Ruby was confused. She looked to her team for answers but they just shook their head. Sapphire cleared it up for her, "Those two have been at each other's heads for a while before Qrow left, he and Alexandrite would spar at least once a day, they kept count of the number of times they beat each other," she turned their attention to the arena.

Ruby and Yang both gaped, "Wait Alexandrite beat Qrow?" they both said incredulously.

Sapphire nodded, "Yeah not just once." The rest of the teams could only wonder, just what was Alexandrite hiding?

The two huntsmen stood at opposite ends of the arena, a glint of hunger in both their eyes. As if they were about to have a feast in the form of battle. The pressure bearing down on the environment around them, even Ruby had to admit her uncle was on a different level now that he was before. He was serious. Alexandrite knew he could hold nothing back, he couldn't pull his punches and needed to go all out from the start or else he would end up face down on the concrete. Not a sound dared break the still atmosphere as if a mere pin drop would be loud enough to split ears.

In one swift motion almost too fast to see, they were both off, if you looked away you would not have seen the brief moments in time where both weapons clashed. Qrow spinning his scythe in a deadly flourish, zoning Alexandrite from his person trying to draw distance while Alexandrite held no bars. Asura in its ninjato form, it's wielder dashing at near blinding speeds in a series of drawing slashes that were easily blocked by Qrow.

"Come on kid, I thought I trained you better?" Qrow taunted. Alexandrite smirked, "Nah I was just testing the waters, I'll get serious now," Alexandrite stood straight, he inhaled deeply and sheathed Asura. He got into a drawing stance his left index finger on the trigger mechanism, breathing in deeply he readied to swing, his eyes glowing a faint orange, and like the hundreds of times he practiced before, he pressed that trigger and launched the high-velocity blade, which he caught and arced horizontally with all his strength. The result was a dark orange wave of energy that seemingly burned the ground as it passed. Qrow attempted to block it with his scythe but he wasn't prepared for the sheer force or heat behind it. With a loud cry, the older huntsman was flung backward hitting the wall in the exact spot as before, the ground where the blast had traveled was scorched with burn marks.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Ruby cried in both amazement and worry toward her uncle who was slowly getting up and dusting himself off. "Nice move Charcoal, what's it called," Qrow got back into the arena.

"I call it Scorch wave, the vibrating Incindium conducts heat better than steel, and given the... you know..." He air gestured causing everyone to look confused, except Qrow who seemed to understand that he was referring to his Aspect powers, "It causes the metal and the air around it to become super-heated, allowing me to, if swung with enough force, launch a heatwave," Alexandrite explained. That wasn't all he wanted to explain how his semblance allows him to adapt his strength to his sword and alter the flow of his aura to direct the blast but that would just be giving away too much.

"When I said get serious I meant to fight me with everything you have, " Qrow smiled at how much he'd grown. Alexandrite obliged switching Asura to the dragon scythe. With near inhuman speeds, Alexandrite launched himself in full swing at Qrow. The scythe arcing in beautiful circles as it coptered towards the older huntsman's head. Qrow jumped high to dodge but was unprepared for when Alexandrite seemingly turned mid-air and caught the scythe around his body and flung him toward the opposite end of the room.

Using the back wall he was rocketing for as a launchpad, Qrow sprung back and brought his scythe down on this still recovering Alexandrite's head who barely dodged. The force of the impact sent him sprawling. Coughing and brushing the dust off him, Alexandrite got back onto his feet, "Sturdy as ever aren't you, old man?".

Qrow smirked, "Can't take me down that easily."

It was as if they were watching two masters in the ring, Alex was clearly holding back when he fought Pyrrha. Team ASHNRWBY minus the A, realized that the level these two were on was one far above what they could hope to be in the near future. Even Weiss whose pride in her own skill was larger than her attitude had to relent that the sheer prowess these two displayed was on a whole other level. Rather than acting as a demoralizer, it gave them the inspiration they needed to want to become stronger than they were, to surpass their limits.

"Come on Qrow, I want to hit you with all I got but the girls might be in danger," Alexandrite was on his knees panting, beads of sweat dripped down his head.

"Sorry kid but I think we might have to take a break, you look exhausted," Qrow said, sparing a glance up and down the boy's features.

"It's not really my stamina it's this stuffy outfit," Alexandrite muttered barely loud enough for Qrow to hear. He nodded.

"Take a break Smokey, before you start fuming and pass out," Qrow patted his shoulder.

As the two teams left the arena to go get patched up and rested for the trip, Qrow could only stand proudly as he watched them leave. _Ruby, Nova, Luna, Yang, to think you four would end up on the same path_ Qrow thought half solemn as he knew the one that Nova walked was perilous and wrought with trouble, he just hoped that they would be able to support each other through whatever trials the future would hold.

* * *

**The plot thickens now. This marks the beginning of our first real arc/event. In the coming chapters, the metaphorical fecal matter will impact the metaphorical rotating wind machine. Apologies if something seems out of place somewhere, like an unfamiliar name, I quadrachecked this thing for errors but my eyesight sucks so...**

**Anyway, 'til next time.**


	10. Chapter 10: Stay Frosty

**So quick shout out to you guys who are still actively following this story story. The support is just absolutely overwhelming, you have no idea how happy I was reading those positive reviews. Seeing people actually genuinely enjoying this just inspires me to keep writing. So as a special I'll be doubling up chapters today, one now and one a bit later.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: They went into the unknown**

* * *

Beacon Academy wasn't holding back when they gave out escort ships, the airship team ASHNRWBY were riding in was the very definition of luxury, soft, cushioned seating, a well-stocked snack locker, and sizeable bedding.

"Woah, did we accidentally get booked first class?" Yang whistled, quite impressed by the decor. Weiss raised her eyebrow, "At least they have the decency to provide suitable accommodations for an heiress such as myself."

"I'd assume you're accustomed to flying in such luxurious conditions?" Hex snorted as she placed down her bags, it would take them a solid two hours before they could get to their drop zone so they had time to strategize and brief each other.

"I _only _fly first class. One must hold themselves above the common rabble." Weiss responded with an air of snootiness.

"Are we part of the common rabble?" Sapphire asked looking up at the heiress. Weiss just glomped the shorter girl, "Nooo of course not. You're my extra special comrades you adorable munchkin you!" Weiss squeezed Sapphire who was currently gasping for air and making a desperate attempt to escape the heiress' death grip.

"So you wanna run it by me what exactly we're doing here? As in, Oz said investigate and infiltrate but, what's our game plan?" Alexandrite said as he reclined on the fabric lined chair around a table.

Sapphire, Hex, Blake, Yang and Nitro sat together playing some form of poker passing the time while Qrow and Ruby were stuffing their faces on airline food. Weiss who was sitting opposite to Alexandrite, reading a book glanced up to see the state of her team leader. Needless to say her eye began twitching so much Alexandrite was sure she was experiencing a bodily glitch.

"MMM Mhmm Hmm Mhmhm," Ruby said with a mouth full of cookies, apparently trying to converse with Qrow. Weiss just sighed and shook her head in disdain while Alexandrite couldn't help but find Ruby absolutely adorable, but business was business.

"Ahem!" he cleared his throat loudly, no one seemed to pay him any mind except for Weiss who quirked her eyebrow. When their eyes met, Alex made a hand gesture as if to say, 'help me out here?'

Weiss nodded in understanding, promptly put down her book, walked up to the distracted Ruby and smacked her over the head, hard.

"OWIE WHAT WAS THAT FOR? Uncle Qrow Weiss is being a meanie..." she pouted giving large puppy dog eyes. Alex felt his heart practically stop for a moment but he recomposed himself, "Yes now that I have your attention, Ruby, Uncle Qrow. We must discuss our strategy." Alex beckoned everyone close to the table. They all flushed in embarrassment having momentarily forgotten the fact that they were on a dangerous mission.

Once everyone was gathered around the table, Hex popped one of her miniature holo projectors and popped a 3D map of the landscape.

It pictured a large flat area with little to no trees and a few mounds along the way. The map was encircled by a tall mountain range with a single bottleneck opening through a ravine at its southernmost region.

Dusting off his hands Qrow spoke up. "The Ship drops us off here," he said pointing to a spot at the base of the ravine. "The storm's way too violent for a closer drop so we have to make our way inward. Our destination is here at the center," he then gestured to the very center of the area. He placed his left and right index finger on the same point and drew them apart to enlarge again. Zooming in on the center what appeared to be a totem sticking out of the ground.

"From the readings we took, the signal is being emitted from that antenna, our mission is to make it there and get information, possibly find Wulf or whatever traces he left behind, hopefully, it'll give us a clue on how to stop this being said," he turned to Alexandrite and then to Ruby. "You two, while this is a joint team operation lead by me, you are still responsible for your team and then each other you got that? I can't micromanage everything you do so make sure you're on your toes at all times and you keep an eye on each other," he rested a hand on each leader's shoulder. Ruby and Alexandrite glanced at each other sharing a silent moment as if to say _I got your back_. Weiss noticed the exchange and felt a sudden wave of nausea looking at them.

"If things get dicey and I tell you to run, you make sure you get everyone back to safety, even if you have to leave me behind," Qrow said, his expression was purely serious, a look that was rarely seen on his face.

"But..." Sapphire wanted to protest that they can't just abandon him but Qrow held up his hand, "This is reality, not training. You _can _die, so if I tell you to get going. You run and never look back you understand?" He said placing a hand firmly on the smaller girl's shoulder, she just stiffly nodded.

"Oh, and Charcoal," Qrow said turning back to Alexandrite, the boy in question tilted his head as if to ask _Hm?_ "Try to keep it strictly professional when we're boots on the ground, my niece needs to keep her head cool," Alexandrite started to sputter and fumble but he tried to play it off, "Uhhh which one old man."

"You know exactly which one I'm talking about," Qrow folded his arms.

Ruby proceeded to turn beet red, "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Ruby almost screamed. Qrow started to laugh, "Yeah yeah I'm just messin' with yah," he ruffled her hair earning a pout from the red cloaked leader. "Same goes for you to purple."

Hex just nodded, "No problem sir, we know our priorities." she said stiffly. Yang just stifled a chuckle at Qrow rolling his eyes from being called _sir_.

* * *

The airship dropped them off at the base of the canyon that fed into the valley, already they could feel the frostbite on the wind. The difference in temperatures was massive, still, it wasn't cold enough that they couldn't bare. Yang's usual outfit was replaced by a fully covered orange and brown long-sleeved shirt and fitted pants, a large brown fur coat draped around her shoulders, unsurprisingly she was the second least layered out of everyone there.

"Holy shit it's freezing," Nitro was practically shivering already, he never was one for the cold, even in his silver and white fur jacket, black two undershirts and cargo pants. Yang was in a similar boat nodding in agreement as she pulled a large coat over her shoulders.

"Honestly it would be less cold if you didn't insist on not wearing thermally insulated under clothing," Weiss gestured to herself, she was wearing a full white and blue one-piece suit that was accented by a strapped on matching coat.

"W-What c-can I s-say, g-gotta look h-hot f-for the c-cold," she smiled through the slight shiver. Weiss just shook her head in disdain. Ruby was wrapped in a black fur coat that seemed a one size too large, her usual outfit was replaced by a one-piece suit similar to Weiss, except completely black with red accents around the collar and belt, her Rose symbol on the buckle, Hex, Sapphire and Blake were all wearing matching suits as well, apparently, they were designed by Hex to be thermally insulated, keeping out as much heat as possible. Alexandrite just pulled up his hoodie and stuck his hands in his pockets trying not to stare at the outfit that clung to the red leader's figure a little too well.

"Hey, why aren't you wearing a coat or one of Hex's thermal suits? Aren't you cold? I mean if you're not cold now you eventually will," Ruby reached out and touched his arm concern in her eyes. Alexandrite blushed behind his mask, "It's fine Red, I'm uh…naturally resistant to the cold," the boy responded poking her cheek to which she just squinted her eyes and beamed a smile before swatting away his finger.

Sapphire who was wearing a deep blue coat with purple patterns that resembled galaxies, simply giggled at the young leader, "Ruby, my brother doesn't feel the cold per se but, he doesn't like it very much." She punched her older brother's arm lightly.

Yang put an arm around Alexandrite's shoulder in a friendly manner, "How's that huh? You got some kinda funky built-in heater?" she laughed heartily. Sapphire and Alexandrite exchanged a glance knowing how close that was to the truth, "He uhh, it's part of his semblance, the adaptation yeah," she was nervous and biting her lip under her mask hoping they bought it.

"Ah, that makes sense!" Yang slapped Alexandrite's back playfully. The entirety of team ASHN breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright everyone we need to move now, otherwise we might not make it anywhere before the day is up," Qrow said as he moved forward. Both teams followed behind pressing through, as they made their way closer to the center, the snow beneath them began to thicken until it slowed their pace to a crawl.

The wind speed began to rapidly increase as the temperature further dropped. Everyone was bundling up further and wrapping their arms around themselves in a failing effort to stave off the cold. It felt as though the sun's heat no longer affected the ground beneath them, being hidden behind clouds of snow, the mountain ridges that lined the valley seemed to act like a border now, isolating them from the rest of the world. Alexandrite could feel the icy air enter his lungs and practically freeze his throat. He smelled nothing but the cold, his abnormally high body temperature kept him warm but even he had to admit it was becoming difficult now. Ever since he awakened his powers, his body generated large amounts of heat such that he never felt cold nor was bothered by extreme heat.

"We need to find a place to rest, we can't take much more of this weather!" Qrow yelled over the roar of the harsh winds. Hex and Blake who held no complaints at the start were now shivering uncontrollably, Blake's ears pressed against her head, "S-Seriously guys I-I'm f-freezing, and I t-think Y-Yang's turning blue!" she yelled back. Yang who couldn't even speak just nodded stiffly, icicles forming over her hair.

"Hex what're our bearings, your nav equipment got anything?" Alexandrite yelled back. Hex pulled out a handheld device that resembled a tablet and checked it, "W-w-We got a cave u-up ahead, 2 miles North East!" she walked up started guiding Qrow.

Suddenly, Blake, Alex, and Sapphire stopped dead in their tracks. Everyone followed suit standing stock still. "What is it?" Ruby yelled over the noise.

"We're surrounded." Came the short response, "Grimm, several of them." Alexandrite scanned the area, the storming landscape was limiting their vision, they could barely see five meters in front of them.

"I don't see anything, how do you know?" Yang preparing Ember Celia.

Alex didn't answer, instead, he launched himself at Weiss and tackled her to the ground just in time for a beowolf to come soaring above their heads.

"Defence formation, everyone back to back, they're using the snow as cover!" Qrow yelled as he helped Alexandrite and Weiss up. They barely had a moment to get into position before multiple Beolwolves came rocketing out from the thick snow. Qrow, Ruby and Alexandrite were dealing with the heavy onslaught from their sides while Hex, Weiss, and Blake were providing long-range support, Yang and Sapphire would take down the ones that got too close.

"Nothing like a little battle to get you warmed up, right? Remember guys stay _frosty_." Yang said laughing while punching a beowolf square in the jaw, popping its head. Everyone groaned in response to her pun.

The corpses kept piling up and disappearing, they could only handle so many at once, "Where are they all coming from!" Blake yelled in frustration as she wrapped her ribbon around one and batted it into an oncoming group.

"Ozpin did tell us that there was a mass congregation of them, I just didn't expect this many at once!" Qrow called back, cutting down a few in his path. The fact that they were all attracted to their location could only be because of one thing... his semblance, Bad Luck, it was active. Once he realized he yelled over "WE NEED TO MOVE FAST! We can't keep fighting forever!"

"NO SHIT!" Sapphire screamed as she spun her axe in a whirlwind severing the bodies of five beowolves at once.

"Just get moving, follow Hex!" Alexandrite called, they all instantly broke formation and began sprinting, Hex stood in the middle being protected by the other eight people because she couldn't fight while navigating. They fought tooth and nail before the seemingly endless droves of Grimm had subsided as if the creatures had suddenly stopped or given up.

The time it took to reach shelter felt like ages, Alexandrite's mask was becoming uncomfortable as the frosted air had melted behind it against his face and kept it uncomfortably wet on one side and practically frozen on the outside. If they were in any serious danger he may just have to risk his identity. _But would that be so bad?_ A small voice inside him said, in some ways he agreed, it wouldn't be bad, rather he was sure by now his friends wouldn't care who or what he was but, it was for their safety, not his.

* * *

The mouth of the cave was finally in view as they hustled their way through the snow, the remaining stragglers of Grimm were finally gone but the storm wasn't. "Everyone inside!" Ruby yelled as she, Qrow and Alex hustled them in. "Is that the last of them?" Alexandrite asked trying to peer through the storm, sensing nothing.

"I think so but we can't let our guar- ACK!" Ruby's words were interrupted when a large worm-like Grimm shot out from the snow and struck her at blinding speeds. Alex's eyes widened in horror as he ran desperately over to the fallen girl, clutching her in his arms, "Ruby are you alright?!" He asked checking her over. She got up groggily, clinging onto him, "I'm fine, what the hell was that thing?" she questioned as Qrow had just pulled up and helped them into the cave. Everyone had run back to the entrance when they heard Ruby cry out.

"What's going on? Is Ruby hurt?" Yang asked frantically.

"Centinel, they thrive in cold environments... they're not easily detected so it's no surprise we were caught off guard... kiddo are you alright?" Qrow said looking to his niece. She sat up, her back against the wall, "I'm fine, nothing damaged." She affirmed. In truth, the creature had torn her suit with its surprise attack. The sudden influx of cold air hit her skin causing her to violently shiver and clutch her arms. Everyone just walked back into the cave except for Alexandrite who noticed her shivering.

Alex looked concerned, "Ruby... are you..."

"For the last time I'm fine Alex. It's just colder in here than expected... nothing my aura won't help." She smiled through the chill, not wanting to worry her friend. He just looked at her skeptically but, once she stopped shivering, or at least pretended to stop, he left it alone.

"Uncle Qrow do we need to set up watch for Grimm?" Alex said as he left to join Qrow at the mouth of the cave. The older huntsman nodded negatively, "I can see them, sort off, they refuse to get any closer like something is warding them off."

Alex wanted to contest his theory but he saw it for himself, the Centinel that had attacked Ruby had instantly sped off in fear as if the cave was taboo to them. They weren't coming in anytime soon, eventually, the just disappeared into the snow. Alexandrite concentrated on his senses, trying to pick up any threat but all he got was static noise, like a dull ringing that was blocking out his auditory systems.

Ruby looked to her team as they all sat in the cave, Yang's hair was frozen stiff while Blake was barely getting by, she was desperately trying to warm up her ears. Weiss looked unperturbed but the red sores on her arms said otherwise. Ruby herself was frozen to the core, her red hood stiff and her hands inhumanely cold.

"Alright we need to get a fire going," Qrow said as he dumped some 'dried' tinder and firewood from a supply pack on the ground. He sat there desperately trying to get it lit but the area was too cold, the wood was as frozen as it could get. Cursing loudly he stomped off. "Alright fire's a bust, best we just try to stave it off, keep together to stay warm" he muttered, just his luck, the one set of supplies they needed was frozen solid. Yang, Blake, and Weiss huddled together trying to get warm, Yang desperately prying icicles off her hair. Nitro and Hex huddled around Sapphire while Ruby and Alexandrite were still trying to defrost the firewood.

"Hey, Ruby got any fire dust?" Alexandrite asked as he clutched a handful of tinder. "Yeah hold on let me…." She reached into her coat and gave him a small vial of red dust.

"Is this all you have?" He asked looking at the incredibly small vial. "I don't wanna use it if that's the case, we may need it later," Alexandrite pushed the vial back into her hands. She shook her head affirmatively, "Yeah but we need the fire now, the only reason I have so little is because fire dust was pretty hard to come by since Torchwick cleaned Vale out pretty good," she said as she tried to force the dust onto him. He stopped her again.

"Hold up I got an idea," he said, Ruby looked at him curiously as he drew out Asura and pressed the blade up to the wood channelled his aura through it. Suddenly a warm glow formed around the blade slightly thawing the wood. "AH YES!" He yelled a little too excitedly.

The members of team ASHNRWBY looked at the source of the noise, Alexandrite felt a little embarrassed under the attention, "Ah nothing just got the wood thawed," he said laughing awkwardly. Ruby smiled at his embarrassment. The only problem now was that the wood was still slightly wet.

When he was sure everyone wasn't looking he turned to Ruby, "Psst Rubes," he whispered. She turned her head to respond but he put a finger to her lips, cold as it was on his gloved hand she still blushed from the contact. "What you are about to see you must swear to tell no one, understood?" he said as he looked her in the eyes.

"Wha- I don't…" she was confused but the look in his eyes said it all, she nodded seriously in understanding. "Okay good," he said as he ungloved his hands and placed them over the wood. Alexandrite concentrated deep within him channeling his inner fire, instantly drying the wood and igniting the pile. Ruby's eyes went wide.

"What was!" she almost said too loudly but Alexandrite silenced her again with his finger, it was inhumanely warm in contrast to her frozen lips. "Shhh not a word, I know you have questions but I can't answer them, not yet," he said as he ruffled her hair. She blushed but kept her mouth shut. He stared at his finger, then at Ruby... was she supposed to be that cold?

The members of the team huddled around the fire desperately trying to get warm. Ruby, however, was still freezing, the inside of her gloves had melted and the cold water kept there freezing her to the bone. Deciding it better to just stay by the fire and tough it out she kept at it, her boots that had filled with snow long forgotten on her feet. No one took notice of the young girl's demeanor which slowly deteriorated as the night rolled in, the thermally insulated clothing was thoroughly failing now that the cold had seeped into her body.

Everyone lay fast asleep, Yang cuddling up to her girlfriend while Weiss, Blake, and Sapphire were curled up together in a pile of black, white and blue. Nitro had fallen asleep with three coats on him, Qrow was silently snoring over the red-headed boy, apparently passed out from alcohol, while Alexandrite was propped up at the cave wall, not needing any extra warmth.

Ruby sat there awake, freezing in the dark ice cave that was barely lit by the fire. She tore her gloves off to see her fingers blue and stiff, her arms and legs ached and she felt difficulty to breathe. She drew closer to the fire in some thinly veiled attempt at salvaging what was left of her body temperature, she would get no sleep at this rate, in fact, she was pretty sure she would either collapse or die of hypothermia, but her throat was too dry, too cold to call out for someone.

Alexandrite had been roused from his sleep by a change in vibration of the floor. Something was moving rapidly in place. Waking himself he found a violently shivering Ruby at the fire. Alarms went off in his head and immediately he rushed to her side. Sitting down next to her on a sleeping bag, he reached out to touch her shoulder. The young girl who had been staring at he fire nearly jumped at the contact.

"Shh Ruby, hey, you okay?" Alexandrite said quietly as he held her shoulder, pulling her closer to him and wrapping an arm around her. Still shivering she nodded negatively. "Why didn't you say something before? How come you're this cold?" he said as he pressed an ungloved hand against her forehead. It was freezing cold.

"M-M-My suit is t-torn. I-I-I d-d-didn't want anyone to w-worry, p-plus I f-figured I would w-warm up eventually b-but…" she trailed off her teeth chattering. Alexandrite took her hands into his, both of them blushing furiously under the contact, and he channeled his warmth to her, secrets be damned, her life was in danger. He concentrated hard on generating as much heat as possible, screw losing control, he had to do this... for her. Gradually her hands began warming up but the same couldn't be said for her body, while it was becoming stable, her torso and legs were still slightly blue.

"Ruby…." He looked at the girl in question. She tilted her head slightly out of confusion, "Hm?".

"Umm…. Don't think I'm weird or anything but…. Could you remove your coat and suit?" he asked while blushing. Instantly her face turned red, "W-Wha! It's too soon..errr I mean um," she was clearly embarrassed, but he took her sudden energy as a sign her life wasn't in danger anymore.

"AH NO NOT LIKE THAT I MEAN UM I…I can't get you warm through your clothes, you can keep your undershirt on just I need a more um…direct…contact…" he said clearly embarrassed. She nodded awkwardly and not trusting herself to say more she undid her coat and took off her suit, sitting there in just her sweater like black vest and stripping he pants off staying in her shorts she drew closer to him. Finally, she turned around to find a rather shirtless Alexandrite.

Clearly not an unwelcome sight by any means she figured but she couldn't stop the urge to hide her face in embarrassment. His chest and abs were well defined each line as if chiseled to perfection. She almost felt all the blood rush to her head just staring at him. What was amiss however were the clear different patches around his shoulder and forearms, though nigh unnoticeable in the campfire light, Ruby could almost make out what looked to be scales, they were mostly hidden by the more glaring scars. Her gaze softened upon seeing the many battle wounds, he wasn't overly scarred by any means, but there were a few notable ones, an 'x' shaped scar with a hole in the middle on his left shoulder blade, a three-pronged scar on his right upper arm and two streaks on his left.

"Curious?" He asked seeing her eyeing him. He sat next to her and drew closer until Ruby was touching him, he draped his large black cloak around them and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she knew he wouldn't answer so she didn't bother to respond.

"Don't get me wrong it's just to keep you warm," he said bashfully as he was clearly red under his mask. Giggling a little to stave off embarrassment she leaned into him. The unnatural warmth of his body comforted and soothed her. Unconsciously she then rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Noticing Ruby was falling asleep Alexandrite began generating more heat using his power, effectively warming up the girl. Pulling the coat around them they eventually succumbed to content and satisfying sleep.

* * *

"Well well well, You know while the rest of us slept practically freezing to death, waking up cold and sore I find this!" Yang yelled loudly, rousing Alexandrite from his sleep.

"Uhh Yang what are you…" he groaned his eyes still barely open. He tried to get up only to be met with an unfamiliar resistance, glancing down he noticed the still asleep form of Ruby Rose, snoring quietly on his chest, the two still barely clothed wrapped in the large coat, it didn't help that they were both shirtless, and when he attempted to move, Ruby just smiled and murmured something incoherent before nuzzling further into her warm pillow.

Blushing madly he began sputtering but he didn't want to wake Ruby. "Yang! It's um not what you think?" he answered sheepishly. A sudden murmur came from his chest, "Yang no…go back…sleep…bed warm…." Ruby said half asleep as she buried her head deeper into her bed, which was strangely hard. Using her hands, she pressed down, instead of meeting fabric she met soft skin and hard muscle. Blinking slowly, she raised her head and met the piercing eyes of Alexandrite staring down at her. "G'Morning!" he said trying to fight his embarrassment.

It took Ruby a few moments to fully register the position she was in. Quickly she got up almost crushing the poor boy beneath her in embarrassment.

"AH! IT'S JUST….HE WAS….KEEPING ME WARM! I WAS FREEZING TO DEATH SO HE SAVED ME!" Ruby squealed as she tried to frantically put on her clothes which had dried near the fire.

"Oh my~ Both team leaders sharing the cold night together on a mission, and behind their teams' back, how scandalous!" Hex said covering her hand with her mouth. Blake snickered next to her while Weiss just blushed in embarrassment seeing the intimacy between the two.

Sapphire fake wiped a tear from her eye, "My boy becomes a man," she said sarcastically.

Nitro just snored away.

"I told you guys it's not like- AH FORGET IT YOU'RE ALL JERKS!" Ruby yelled as she stormed off only to be held down by Hex.

"Why were you so cold anyway? Something wrong with the suit?" Hex asked scanning the red leader. In almost an instant she found the tear, it was about the size of her index finger, located on Ruby's lower back. "Oh I see, hold on let me..."

Ruby stood stock still as the purplette reached into her bag, pulled out a rather large strip of what looked like black tape and slapped it onto Ruby's back causing the girl to shriek in surprise. "Wha?!"

"Thermal duct tape. It's gonna be a pain in the ass when you're taking it off but it'll stop you from freezing to death," she explained. Weiss just raised her eyebrow, "Really? Duct Tape? that's your solution?"

"You got a better idea?" she shot back sarcastically. Weiss just sighed and gave up.

"Hey anyone seen Uncle Qrow?" Sapphire asked glancing around for the huntsman. Choosing that exact moment, Qrow entered the cave from the outside, dusting snow off himself he turned to the others. "Alright listen up, the storm outside is only getting worse the closer we get to the center, given the experience we had coming up here I think we established that no amount of equipment is going to get us through that icy death trap," he walked up to Alexandrite and placed an arm on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear. "Try to keep it in your pants okay charcoal?" he said quietly in a tone that sent chills up Alexandrite's spine.

"Old man you KNOW It's not like that!" he said desperately trying to regain his senses. Qrow laughed and patted his back, "I know just doing the obligatory. I trust you."

Alexandrite turned around, "Hex" he began to call but she stopped him. "I figured this would be the case so while we were asleep last night I set the equipment to sonar scan the caves, Apparently this thing leads directly to a large empty space in the direction of the center, if we follow this we should get to our destination, if not we just retrace our steps. My tech works even underground so navigation shouldn't be an issue," she said.

"Resourceful as always," Alexandrite said proudly as he and Qrow began to pack up. "AND WOULD SOMEONE WAKE UP THAT RED-HAIRED IDIOT!" Hex yelled terrifying Nitro out of his sleep.

"WAH! WHAT! WHO?!" He scrambled to his feet. "Pack up were heading out," Alexandrite said.

The team made their way deeper into the iced-out cave. The ground beneath them was smooth but held enough traction so they didn't slip. Alexandrite could smell it on the air, the longer and deeper they traveled the warmer the air got, the biting cold slowly dissipated as if the cave itself was acting as a heater. His skin sensitive and the hairs on the back of his stood up, it felt like something was watching then. Or someone. In this age of Hunters and Huntresses, having a person lurk unseen is a much more terrifying thought than any beast in the dark. Once they were thoroughly far enough from the entrance, Alexandrite began to rub his arms raw from anxiety. He _hated_ the underground, crazy how one of the last two known members of the dragon clan is afraid of one of the things dragons are known for... caves. Well, to be more specific, he was terrified of the underground, anywhere he wasn't free, where he couldn't see the sky or escape easily, terrified him.

"How long til we get there?" Nitro called back his voice reverberating along the walls of the cave.

Hex checked her handheld navigator for what seemed to be the hundredth time since they started their trek. "About few meters," she replied.

"Anyone notice the fact that we're underground but we haven't needed a single torch or light?" Weiss commented. The others took notice themselves, in truth what was supposed to be a pitch dark cave was near luminescent. The iced walls seemed to glow a faint light blue as if there were little lights behind them.

"This place probably isn't even a real cave, far as I can tell the ground underneath the ice is solid metal," Qrow said not looking back.

"You're telling us this observation now?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Well I was a bit skeptical at first honestly but it makes sense now that you pointed out the fact that we don't need any light. This place was probably an old access tunnel of sorts, the power still working, either that or it's been turned on," he pulled his Harbinger closer to him. In truth he was on guard for quite some time, his nephew seemed to have picked up on it as well. Something didn't sit right in the back of his mind he felt it, and his instincts were never wrong.

"We're getting close, be on your guard," Qrow instructed. Alexandrite walked up beside him, "Qrow…" he didn't need to finish, "I know I've been feeling it for a while now," Qrow replied.

It wasn't long before the cave which had been relatively linear until now met with an abrupt dead end. "Well this is odd," Hex said, tapping her device.

"What's up did we miss a path somewhere?" Weiss asked coming to a halt with the rest of her group. "No I'm 200% sure we are on the right path but, the sonar scans didn't indicate this wall before," she said as she gave her navigation device a shake.

"Your equipment's buggy as usual," Nitro laughed only to be hit over the head by the iron fist of Hex Magenta. "You idiot! I'll have you know my tech is top notch," she stuck her tongue out.

"All right calm down, let's just take a breath and figure this out, Yang, Blake can you two take a recon back and see if we missed a path, don't go too far though. Weiss, Alexandrite and Nitro start preparing for- Hey Alexandrite, Alexandrite! What are you…" Qrow who was delegating stopped as he observed the young leader walk right up to the ice wall.

Since they arrived at the wall something seemed strange, it felt like, it was calling him. A low hum that only he could hear. "Dude you good? Alexandrite?" Sapphire called after her brother who was now walking in a trance-like state up to the wall. However, Alexandrite didn't head her, or rather he could neither hear nor register anything at the moment.

Placing his ear against the wall he closed his eyes and listened, a soft reverberating sound echoed within. "It's here," he finally said, turning around now fully aware of all the eyes trained on him curiously. He coughed in embarrassment, "Whatever we're looking for it's in here" he said scratching the back of his neck.

"All I see is a frozen wall" Weiss a little peeved at his confusing statement.

"It's um… hard to explain but I can hear it?" he said the disbelief even in his own voice. "Yeah... me to..." Blake said distantly as her ears perked up to the unknown dull ringing.

"What do you…" Weiss was cut off by Qrow. "Doesn't matter, there is a wall here, we need to do something about it."

"I have an idea for that…" Alexandrite said as he turned around and drew Asura, the Incindium blade glowed a hot orange colour.

"What are you doing?" Sapphire questioned but her brother paid no heed. He took off his glove and traced his fingers along the wall until he found something, a thin hole concealed in the ice. He jammed the edge of Asura into the hole.

He withdrew the blade and paused. For a moment nothing happened, leaving the team to question his actions. "Um what was that for?" Yang asked standing next to her sister. Suddenly as if on queue, the blue icy wall shot up in a glow of bright orange. Technological veins covered the wall like a computer circuit board. After a few seconds, the wall parted in two, revealing it to be a large door. The ancient frozen over technology glittering and gleaming behind the thin layer of ice that masked its futuristic aesthetic.

The gateway opened revealing a dark interior illuminated only by strips of blue light that traveled along the ground like liquid. The metal floor beneath them was solid and etched in various markings unknown to the troupe, as they pervaded the darkness, a rush of warm air filtered out from the depths, above them a ceiling too high to determine.

Alexandrite and Sapphire stepped in first, the faint hum that was naught but a mere whisper before seemed to increase in volume the further they went in. Alexandrite could tell now, it felt like the machinery that lay scattered and strewn along a seemingly guided pathway were once part of a grand scheme, something that felt so familiar yet foreign to him. His ears pricked at the sound, the dull ringing that seemed to come from far beneath them yet also above, an all-encompassing rhythm as if the complex itself was alive.

"How the hell did you know to do that?" Weiss asked, feeling baffled at her lack of information for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"I'm not sure..." Alexandrite offered up but Weiss just let out an exasperated groan.

Blake had a theory, that the low ringing was the signal Ozpin had picked up, she and Alex could hear it because they were Faunus. So why was it that Sapphire couldn't hear it? Why did the door open when he stabbed it? Did it have something to do with the way his blade resonated with the machinery?

* * *

**The next chapter should be up by tonight, it's already in editing progress but my brain is a little overheated. **


	11. Chapter 11: Secrets Revealed

**As promised, here's the next chapter. I finished this one a bit early so I'll keep going and see how far I can get.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: There goes the ****neighborhood**

* * *

The team hesitantly followed Alexandrite, the door behind them eventually closing shut causing Nitro to yell out in surprise, trying in vain to retrace a door handle. "Enough kid, don't waste your time, it's sealed shut. We're going to have to find some other way out," Qrow said as he scanned the door for a similar opening as the outside.

"You mean we're stuck in here?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No there is more than one exit," Alexandrite said.

"How are you so sure about that?" Weiss came back.

"Well take a look around, this place was clearly some sort of complex, with hundreds of people who worked or lived here. There's gotta be more than one way. And unless I missed the mission briefing, there's an access point at the top near the antenna, unless this is some other spooky underground facility and we just got the wrong place" He responded sarcastically causing the heiress to sputter in embarrassment. If he were completely honest with himself, the logic, sound as it was, was only half the reason. He felt it somewhere in the back of his mind as if he'd been here before.

Ruby looked around following her team. The structure was formed like a tall cylinder, layers upon layers of balconies and floors stacked up to a space on the ceiling where what seemed to be daylight shining down. The hollowed-out center was stacked with a strange formation, a pedestal of sorts encased in layers of strange mechanical armatures, protecting what appeared to be a small cube. Each floor seemed almost a mirror of the previous one, strange computers and desks, chairs and broken bits lay tossed and overturned. Rust gathering on some of the metal components while what seemed to be a form of root entangling itself within the walls of the structure. This place, whatever it was, had been abandoned for a while now.

"Alexandrite, you okay?" she asked the other team leader, whose eyes were transfixed on the cube-like object in the middle of the area. She tugged at the sleeve of his jacket but no response. "Alex-" she was cut off as he began walking forward in a trance-like state, the hum calling him forward.

"Hey bro you good?" Nitro asked as Alexandrite moved down the blue light path straight to the centre. Nitro could only call out in vain as he watched as his friend ascended the step-like structure of the monument. Alexandrite, on the other hand, didn't even realize he was being addressed. The hum from before was like a roar in his ears, a beckoning screech that begged him to touch the cube. Images flashed through his mind, of humans and Faunus in lab coats roaming around, conducting experiments. What were these? Memories? His mind was too hazy and unfocused to contemplate on them.

"Hey, you shouldn't touch unknown objects!" Weiss cried out but to no avail. Alexandrite had already ungloved his hand, and like a machine, he began channeling his aura into the block.

The mechanical arms began to move apart as the entire complex whirred to life. Orange circuit veins spread throughout turning on the power in the building.

In a blinding flash of light, the cube rose rapidly out of Alexandrite's grasp, startling the boy out of his trance. He was knocked to the floor, images of a room located in the facility with a glass box flashed through his mind.

"What! Wha, The hell was I doing?!" he was in a state of mixed confusion and fear, the roar no longer resonating in his ears. Ruby and Sapphire rushed to his side holding him up. "Hey bro you okay?" Sapphire asked as she helped him to his feet.

"Not sure, that was kinda…my head feels funny," he responded.

"Funny haha or funny weird?" Ruby asked as she leaned in close to inspect his eyes. Blushing from the closeness he reeled back. "Funny weird, it was…" he was cut off when a surge of pain shot through Alexandrite's head '_... the cube... key... find.. serum...'_ he heard a voice in his head calling him.

"Great, even more, weird shit. First, you magically turn on the building and now this cube is shoved into your hands. It's like this facility was programmed to resonate with you, the question is... why?" Nitro said rubbing his temples.

The cube in his palm now was very intricately crafted, it was designed like a puzzle cube, varying symbols adorned its surface but it neither moved nor rotated which confused Alex. The only saving grace was a small groove, the size of a thumb, located on the top of the object. Shrugging to himself he just tossed the cube into his hoodie pocket. "I have no idea what this thing is for but we can't dwell on it for too long. Come on we need to find out what's causing this storm."

Everyone nodded and moved on except for Weiss who just blinked incredulously, "Are we seriously going to ignore what just happened?" They all ignored her instead.

"Spread out, but don't stray too far, look for any information on this place, there's gotta be some stray documents, files or clues that can help us fish out what we're here for, whatever that is. Randolf must've left something behind, some clue." Qrow said as he began walking around.

Hex went with Nitro exploring the first floor, Sapphire and Alexandrite took the bottom floor while team RWBY scattered. Everywhere he turned, more bits of machinery and broken parts appeared. There were claw marks on the ground in several areas, and what one could only discern as bloodstains.

They didn't really have to search for long as a loud grating sound like metal against metal rang throughout the facility.

"FOUND SOMETHING!" Nitro called down to the others.

In truth on the first floor was a computer lab of sorts or communication station. Desks loaded with damaged files and brunt papers stood lined in rows at the middle of the room like a ring of circles. On the far wall was a large collection of computer screens, around sixteen monitors. Nothing was powered but it must've been a central hub of sorts.

"Hex, think you can dig up anything from these?" Alexandrite asked his friend. She turned to him nodding her head, "I can try but this stuff is pretty much dead."

"What is this place anyway, I can't tell given the design of it." Sapphire piped in.

"From what I've seen, some sort of Research and Testing facility, the scrapped tech and labs are a dead giveaway to me," Weiss said as she and the rest of team RWBY followed by Qrow strolled in.

"This place has been long abandoned, a lot of the rooms were broken into, though from the age of the damage marks I'm assuming they weren't caused by looters, more like this place was raided and then trashed." Blake said her hand grasping her chin in a thinking manner.

"Gives me the creeps in all honesty," Ruby said shuddering.

"Oh come on sis! What's gonna be lurking in this frozen dump? All the Grimm are upstairs on the surface." Yang said pulling some stray icicles from her hair.

"Hey guys I got something," Hex said drawing everyone's attention.

She sparked together some wires and hooked up her scroll, she tapped out something incomprehensible to normal people and suddenly one of the screens flashed with four files. "Looks like a series of audio logs kept by one of the people who worked here, the only thing I could fully piece together, the rest of the data is corrupted." Hex said hitting play on the first file. Everyone in the room stood quietly waiting.

"_Audio log one, date *static*. Dr. Remus. The Head technician recommended we all keep audio logs daily, something about data relevancy. It's been around twelve days since we started experimenting on the Aegis Project here at this White Fang Research Laboratory *static*. The main issues so far have been the sheer minuscule size of the robots we've been working with, their practically cellular, fusing technology with the human body is a much harder task than we anticipate, we've gone through *static* procedures involving *static* with no luck. That damned crystal is impossible to deal with. Will update later."_

The voice was old, as one would expect from his type. Once the file stopped and the second began automatically playing.

"_Audio log three, date *static*. The brass has been hammering down on us about finishing up soon, something is wrong. Some new lady came in recently, never her them before but she claims to be specialists. Let's hope she can help speed things up. Dr. Stein out."_

"_Audio log six, date *static*. We did it! We made a breakthrough! It only took one hundred and twenty-three attempts. We were on the verge of being shut down if we didn't make progress. Honestly, I was beginning to lose hope had it not been for Dr. *static*. I don't know where they brought her in from but she's worked miracles. The only thing is she seems to be rather angry and distant to everyone here. Dr. Remus Stein out"_

Alexandrite had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, the unnamed doctor.

_"_ Last one guys," Hex said hitting play on the final file. "What's weird is that information on the dates and names except for the one recording this are missing. As if data was purposely expunged." Qrow noted.

"_Audio Log I don't even care anymore. Fuck the date, we're under attack! Something managed to fry our defences, the Grimm broke into the facility and brought an army. Dr. *static* took the serum, I'm not sure where she hid it. It's all her doing! She rigged the base's systems, she sabotaged our work. No one believes me, they all see her as a saint. She's protected, she's too valuable to the cause, I'm expendable, all I know right now is that if the High Commander doesn't get that serum then we're all dead. I'm going to get the failed samples and use them as a bargaining tool, hopefully, they'll spare me." _The rest of the recording went to static.

"This is…." Weiss was at a loss for words.

"I'm not sure what happened but it looks like whatever the White Fang were looking for here they never found it. We need to be on guard, if Randolf requested our help here it must mean that he found something." Qrow instructed before taking a sip from his flask. The team walked back to the pyramid structure in the middle to look for clues.

"If I'm understanding this right, this place was used as a research facility for the White Fang. Since when did a terrorist organization get the power to build all this? And what were they experimenting on? Some sort of crystal? A serum? What does this mean?" Blake thought, her mind frantic at the sheer gravity of the information. Just how dangerous had the white Fang become?

* * *

It wasn't very long before they were brought out of their thoughts by a sudden noise in the dark.

Blake's ears twitched in the direction of the sound, an all too familiar sound. Her golden eyes widening in fear as her ears clamped to her head slowly backing toward her team. Yang turned to her friend with concern, "Blake you good? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The young girl could only shake her head and point in the direction of the distant tapping sound. The sound of pristine shoes clacking against the metal of the floor.

"What are you pointing at? What's up?" Yang questioned louder now gaining the attention of her team.

"Yo, what's…" Nitro started but couldn't finish as he was interrupted by the loud clapping of hands. The slow clap turned rapid until it died out completely, a tall figure emerging from the darkness into the faint daylight that protruded from the ceiling.

"Bravo! Bravo Blake! Your hearing hasn't rusted in the slightest, I'm surprised you were able to detect me at all, and all this time I'd thought you'd gone soft," the figure spoke in a deep but not too low masculine voice. He wore a pitch-black suit with a tailcoat jacket and a scarlet red undershirt. Around his waist a long blade, similar to Asura except the sheathe wasn't nearly as thick, and it curved like a traditional katana. The most prominent thing about him was the startlingly red hair and the two bull horns peeking out. Around his eyes was a white Grimm Mask.

"Adam!" The girl in black sneered out loudly. The name freezing Alexandrite so quickly it put the temperature outside to shame.

"Ease it, girl, I'm not here for you, at least not unless you want to come back? Though I do suppose taking you with me would be a valuable bonus." His words flowed like a vile poison from behind his wicked smile.

"Why are you here!" Blake spat, the anger and fury rising inside her just looking at him. Anger and a great deal of fear. She knew what he was capable off and she feared for her team and herself.

"Tsk tsk tsk, No no, You could be a little nicer to your former leader?" He gestured his arms open as if to say he was defenceless.

"I've got nothing to say to you that would be pleasant," Blake seethed.

"Leader?" Ruby asked turning to her teammate.

"Yeah, remember when I told you I used to be part of the White Fang? Well I wasn't just part of it, I was working under him, he was my mentor and leader," she said as if the mere thought disgusted her to her core.

Ruby held onto Blake's arm, "It's all in the past Blake, you're our friend, you're family, none of that in the past matters now," she said with a genuine smile. Blake felt comfort in her words but dared not stray her gaze from the man in front of her lest the moment she turns her back they all die.

Qrow walked up in front of the girls, "Adam Taurus, one of the leaders of the White Fang and active terrorist. You know when I got word that this mission was dangerous I didn't think the likes of you would be involved. What are you doing here?" He said his hand ready to pull Harbinger at any moment.

Adam smiled again and let his right armrest at his side while his left raised and pointed to Alexandrite would have been frozen in shock this whole time.

"You want to know why I'm here? I'm here for two things," his raised arm now gesturing the number two. "First, to collect the results of our 'project'. The serum _and _the crystal that helped make it all possible" he paused, his eyes behind the mask now trained on Alexandrite, "The second, is you, Alexandrite and Sapphire Lucius," he let his arm drop now all eyes trained on Alexandrite, the leader in question was absolutely terrified, like the cold lump that had formed in his stomach was now threatening to eat him alive. How had he been discovered? WHEN HAD HE BEEN DISCOVERED?!

"Or should I say, Nova and Luna Flareheart!" Adam yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. The words that came out at that moment startled Alexandrite out of his frozen state and caused a collective gasp in the room. All except Qrow who cursed under his breath.

"How did…" Alexandrite stammered but was cut off by Adam. "How did I know? Do you think your pathetic disguises would hide you forever? It doesn't matter what you look like, or what you change your name to. I will always find you, the filthy blood that runs through your veins reeks like putrid rot." He was furious.

You would think after almost nine years you would have learned by now, you could never hide from me!" Adam yelled, exuding a pressure that shook even Qrow.

"Alexandrite what is he talking about?" Blake asked turning her gaze away to her friend. She knew he was a Faunus but she didn't know he had connections to Adam.

Ruby just shot him a concerned look, dread flowing over her features at Adam's implication.

"Oh I guess you didn't tell them huh?" Adam said as he gazed at the confused and fearful expressions of the people in the room. "Must be why you're still wearing that stupid mask, did Wulf give you that? A pathetic old man giving his rags to his poor adopted kids, honestly…weak!" he spat.

Alexandrite's face became red with anger, Ruby felt the air around him heat up to an almost unbelievable temperature for just a brief moment.

"See back when we were kids, Nova over here was royalty, a pathetic line of lizards that wielded nothing but weakness and compassion for humanity. WHY DON'T YOU TAKE OFF THAT RIDICULOUS DISGUISE AND SHOW EVERYONE WHAT YOU REALLY ARE?" he roared. As the words left his mouth, the air in the facility seemed to stand completely still, as if time itself had stopped. All eyes were trained on Sapphire and Alexandrite. Ruby stood next to Alexandrite, her hands taking his into hers.

"Alexandrite? What's he mean? What's going on?". Alexandrite looked down into those silver orbs that peered full of innocence into his own. His heart breaking at the thought of continuing their charade any longer.

"I ….Everyone I didn't want it to be like this, I wish you would have found out under better circumstances." Alexandrite said solemnly. He nodded to Sapphire, they were prepared for whatever happened next.

"Wait why hadn't you raided this place before? You had perfect opportunity to get your 'project' and get out so why act now?" Weiss managed to choke up.

Adam laughed a monstrous bellow, "Because, Schnee." He spat her name with such venom as if the words would kill her, "This facility, as you are aware, was on lockdown. No one in our organization could break-in. You see... according to our high commander Onyx, this place was working on helping our cause, developing a serum that would boost Faunus capabilities tenfold. It would give us the edge we needed to tear down humanity. But... an unfortunate accident happened and the entire place went on lockdown, the research progress lost inside. We figured it'd just be a matter of time before the humans figure out that something was wrong and sent a team to investigate. Every time they did, we sent special agents to tail them, see if they can get in, until today no one has." He explained.

"And why choose this team, why today? How did you even know?" Qrow questioned, his voice stern.

"What you think you'd get that information out of me? Keep dreaming old man. When I heard there was a team heading here, imagine my surprise when I hear that Blake Belladonna, Alexandrite and Sapphire were on their way. Of course, I didn't actually know it was _you _behind those masks at first but the fact that one of our scouts caught that filthy mutt running around out here trying to send a message to Beacon Academy earlier this week ... well, it just sort of clicked." Adam said drawing his sword and leaning on it like a cane.

"Wulf? What did you do to him?!" Qrow roared with anger, morphing harbinger into its scythe form.

"Unfortunately nothing. When he'd been discovered, he ran off into the snow like a coward. I'm willing to bet he froze to death out there."

Ruby clutched onto Alex's sleeve, gazing into his mismatched eyes as if searching for the answers to the burning questions in her mind. He would have torn his disguise off right there had he not been interrupted by the angry cries of Adam.

"Enough of this touching moment, you people make me sick. Collaborating with humans, turning your back on the Faunus kind, just like that traitor that's with you. Nova and Luna Flareheart, in the name of the White Fang I find you guilty of treason. The penalty? Execution!" He roared and in almost an instant Qrow was flung backward into the team knocking over Yang and Weiss. Nitro and Hex began prepping for a fight but Qrow was back on his feet.

"Out of my way old man, Ozpin's pet bird has no place in this." Adam seethed.

Qrow held Harbinger up in its scythe form. "RUN GET OUT OF HERE NOW, I'll hold him off." He called back clashing blades with Adam.

"Uncle Qrow WE ARE NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!" Sapphire screamed. Qrow simply smiled back, "Don't worry 'bout me I'll catch up when I'm done with this mad cow," with that he repelled Adam back and launched a flurry of deadly attacks. Adam easily blocked them all.

"Yeah, if all of us jump him, he stands no match!" Nitro yelled and they all felt their sweat drop, Of course, why didn't they think of that.

Adam just let out a throaty chuckle, "What, did you think I wouldn't come with backup?"

At that moment several loud clunks were heard above them as if multiple people had just dropped down onto the surface. "What?! How?! Isn't there a storm?" Weiss asked confused as to how troops managed to get on top of the facility.

"Didn't you hear it? When ash for brains picked up that cube, the storm stopped raging, allowing the rest of my team to join in. Speaking of which, I'll be taking that device!" Adam said as he pushed Qrow back and took a deadly swipe at his neck, which narrowly missed.

"A team? Adam's formed a team?" Blake blinked in surprise.

"GET GOING YOU IDIOTS, I'LL TAKE CARE OF HIM, YOU GET THE GUYS UP TOP!| Qrow yelled out before spinning Harbinger and attempting to cut Adam only for him to stumble on a loose piece of wiring and fall, if it wasn't for his quick reflexes Adam's blade would have cut him down right there.

Alex called to his team, "Come on we need to get out of here, Uncle Qrow's got this, we need to trust him and find an exit, there should be one on the north wing third floor that leads upward. An express elevator of sorts, if the power is back on it should be operational." Alex tucked his jacket back up as quickly as possible.

"How do you know that?" Weiss asked as they ran off following him.

"No clue just trust me," he replied as they ran up flights of stairs.

Turning around to gather their bearings on the third floor, they were blindsided by a flash of red that destroyed part of the circular balcony.

"You're not getting away!" Adam screamed as he launched himself up what seemed like three floors, only to be shot down by Qrow. "HEY I'M YOUR OPPONENT!" the older huntsman shouted regaining his attention.

"Looks like I'll have to deal with you first bird," he seethed while swinging his Katana down in an arc slamming onto Qrow so blindingly fast that the older Huntsman barely had a chance to block, this time there was something else behind his attack that overpowered Qrow, an inhuman level of strength. The Katana cut right through the handle of Harbinger and smashed onto Qrow's head, his aura blocking the blade from cutting him, but it still knocked him out, the impact sending dust flying everywhere.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby screamed from the balcony.

The dust cleared and the red glint of Adam's blade flashed once more, within seconds he rocketed upward to them. Sapphire had, had enough of this, they weren't prepared to fight Adam, and worse comes to it the Grimm above them gathered in mass and whatever others Adam brought with him would only make things more difficult. She didn't care anymore; her friends were in danger and her secret was already out.

She stood still breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes and stretched her hand towards Adam, when she reopened her eyes, they were lit up in a bright blue, no longer could they be chalked up to just a trick of the light, they were full-on glowing. The air around them seemed to shift and distort as an invisible force seemingly grabbed hold of Adam and bolted his legs to the ground, a force of equal strength then propelled the unconscious Qrow upward along with Harbinger, where he was caught by an unsuspecting Yang.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Yang yelled crushed under her uncle's bruised body.

"No time to explain, we need to move it's not going to hold him for long," Sapphire said as Alexandrite began preparing the elevator up, her breathing laboured as if what she just did drained her greatly. It was a large cargo elevator used to transport crates but it fit their needs. Helping Qrow up they climbed on and bolted to the surface, upon ascending however, all was not as expected.

* * *

The raging torrential blizzard that they expected to encounter was met with an unexplainable stillness. Bright golden sunshine bearing down upon the surface of the area, the lift led up to a large metal platform like a circle, above them was the antenna they were supposed to destroy. All was well and good except for three people that stood, waiting for them on the cargo platform. A tall man dressed in what could only be described as drag. He wore a purple dress with green vines on it, accompanied by poorly done makeup, dark green eyeliner and what seemed to be a moss green pair of dual cutlasses at his sides.

The second person was a short dirty blonde wearing neon pink boots and a matching jacket and top. She wore black shorts and all the hems of the clothing were lined with a fluffy frill, strapped to her back was a large cross-shaped shield that almost doubled the size of the short girl. Her eyes were a piercing pink and a fang popping out from under the left side of her mouth.

The final person was someone even more bizarre, he stood roughly seven feet tall with broad shoulders and a long black trench coat. A bowler hat stood atop his head but what made him so bizarre was the fact that he was blindfolded and hand four arms. Rather they were two normal arms and 2 mechanical ones coming out his back. A strange device strapped around his chest connecting to the arms, occasionally spouting bits of steam.

The team stood staring down the three newcomers with a deep sense of caution. No one was prepared for a drawn-out fight with an injured Qrow and Adam Taurus on their heels. A simple crate lift wouldn't stop him for long, but with these three standing before them combined with the storm, their hopes of escape were limited.

"Out of our way…." Weiss spoke in a low tone, her hand gripping onto Myrtenaster, ready to draw at any moment. The guarded expressions on her teammates seemed to mirror her feelings.

"My my didn't they teach you any mannersss at Beacon~?" The man dressed in drag slurred in a voice that did not fit his character, as if he were forcing it to be high pitched, as he spoke his 's', a snake's tongue slithered out and hissed.

"See girly we can't exactly let you leave, the boss has plans for tall edgy and handsome over there, and his sister" the short girl pointed at Alex and Sapphire. "The rest of you though…." She paused glancing over each person on the team, "Are fair game," her lips rose in a face splitting grin.

"Ruby, Alex, take care of Sapphire and Qrow, we can handle this," Weiss called to the two as she readied her weapon.

"Handle usss? You're welcome to try~" The man in the dress slurred again, this time a hint of malicious intent was dripping behind his words.

Weiss immediately sprung at the man, their blades clashing in a dust-filled instant. The man smiled, "Schnee usssing dussst, how…boring," he smiled, his green cutlasses glowed a strange neon green before being covered with a sticky corrosive liquid. Weiss was forced back using a wall of ice dust to shield herself, the liquid eating away at it.

"Name's Lyme, my friends call me the Princess of Poison," he gave a little twirl. Weiss snorted at the man's extravagant display. Biting the inside of her cheek she steadied herself waiting for an attack, when almost out of nowhere A large fist came within centimeters of her face only to be knocked aside by a blur of yellow. "And that's our pal Dune." he said pointing.

"Aye armed and deadly, You're fight's with me!" Yang yelled out as she sent a barrage of punches only to be blocked by the tall man. He made no sound except for grunts. In the midst of her assault two fists came down crashing onto her head, she barely had time to pull up her guard before she was sent flying backward. Spitting out a bit of blood she stood back up ready again but cautious now she knew the strength he possessed, "You gotta be kidding me he hits like a freakin truck!" she yelled, her semblance beginning to take effect.

Nitro saw this as an opportunity and unleashing both of his gauntlets, he launched a jet thrusted punch straight into the man's back. "How'd you like that for hittin like a truck," he saluted to Yang as he took a place standing beside her. Yang smiled at him gratefully. She stood in stance with the taller red-haired boy, "Not bad speedy, we could take him no problem." she punched his shoulder.

Nitro laughed and took on a boxing stance as a load groan erupted from the downed man. "Look's like he aint out of it yet, ready for round two?" he spoke his eyes trained on the man.

Yang prepared herself again, "Hell yeah!".

"Well seems it's just us," the short blonde girl said reaching for the cross-shaped shield on her back. "Looks like it," Hex spoke back, Blake took up stride next to her drawing Gambol Shroud, "I'm with her on this," Blake said.

"Oh, two on one? Now the odds are more even," she smiled and pulled out the shield, it glowed an ominously pink colour, the shield was decorative in the front sporting bladed edges and a crucifix in the middle. It looked heavy but when she lightly touched it to the floor and the rock below it cracked instantly they knew it was much heavier than they could dream. "No way she can swing that thing around easily, we got the speed advantage here," Hex said as she prepared Loki and Eres.

The blonde began laughing maniacally, "You sure 'bout that?" she smiled wickedly. Blake only had a moment to react when the blonde suddenly disappeared from view and reappeared in a flash swinging the shield down like a hammer splitting the ground underneath Blake's feet. If she hadn't used her semblance to dodge the attack she would have been roadkill.

"Bell's the name, murderin' folks' my game, and you're folks so, hurry up and be dead!" she cackled madly as she swung the bladed shield around like a berserker. Hex and Blake shot rounds at her only for them to bounce harmlessly off her shield.

"That thing is way too big..." Blake said biting down on her lip, trying to formulate a plan.

"Ruby go help Weiss, Sapphire's got Uncle Qrow, she may be weak from using her powers but she's still able." Alex said as he motioned her to help Weiss who seemed to be in a corner surrounded by green ooze.

She nodded without a word, though in her mind she wanted to ask a million questions. In a flurry of rose petals, a Crescent Rose came down hard and fast on the unsuspecting Lyme's head. He was quick to dodge however backing up and angling his saber with a swift strike sent Ruby crashing into Weiss. "Ow! That hurt you dolt!" Weiss grumbled as she pushed Ruby off her. Ruby just grunted "This guy is good, way too good," she said prepping her stance again.

"Good, now that things seem to be stable..." Alex got up and stretched himself a bit. Sapphire looked at him confused, "What? Where are going?"

"To deal with an old friend." He said darkly, readying Asura, staring at the elevator pad.

* * *

**I feel like I made Adam feel like the Joker, or some type of demented mastermind. Oh man the fun I'm having with this portion of the story is tops.**


	12. Chapter 12: Raging Inferno

**Chapter 12: White Dragons and Broken Bones**

* * *

The elevator pad creaked and groaned as it slowly rose, a sinisterly smiling Adam stood atop, his hands clasped around hilt his sword as he propped himself up on it. He stood there menacingly like a dark lord, this time he was in possession of the high ground, and as such his arrogance showed brilliantly.

"Nice to see you finally show up, Bell, Lyme, Dune. Better late than never I guess," He gazed upon his team, all engaged in combat in two on one situation. He would have expected no less from his hand-picked soldiers. "Tell me, Where's Edan?" Adam said as he walked off of the supply lift.

"He stayed behind, Onyx needed him to do some 'heavy lifting' as he put it." Bell called out as she swung her bladed shield at Hex, narrowly missing. Adam raised his eyebrow, "You seem to be struggling..." he noted as he watched her take a shot from Hex after dodging an attack from Blake.

"We're... handling it..." she said in between grunts of effort. Blake had to commend her for being able to casually converse while fighting two opponents at once.

"Adam, you better not lay a hand on them or I swear to Oum..." Alex threatened darkly, his hands ready to draw Asura at any moment.

"And who's going to stop me? You?"

Alex's answer came in the form of a flash of orange, his blade mere inches from Adam's throat only for it to be blocked by Blush, Adam's scabbard for his katana Wilt.

"Oh look who finally decided to grow a pair, come on lizard, let me remind you why I was the best in class back at the academy." Adam readied in a drawing stance.

He jumped backward and glared daggers at Adam. Growling and baring his fangs beneath his mask, he took hold of Asura in a similar stance. The world around them felt still, the fighting around them seemed to halt as the air pressure around the two began to change. Around Alex, a burning orange aura began enveloping the atmosphere surrounding his body. The temperature was increasing tremendously while around Adam a the air turned into a blood-red miasma. From a single bead of sweat dropping from the forehead of Qrow's matted brow, the two Faunus clashed at an unbelievable speed. If you blinked you would have missed it, both drew their swords at the exact same time clashing mere meters from their original position. Fiery orange versus red darkness, Alex' s sword burned with a heat so incredible Adam had to forcefully back up from the clash to avoid scorching himself.

"I see you've grown," Adam said dusting soot from his clothes. "But not enough," he said and in an instant, he was behind Alexandrite, The young leader had a split second to react before the red blade curved upward grazing his back and tearing his clothes, it was as though the blade penetrated his aura's defences inflicting direct harm.

"Alex!" Ruby screamed out in panic. "You sure you got time to be worrying about someone other than yourself?" Lyme said as he sent green ooze in their direction. Ruby narrowly dodged only for coat to be caught in the acid, forcing her to tear it off and toss it to the ground. The substance ate away at the fabric rapidly, making Ruby glad she reacted when she did.

"Ah shit, you ruined one of my favourite shirts!" Alex yelled as he tore off his red undershirt, his black zippable hoodie hanging loosely over his shirtless body. "You'll pay for that…" he said a dangerously, changing Asura to its second form he blinked almost instantly above Adam and brought the scythe down in a cleaving motion. The blow was easily blocked but Alex kept his position. Slowly but surely Adam began losing to the force behind the dragon's blow, as if the longer he held him there the heavier he got. Realizing the situation Adam kicked him hard in the chest sending him flying back onto the elevator platform, just as he fell, Alex swapped to sniper form mid-air and fired a few shots at Adam, that were easily blocked. The force of the blow was absorbed into Adam's blade, using his semblance he prepared a draw stance. Before the downed Alexandrite could react, a blood, red light struck him hard crushing through his aura causing him to spit out blood. The force of the impact crippling the floor of the elevator pad sending it and the damaged boy rocketing into the depths of the facility.

Adam gazed into the depths of the facility's abyss and snorted "Hmph you aren't getting off that easily," he said as he jumped in after him.

* * *

"You're not so bad girly," Lyme said as he blocked Ruby's scythe with his blade, "Not as predictable as the Schnee girl over there." He pointed in the direction of Weiss only to find she was missing. As if on cue a black rune appeared below him anchoring him to the floor and restricting his movements, he cursed inwardly as he was forced to suffer a massive hit to his Aura from a bullet propelled Crescent Rose. Before he could crash to the floor he shot out two bursts of corrosive goop that ate away at Ruby's skin, burning her right arm, leaving a black mark.

"AH FUCK! IT BURNS!" Ruby screamed out in pain as she clutched her arm, Weiss knew it was serious from the fact that Ruby swore... Ruby. Never. Swore.

"Oh god RUBY!" Weiss yelled looking at the wound, the area above her elbow up to her shoulder was completely burnt over, exposing raw flesh. Had her aura not been almost depleted from the earlier exchange the damage would have been less., the substance was still slowly burning away further, she had to stop it now, tearing off part of her dress she shoved onto Ruby's face. "Bite down on this, it's going to hurt but I need to stop the spreading."

Ruby simply nodded meekly and bit down hard onto the cloth. Weiss then spread ice dust around the wound and froze the area completely. Ruby screamed bloody murder into the cloth as the wound froze up completely.

"Hurts like a bitch doesn't it? Acid manipulation, that's my semblance, though it only works through my Green Thorn here, remarkably potent isn't it?" Lyme chuckled only to erupt in a coughing fit. He hated to admit it but she got him good, his ribs were cracked and his left arm was sprained from bracing the impact.  
"Dune, I need assistance!" he yelled, the four-armed man's attention instantly swapped from the two opponents in front of him, the barrage of rapid punches stopped and he jumped high into the air and crashed next to Ruby and Weiss knocking them back. The large man stood protectively over his ally.

Yang and Nitro reared their weapons, prepared to engage their enemy alongside Ruby and Weiss. Bell was casually dancing around Blake and Hex, as if it were a stalemate, an impenetrable defence versus two masters of deception.

Qrow groggily sat up, his eyes barely able to focus on the area around him. Sapphire instantly helped him up, but kept a steady arm wrapped around his shoulder, "Uncle Qrow you shouldn't move too much, Adam did a serious number on you."

Qrow just shrugged her off, "No time, where's my…" he searched around his pockets until he found a small radio transmitter, bringing it up to his lips he spoke quietly, "Oz *cough*, it's me, you know what to do. Threat level delta," and with that, he tossed the radio into the snow. "What was that?" the blue girl asked in confusion.  
"Radioed Oz for backup, the only problem is, backup won't happen for another hour, it'll take some time for the dropships to get here." Qrow coughed slightly.

"Where's charcoal?" He asked glancing around for signs of Alex or Adam.

"They're fighting down in the facility..."

"THEN WE NEED TO HELP HIM!" Qrow said trying to get up only for him to yelp in pain and fall back down.

"You need to rest, I can't do much right now besides try to protect you if they break through our frontline." She said gesturing to the ongoing fights. Qrow snorted, "Protected by a little girl, this is new. Where's my..." he glanced around and spotted a broken Harbinger. "Fuck."

* * *

**-Inside the Facility-**

Nova crashed through floor carrying the crater bound elevator with him. The impact rattled the facility cracking the metal floors. Cursing through the pain he made a break for cover; no doubt Adam would be quick on his heels. He needed to recover, as he was, he was no match for Adam. While their sword drawing techniques were almost the same speed, and while his semblance allowed him to adapt his strength to overcome his opponent, Adam wasn't just any opponent. Adam's semblance was similar to Yang's, he absorbed force by blocking with his sword and then is able to redirect the force at an amplified level. If Nova had to calculate, it was roughly 1.5 times the original damage, hence why it didn't kill him but hurt like an absolute bitch. It was like Adam was one upping him in every aspect, except for well, being an Aspect.

_You know it wouldn't have killed them to leave a few pillows around. I mean sure things like this aren't expected but I mean seriously. You're a working secret underground facility, pretty sure most of the staff never went home, so why in god's name isn't there like a broken pillow dispenser tossin' out random soft cushions to break my fall. _he contemplated rubbing his sore hide.

Wincing in pain as he struggled to his feet, Nova stumbled around the dimly lit complex looking for somewhere to hide and regain his strength. His damaged left arm now dripping blood as he walked. _Ugh screw this,_ he thought tearing off his wig and mask, his back horns protruding through the top of his head, as he ran his fingers through his hair. He had to gain some ground, give his aura some time to heal up.

Sprinting across the facility, he managed to hold himself up in one of the empty rooms, dropping down onto the ground, he leaned himself up against the back wall, just behind the door. _Think Nova, think! He's stronger than you in a head on fight, he matches you in speed and his fashion sense is overwhelmingly better. How do you get out of this?_

He barely registered the dull clunking sound of the metal cube that was once in his pocket, roll onto the floor, it was amazing that it hadn't been lost in the fight.

"What about you huh? You got any answers for me?" He asked rhetorically, running his fingers along the cool metal, as his bloodied thumb passed over the groove on the top, the cube began to glow faintly orange. Startled by the sudden change in demeanour, Nova dropped the cube.

"Oh great, looks like I triggered an event…. What video game am I in? Is this the part where the security system comes on and makes my day worse?" Nova yelled out loud, completely ignoring the fact that Adam would still be on his trail, not like his hiding spot was any good.

The object began floating in the air instead of falling to the floor, and like a guiding light began moving, toward a blank wall in the room, next to it was a desk with a nameplate, similar to the ones that teachers would have on their desks. except this one was completely covered in dust. The cube then began crashing into the wall, as if it was trying to break it down.

"Great, it's stupid. Good job whoever made this thing, you made it brain damaged." Nova said sarcastically as he walked up to the thing that was lightly tapping against the wall. He examined the desk, faintly tracing the furniture. Wistfully he picked up the nameplate as if he _wasn't _currently fearing for his life. Squinting at the faded writing, he could barely make out a few words, 'Dr. E _ A I_' F-_R_E_H_A_R_'

_Dr EAI, that's a stupid name... _

_...unless..._he began using some heat and scrubbing away at the dust and rust that covered it. 'Dr. Elain Flareheart' The words stood out like white chalk on sidewalk. The only thing that he could register in his mind was _MOM?!. _

_She's alive?! Why does she have a desk here?! What was her connection to this place?!_ He was torn from his thoughts when a loud crash echoed through the otherwise still facility. "I know you're in here traitor! You can't hide from me for long..." Adam called out loudly as more crashes could be heard.

He glanced for a way out. There was only one door and it led straight to Adam, he needed to think but the incessant clanking of the cube was driving him insane. Wait... the cube, if it was ramming it's head into a wall by his _mother's _old workstation then it must have something to do with it. He looked over the wall frantically, tracing his bloodied hand over it, if the blood activated the cube then surely something in here would *click*. Just as his hand passed the edge of the wall at the corner, a soft click occured, white light began emanating from around what looked to be a door frame in the solid wall. _Well... here goes nothing_ he thought as he pushed onto the outlined door, passing straight through into a white room. The door sealing shut behind him.

"Well, in we go I guess, OW!" he said as he almost stumbled back into the door frame out of clumsiness, it didn't help his left eye was non-existent. The room around him was like a padded room made of hard lights and white tiles. It was narrow and small, like a large hidden closet. At the very end of short hall was a glass container on a white pedestal, sealed by cube shaped slot lock, inside it were two vials, each about six inches tall and one inch wide, they held some rather strange liquid. Both murky and translucent, a faint glow on them, one a light ocean blue, and the other, a fiery orange.

The cube that had been ramming its head against the wall earlier had now, slowly, floated its way over, Nova following curiously behind. The cube embedded itself into the lock and opened the case allowing Nova to reach inside and carefully extract the two vials.

"What in the world..." He questioned staring at the two containers in his hands, they were cold and sturdy, as if they were made of something stronger than glass, the ends were mechanical, as if they held some other purpose.

_THE SERUM!_ It clicked in his mind in a near instant, this facility had been working on a project to develop a type of serum that would enhance the user permanently, like a type of power steroid. If his memory served correctly, the liquid inside these vials was actually a nanomachine solution, finalized by an unknown doctor.

Then it hit him like a slap in the face, the doctor that finalized the formula was his mother. She succeeded in producing the enhancement serum, and then she hid it away, that's why it was in her office, at her desk. That's why it reacted when he touched it.

"So... you're probably alive, and what's more is that you worked _with _the White Fang to produce _this_. The question is... why?" just then, the cube that had been sitting neatly in the lock had popped out and landed on the pedestal and began to jitter. Nova blinked in surprise, "Woah, the hell is up with you..." The cube in question began to morph and unfold, piece by piece coming apart, opening at the center like a box. There was something resting inside...

Nova reached out and grasped the object, a little black cloth bag with a string tying the mouth. there was something small and round inside, and what felt like paper. Curious, he opened it and emptied the paper out first, unsure what the other object was. The paper was white and fresh, as if it hadn't been touched since the day it was put in there. He carefully unfolded the paper, on it was lines and lines of an unmistakably intricate handwriting.

_'Nova, Luna, I don't know how much time has passed between the time of writing this and when you read it but know that as of the moment of this letter, I am alive. Your father and I are both alive. I've succeeded in experimenting with our family's Shard of Remnant. Combining its power with that of my new nanomachines has created a serum that would enhance the powers of an already existing Aspect. These prototypes I've created with you two in mind, these were designed specifically for you, they were our only successful prototypes. Please do not use these until you are old enough for your body to handle them. You probably have hundreds of questions but I can't explain it all on this piece of paper. I've rigged the facility's systems to respond only to our family's Aegis gene, but you probably figured that out when everything started activating when you touched it. I don't know what's going to happen to me now that I've ruined this place but know this: I am alive, Onyx won't kill me or your father, we're too valuable to him alive. I know I can't stop you from looking for us, but I'm entrusting the Shard to you, please, above all else, keep it out of his hands. Randolf knows what to do._

_With deepest love, Elain Flareheart._

_PS: DO NOT USE THE SERUM IF YOU ARE -_

The last part was scratches and scribbles as if she was hastily forced to stop writing.

Nova felt like his entire world was collapsing in on himself, for years he had gone under the belief that his parents were alive, it was just belief. He had no proof. The world told him they were dead but he refused to believe them, and now that the truth was staring him in his face, he didn't know whether to be crying tears of joy or break out in a depressive fit.

"Honestly mom," Nova said, tears leaking down from his face, "Seriously, the first message I get from you in almost nine years and it's this?!" he barely choked out the words through the tears as he stuffed the vials into his hoodie pocket and this time, remembered to zip it shut.

He emptied the rest of the bag into his palm, a smooth red stone fell out, not much larger than a cotton ball, it was round and shaped like an oval. It's texture was warm and seemingly unblemished, it looked like red jade, a white dragon adorned the larger face. The dragon was curled like a flame, its claws extending outward to one side, its body long and slender.

As he firmly grasped the stone, images flashed through is mind. He could see his mother, terrified and panicked, forcibly dragged into this facility like a slave by a tall burly man with jet black hair, his arms and neck incredibly hairy. He wore dark grey outfit with black shoulders. He was massive in every essence of the word. More images of other scientists cowering in fear at him and his White Fang soldiers, Nova's mother working tirelessly into the night against her will. Every chance she got she would purposely mess up the experiments, delaying the project as much as she could. The scenes played out as if they were embedded into the stone, rolling through his mind as though the object in his hand was resonating with him._._

Emotional rollercoasters were never his thing, it was usually just a string of disappointments but today was certainly one if he ever knew it. At this stage the mix of rage, hurt, confusion and distraught he felt at one point left him impassive to everything except the rage building in him.

As he dropped his hand to his side, the stone began to pull forcibly on its own, as if it were trying to get to something.

"Really? Not this to..." He droned recognizing the familiar situation, "What do _you _want?" he asked the stone as if it would respond to him. The stone just tugged his hand harder, toward Asura.

"What do you want with my baby?" his answer came in the form of the stone wrenching itself out of his grasp and latching onto the sword, embedding itself in the eye of the golden dragon that curled around the hilt. In almost an instant he felt his weapon grow heavier, the stone had done something to his blade. Rubbing his temples, he was drawn from his irritation to a familiar loud crashing noise outside.

"Looks like someone's pissed... Guess I better own up to whatever it is I need to do..." Nova sighed as he pushed back onto the sealed door, and luckily enough, it actually opened _I was really banking on it just pushing open, didn't actually expect it.._. He strode outside and stood in the center of the facility now, awaiting his enemy.

* * *

"So you finally decide to show yourself," Adam said with a tone of boredom, "Honestly I didn't know dragons could run so quickly, thought your warrior pride demanded you stand and fight or some shit," he spat.

"Yeah I dunno about that, I thoroughly embrace the tactical retreat method," Nova joked while rubbing his chin.

"You're wasting my time, to tell you the truth I don't know why master Onyx wants you alive, or why he needs this serum so badly when he has another lab dedicated to it. That cube you picked up must mean something, so... give it to me." He demanded pointing the edge of his blade at Nova' throat. The young dragon swatted it away with a quick draw of his own blade, the red katana and fiery steel resonating a dangerous hum.

"I can't let you have that serum Adam. I don't know what your master is planning but I'm going to stop him, and I'll start by taking you down first." Nova prepared his stance, his gaze determined and unwavering, eyes lined with the spirit of the warrior.

"Take me down? What a joke, you couldn't beat me when we were kids and you can't beat me now, you and you're pathetic family will pay for betraying the White Fang, for betraying all Faunus!" Adam yelled a battle cry as he slashed forward, Nova dodged the blade barely missing his neck.

"Betrayal? What are you talking about? Your people attacked US!" Nova dodged his blows only to be met with a swift kick that sent him flying backward into the monument.

"We attacked you because you sold us out, your 'royal family' were selling our secrets to the Humans, you cost us the war!" Adam screamed in anger, his aura flaring wildly, tendrils of black and red energy whipping around him.

Nova was shocked to say the least, "Is that what you think? Adam you know me, or at least you used to, you knew my parents, we would never do something like that!"

"LIES! All you dragons ever do is spout LIES! Master Onyx said that your family betrayed our kind! Master Onyx is no liar!" Adam was angry, his eyes however were somewhat hazed over, as if there was something fuelling his rage and blinding him to the truth.

"Looks like I won't convince you with words…." Nova drew Asura in its scythe form, except, it wasn't like before. He was taken aback in surprise when he saw that the scythe itself had become enhanced, the red jade stone embedded in the eye of the dragon was glowing, the Incidium blade was no longer segregated but one solid piece, and the heat it radiated was no joke. Adam reeled back a little upon seeing the new weapon, eyeing the glowing gem, "Is that..." He mouthed, at a loss for words.

"A Shard of Remnant? I think so... too bad I don't know exactly what it does..." Nova answered, spinning the scythe and testing its weight. It was definitely heavier, but not an unwelcome change, just passing it through the air left heat waves, as if the gem had enhanced his weapon to channel his power.

"You have in your possession one of the greatest sources of natural power in the world and you don't even know how to use it! This is brilliant!" Adam said chuckling madly."I'll just have to beat you and take it..."

Nova had enough.

With one fluid motion Nova was on him, Adam blocked but the strength and weight behind the strike was greater now, momentarily stunning him. Using this opportunity Nova bega rapidly striking at Adam, tearing away his aura's defences like a paper shredder, channeling his power into the blade and scorching away at the older Faunus, leaving burn marks all over him. Adam managed to regain his senses and instantly struck out with Blush, shooting several rounds at Nova who just spun the scythe, deflecting the bullets. He launched himself at Adam, rearing the blade for a fatal strike, the incendiary blade burning the ground as he flew toward his opponent. Adam blocked it easily though he suffered damage from the heat, and reflected the impact sending Nova crashing upward through the first floor landing him on the balcony of the second. Nova could've sword he saw it, a flash of a necklace with a black gemstone hanging from Adam's neck.

"SHIT THAT HURT!" Nova cursed, his aura dangerously low from their drawn out fight. "How do you like that? The taste of my semblance, you remember it don't you? You understand that no matter how hard you hit me, I'll just hit back harder."

"Man seriously? Your semblance is like cheating," Nova called down, dusting himself off, wincing from the pain, there were definitely some broken ribs, his left arm was completely shot, and there was possibly internal bleeding.

"And yours isn't?" Adam raised an eyebrow though no one could see behind his mask.

"At least mine isn't practically invincible," Nova huffed.

Their banter was calming to Adam, almost as if they had never been enemies, he would have given into the atmosphere if it hadn't been for a sharp pain in the back of his mind, telling him to take down the traitor.

"ARGH ENOUGH OF YOUR GAMES!" Adam blinked upward, a bright red slash aimed straight to Nova' torso. Nova parried just barely able to skirt by the damage. The Shard began to hum and a fiery red glow began to breathe out of the dragon sigil, Nova didn't know why he understood what to do, but it felt like the gem was storing power, charging itself.

"Alright then, time to get serious!" Nova yelled, pushing him back and rapidly swiping, gritting his teeth through the pain of his damaged arms. Adam just growled and blocked his assault, the problem was that despite his attempts the scythe spun dangerous flames as it moved as if it burned the very air around it.

"Fancy trick but it's not enough," Adam lunged forward ducking under Nova' swing and cut his torso upward, blood flowing from the wound, the force of the impact cracking the walls behind them.

Instead of flying back like he did those times before, Nova caught Adam's hand, using the momentum of the swing he launched them both off the edge of the second floor crashing into the monument below.

"Okay raging bull, time to play, I'm not very good at controlling this power and when I use more than just a little it tends to go crazy, but...since it's just us here, mind if I turn up the heat?" Nova said as he got up from a downed Adam in a crater. He brought Asura over his head and extended his broken left arm wincing in pain as he did. Calling upon the fire that slept within him, the air around them began to superheat, expanding at an exponential rate. Nova held up his scythe and willed the Shard to help him. A flame began generating at the blade, but not just any flame... it was like the essence of fire itself, not a calm flickering flame that brought life, but a deadly violent flame that would incinerate anything it touched. The heat felt like thousands of tiny explosions going off at once. Adam could only watch in horror as the apocalyptic flaming scythe came reaping downward, erupting the area in an explosion of fire, burning away at everything, even the metal, leaving a scorched crater and piles of melted iron.

Nova fell back onto the floor, convinced that Adam Taurus was incapacitated. Struggling to his feet the young dragon propped himself up with Asura and limped out of the wreckage, leaning against a pillar, unable to move anymore.

"That was a powerful strike..." came the one sound Nova did NOT want to hear.

"You have gotta be kidding me right now…" Nova said, he expected a half burnt Adam, he didn't try to kill him but he feared he went overboard, the fire he wielded was amplified somehow, much more violent than ever before. His fears were somewhat shattered as a flash of red erupted from the crater, he swore he almost saw the face of a demon in the flare.

Adam flew out of the crater, his body burnt and damaged but his skin was slowly healing, his eyes glowing red like they were no longer Faunus. The necklace Nova thought he saw earlier floating around Adam's neck. It glowed a sinister black aura that mingled with Adam's red.

"YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE IN POSSESSION OF A SHARD OF REMNANT! This...THIS IS THE POWER YOU COULD WIELD WHEN YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT!" Adam spoke, his voice sounding loud and resonated as if there were more than one. "YOU DIE HERE TRAITOR!" he reared his blade, a mysterious blood red energy mixed with black swirled around it.

"Talk about bullshit power-ups…." Nova tried to laugh but the encroaching doom threatened to consume him. The attack previously drained everything he had, his muscles were torn and exhausted, his body refused to move.

"So…life was good while it lasted, I guess," Nova joked aloud but in his mind, he was breaking down. He had so much left to live for, his sister, his mother, his father, Ruby, he had so much left to do. A sole tear leaked down his left mismatched eye as he prepared for death... but it never came.

"ADAM! WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" A strange voice broke through the atmosphere, stopping Adam's attack mid swing.

"WHAT! I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING HERE!" Adam's voice boomed.  
Bell had come into the complex, "IT'S THE MILITARY, THEY'RE HERE, WE NEED TO JET NOW BEFORE WE GET CAUGHT!" she yelled.

"HA! LET THEM COME I WILL KILL THEM ALL!" Adam called back, still floating nearly ten feet off the floor, his entire body exuding power, like some sort of demigod

"Look at you, your torn up, strong as you may be Lyme is injured and it's us against seven ships... I've already contacted Master Onyx, his orders are to retreat NOW! Besides, I believe your orders were specifically NOT to use your power or kill the dragons?... What's our esteemed commander going to do to you once he finds out that you blew up seven airships and got your team killed on top of disobeying his orders?" she called back from the third floor.

Adam cursed, she was right "Fine, but not before I-" he wasn't able to finish as a new voice broke through.  
"You should listen to her, scram before you bite off more than you can chew," a deep older male voice came through, the glint of a shining silver katana in the dark.

"Who's there?" Adam called. He was answered with a white slash of energy erupting through the area, almost cleaving him in two if he hadn't dodged. "Who else you deranged dimwit, leave now without laying a single hand on my apprentice or else, it won't just be an army you fight…" the man growled, the threat sent chills down Adam's spine as if the weight he carried in those words was far beyond anything Adam could deal with. He wore a white fur coat, his build was slender and tall like Qrow but his hair was slicked back and shining silver, dog-like ears sprouted from the top of his head. His face was mature and stern and he wore glasses, a long Katana held in his arm.

"Wulf…"Adam cursed lowly as he floated up to Bell. He weighed his options, sure he could take on a few ships but Wulf was a different story, the man was strong, very strong and he was in no condition to fight the master swordsman.

"This won't be the last time you see me…" Adam said as he deactivated his enraged mode, his eyes returning to normal before he disappeared into the dark with Bell.

Randolf Wulf rushed over to the fallen Nova, "Aye kid come on, wake up. Imma get you outta here," he said, his voice gruff but gentle. "Fine mess you made of yourself aye," he said looking over Nova, the young dragon just coughed up a fit.

"C'mon you shitty teacher, everything hurts…. Tall red and crazy was pretty tough" The wound on Nova' chest was bleeding uncontrollably; his left arm was black and blue around the shoulder and his body was covered in scars.

"Good god you look like someone tossed you in a wood chipper…" he muttered as he gently picked up his student and carried the unconscious boy outside, jumping an unnatural height upward to the top of the pad above the building where team ASHNRWBY were.

* * *

Up topside, Lyme was slung over Dune's back, during the commotion earlier Bell had slipped off to find Adam to warn him of the oncoming threat, while the rest of team ASHNRWBY minus the A were squaring off against Dune, apparently the large silent man had enough strength to match all of them in their exhausted states. Each member exhausted and tired, their fights drawn on long without end, neither side had given an edge and even in the two on one situation, there was no winner. Yang, Nitro, Ruby, and Hex stood on the front lines, each looking just as tired as the next, their eyes dimming and their legs struggling to keep them up.

"Looks like backup has arrived..." Ruby said with a lopsided grin, looking up at the sky, the enemy followed her gaze to see the ships encroaching on their location. "You guys are so dead..." Weiss said half-heartedly, she was completely out of dust and really didn't want to re-engage the fight.

"It was nice meeting you but, it seems that's our cue... Dune if you would be so kind..." Lyme lightly tapped his comrade's shoulder. A stiff nod came from the giant before a mass of steam erupted from his body, blinding everyone. Once the steam had subsided and the coughing fits died down, the enemy was gone, disappeared in smoke.

"Fuck, they got away..." Yang cursed dropping down onto the cold snow, resting her weary body. Hex pulled up next to her and leaned her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, snaking her injured hand over the blonde's and entangling her fingers, "Is that such a bad thing? I'm just glad we're still alive." She gazed into Yang's eyes. Yang just smiled sweetly and leaned her head atop Hex's and kissed it, "You and me both..."

The airships landed, and soldiers piled off, spreading out around the area. A medical ship dropped near the team allowing them to easily carry their injured for first aid.

"Captain Branwen Sir!" A soldier in Atlas military uniform showed up and saluted. Qrow visibly flinched, "At ease soldier, just secure the perimeter, those guys we just fought could be anywhere." The soldier nodded affirmatively, "Any idea who they were sir?" he asked.

"We don't know who they were, but they were strong..." Ruby said folding Crescent Rose and kneeling down to check on her uncle, broken ribs, a twisted ankle, and a mild concussion.

"How did you manage to drag the Atlas military here?" Weiss asked as she limped forward to the medical ship, she had a few dark blue bruises but otherwise, she was fine.

"Ozpin called in a favor." Was all the explanation Qrow gave the heiress.

Blake and Hex were relatively uninjured, Sapphire was just drained and Ruby had suffered minor scratches except for her arm, which was rather raw.

She had to consider, Adam was one powerful man, to manage to hurt a skilled huntsman such as her uncle so easily... imagine what he would have done to...

"ALEX!" Ruby yelled out looking frantic. Everyone's eyes went wide, their precious friend was still down there, the fact that he didn't come back up... Ruby feared for the worst.

"It's been forever since that brute kicked him down there. Neither of them have come out yet." Ruby said rubbing her good arm in nervousness. The look on her face was pure fear. Yang looked on sympathetically, Sapphire came up and held her hand, and looked into her eyes, silver met blue, "Have faith in my brother, he's alive I just know it" was all she could say. In truth she to was worried beyond belief, she had to say those words aloud as if to make herself believe.

"I'm sure charcoal's got this, that Adam guy is good but if anyone could beat him it's our flaming dragon boy," Qrow said wincing as he attempted to get up. Ruby looked up to Qrow, "What did you just call him?" she asked, now everyone was staring at the older huntsman, "Ah shit..." Was all he could muster out before he yelped in pain at antiseptic being applied to his wounds by the nurse.

.

"Hey! Look someone is coming out of the hole!" Blake said pointing to the lift. A tall man dressed in all white who they had never seen before came out carrying something, or someone, the boy was bleeding, bruised and looked nothing short of a corpse.

"WULF!" Qrow cried out limping up to him. The two met each other briefly, Qrow was smiling ear to ear but Randolf's face was grim.  
"What's going on…" Ruby walked up to the two.

"No time to explain, he's in critical condition," Randolf said as he took Nova off his back, a makeshift bandage wrapped around his torso, the bleeding was not stopping. If it continued any more, he might die of blood loss.

"Who's that…." Blake started but her voice trailed off. "There's no time kid, help me get Charcoal onto the ship!" Qrow yelled.

"That's ALEXANDRITE?!" Everyone exclaimed simultaneously, finally registering that the white and orange-haired boy that lay before them was none other than their close friend.

Everyone's eyes widened in horror at the sight of their friend. The condition he was in was far beyond any level of injury they had seen. The state of his injuries would have killed any normal person, the white dragon was hanging on by sheer willpower.

"OH MY GOD SOMEONE! WE NEED A MEDIC!" Yang screamed out to the soldiers as Ruby just stood there, all hope for words gone. She was sure, that he would just come out of there, smiling his gentle grin, arms open for a celebration. She never expected him to come out of there on the brink of death's door. She couldn't lose him, not today.

"Why isn't his aura repairing his body, what's going on?" Nitro who had been behind Ruby said. "His aura is weak but it's constantly depleting itself to replenish his blood. He's not healing because it's barely keeping him alive." Randolf responded, trying his best to keep the pressure on the bleeding wound.

The medics arrived and placed him on a stretcher, and rushed back to beacon before everyone else, Randolf boarded with them for support.

When the bullhead left carrying the teams Ruby was mortified. Yang and Sapphire did their best to help her relax but her mind was constantly at ends. What if she had gone in with him, maybe she could've stopped this from happening. These thoughts ate away at her all the way until they got back to Beacon.

* * *

As soon as they docked the two teams rushed out, leaving Qrow behind.

"HEY STOP! YOU NEED TO BE DEBRIEFED!" A soldier said trying to deny them entry into the campus.  
"NO TIME FOR THAT OUTTA THE WAY!" Nitro yelled bodying the man aside. Weiss screamed apologies as she ran after them.

They barely made it in time to find Nova lying on a hospital bed, IV drips hooked up to his arms and a mask over his face to help his breathing.

"He just came out of surgery so he should be out of it for a while." A feminine voice said. The team turned to see a nurse come through the door, she was brown haired with chocolate eyes, wearing a standard white nurse outfit.

"We managed to patch up the wound on his chest, though it was difficult, whatever cut him, cut deep enough to almost sever his lungs. Four broken ribs, a punctured diaphragm, the bones in his legs have been crushed at the joints as if he were standing on them while they were already broken. His left shoulder had been dislocated and multiple lacerations about his body." She read out the list of damages from her clipboard.

"What in god's name was he fighting a horde of Ursa?" she asked in disbelief.

"Try mad cow," Nitro joked, the team was overall relieved to see he was alive but one thought plagued Ruby. "How long until he wakes up?" she had a sinking feeling as if she knew something was instinctively wrong.

"Well given the extent of his injuries, weeks? Months? Even then his body will never be the same again." She said.

"What do you mean…," Weiss asked fearing the answer.

"I mean that he might not be able to be a huntsman after this. His legs were completely shattered, we're doctors, not miracle workers, his arms may work but his legs and the muscle strain, the blood loss and lung damage, he may never be able to fight again." The nurse said solemnly.

A gruff male voice boomed from the doorway, "My apprentice isn't so weak, he'll figure it out." Randolf said as he entered the room followed by Qrow.

"And Who are you huh? You were carrying him but we don't even know who you are." Weiss asked snarkily.

"MASTER RANDOLF!" Luna cried as she ran up and hugged the older man. He just laughed and leaned down to hug her back. "Good to see you two kiddo," he said tussling her hair. "Don't worry your brother will be fine."

"WHO'S THIS KID?!" Yang asked incredulously gesturing to Luna, whose mask and wig were long gone, her need for secrecy non-existent.

"Yang really? You don't recognize me? And I thought we were friends..." She pouted and pulled her signature blue hood over her head in fake sadness. Everyone recognized the action, "SAPPHIRE?!" Came the resounding realization.

The one and only!" she chirped, though her cheeriness was only a facade, it instantly turned to worry once she spotted the unconscious body of her brother. Qrow noticed her depressive state and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I've known that time bomb for years, he'll make it." he input taking a swig from his flask.

"Are you his guardian?" The nurse asked Randolf.

"Ah yes, what seems to be the issue?" he turned to the nurse.

She reached over to a table that sat at the corner of the room and brought out two syringes from the drawer. One Orange and one blue.

"He had these on him when he was brought in, said it was important to give it to you, don't know how he even managed to speak in that state," she said handing over the vials to Randolf. The older man took them and examined them over. _No, it can't be… IT IS!_

"This could be the answer!" Randolf exclaimed causing everyone in the room to jump at the outburst.

"What is the answer Wulf?" Qrow turned to his friend.

"These, THIS!" he held the orange syringe in his hand. The team simultaneously raised their eyebrows, "HuH?!" they chorused

Randolf composed himself and pushed up his glasses.

"Ahem! What I mean is, this is liquid nanomachines, these were designed with Nova specifically in mind, like a tailor-made enhancement." He said moving over to the boy.

"His real name is Nova?" Weiss asked, seemingly the only one concerned by this.

"What are you…" Ruby started but stopped when Randolf jabbed the syringe into Nova's arm draining its contents.

"WHAT THE HECK OLD MAN!" Nitro exclaimed in alarm.

"Don't worry this should help him," Randolf said. "Probably." He added.

Within moments, orange circuit marks began glowing over Nova's body, flames encircled and licked at his wounds like a million tiny fireflies. Within seconds all his external lacerations were gone, the black and blue discolourations of his legs and shoulders were gone, and the pained look on his face was replaced by a content sleeping face.

"Astounding…." The nurse said as she was about to write something down but Randolf stopped her. "Breathe a word about this and I will make sure you never wake up again," Randolf threatened. Gulping the nurse nodded and hurried out of the room.

They waited a while but Nova showed no signs of waking up, his pain seemed easier but the golden flames that had healed in him before began wrapping themselves around his body, encasing it in an almost cocoon-like state they all thought it was over when the sudden calm that had overcome him did a complete one-eighty. "AAAAAAAAAARHHHHHHH!" the circuit veins that were soothing him began to wrack his body, causing the boy to scream out in deafening agony.

"What's happening to him! Is the bed gonna catch on fire?" Nitro exclaimed bringing attention to the situation.

"HOLD HIM DOWN!" Randolf said urgently. Nitro instantly went to Nova's side and held him firmly. The boy writhed and squirmed under his hold, Nitro just looked on worriedly, everyone else was too shocked to speak. Eventually, Randolf managed to strap him down and knock him sedate him with anesthetics.

"What's happening to him?! SERIOUSLY OLD MAN HE'S IN MAJOR PAIN!". Yang yelled.

Randolf nodded negatively, "Calm down, he'll be fine provided he's strong enough to deal with the pain. Right now, the nanomachines are…mutating his body, adjusting his muscles and organs to handle the newfound pressure and power. Though there is a chance he may not remember any of us at all when he awakens and even now during this process his body is under immense stress." Randolf said as he filled a cup with coffee from a thermos that conveniently lay on the nurse's table. He leaned against the wall trying to calm his nerves.

"What does that mean? Is he gonna wake up any time soon?" Ruby asked the older man, her eyes then turning to her uncle but he just shrugged his shoulders.

The wolf Faunus took a long sip from the cup before answering, "Can't say for sure, it could be hours, days maybe even weeks. We have no real way of knowing how long it will take his body to adjust to the changes, as for what state he will be in it is also pretty hard to say, in the past Aegis warriors were unstable existences. Their powers were always subject to rampant outbursts if not contained. If my guess is correct, these nanomachines were specially designed for him by his mother. I'm just hoping this prototype works," He placed the cup down.

Weiss whose patience had been wearing thin, she and her team had just been sent on a life or death mission to retrieve some artifact they didn't even know if they had. Hell, they didn't even know the real purpose behind everything, they were left on a need to know basis.

Weiss slammed her fist down on the table startling everyone. "Alright Fido, start talking, I'm gonna need some explanations" she huffed while folding her arms.

Randolf almost spit out the coffee, "Excuse me?"

* * *

**Long chapter again, took some time to try and iron out all the problems though, I think there may have been one or two I missed, I just can't seem to find them though.**

**So yeah, secrets are out, next chapter will be some much needed lore. **


	13. Chapter 13: His grace is her love

**Alot of you guys probably noticed most of the chapters have two titles to them. That's just me trying to be cool with naming. **

* * *

**Chapter 13: Sleeping Hottie**

* * *

Weiss was fuming. "You heard me, I want to know, why my friends and I were really sent out on a practical suicide mission to a frozen wasteland, fought some of the most wanted terrorists in all of Vale and the reason for one of my good friends is lying unconscious on a hospital bed. I don't care about your shitty secrets anymore, WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" she practically screamed, her fists shaking. Everyone was taken by surprise at the heiress' outburst, justified as it was, it was still strange to see Weiss scream bloody murder at an authoritative figure.

"Please… I don't care what it is, I would help my friends to my very last breath, no matter the trials. The least you could do is tell us what's happening." She choked out, her eyes tearing up. Ruby held onto her best friend's arm. Multiple pairs of eyes gazing at the silver-haired wolf.

Sighing heavily, he emptied his cup and placed it down, folding his arms he gazed to the team. "I will tell you…but only when Nova wakes up as he needs to hear this too."

"For now just get some rest everyone, we'll debrief you tomorrow," Randolf said gazing solemnly at Weiss and Ruby, the hurt in their eyes was evident.

All eyes now turned to Luna. She looked flushed at their gazes.

"So…I guess I have some level of explaining to do…." She started.

"You think?" Weiss retorted.

"I guess, I'll start with this." She said gesturing to her uncovered face. Her shining silver hair gleamed with the evening sun pouring in through a nearby window. The black horns poking out, barely stubs, at the top of her head. Her hair which hadn't been let down in a while, draped all the way to her upper back.

"This is what I really look like," she said breathing out a sigh. Unlike her brother, she had no prominent scales around her cheeks, however when she spoke it was clear her fangs were there. "My real name is Luna Sapphire Flareheart, and the one lying on the bed is my brother, Nova Alexandrite Flareheart."

"So you're a Faunus." Weiss eyed her, it wasn't a question.

"Yes, my brother and I are Dragons, the last of our clan, it's a long story and I don't know most of the details, I was barely six years old when it happened. You'll have to wait until Nova wakes up for the story." She said solemnly. "I really do apologize for hiding this from you all for so long. It's just that... if we didn't then we'd risk endangering out, putting a target on your backs for the White Fang to aim at so they could get to us... We were terrified that we'd not only risk your lives but ours as well..." she explained.

Ruby walked up and placed a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder and smiled, a sad smile. "It's okay, we accept you regardless, you're our friend and you always will be. And no matter what the problem is, we'd stay with you through it all." She hugged the girl who relented hugging her back, sobbing slightly. Years of loneliness and hardship leading up to this moment, if only her brother was awake to see it.

"So... do we call you Luna now?" Blake asked the blue girl. Luna rubbed the back of her hair sheepishly, she'd been called Sapphire for so long that it felt like her real name now, "You can still call me Sapphire if you want... it is my middle name after all..." She smiled a toothy grin.

Weiss walked up and planted a firm squeezing hug on the girl, "I don't care what you are, you are our friend and nothing's going to change that, so... I'm just going to have to get used to calling you, Luna."

"ACK! WEISS! NEED AIR!" She squealed in protest causing the heiress to drop the short girl.

"When Alex... err...Nova came out of the facility without his disguise, the only people that weren't shocked were Nitro, Hex, Luna and Ruby. Luna and her team are understandable because they knew all along, but you Ruby. How come you weren't freaking out? Even when we came back, you looked so, normal." Weiss pointed out as she released the smaller girl. Ruby was at a loss for how to answer.

"Well, …you see…" She stuttered out.

"Yeah, Ruby come on, I'm curious." Luna eyed her.

"I, uh… kinda knew for a while now." Ruby finally admitted.

"YOU KNEW?! AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!" Weiss blurted. Luna looked incredulously.

"Well… it happened on accident, and I didn't exactly know? I saw Ale- Nova's hair and horns... I didn't see his face but... I did have speculations. He didn't give me any explanations though, so all I did was assume that you were Faunus." she said and began to explain how she found out.

"Ah, so my brother made you swear to secrecy.. sounds like him." Luna nodded.

"Well…now we know who his favourite is," Yang smirked resulting in Ruby to turn blood red.

Blake glanced down at the sleeping boy, his features vaguely familiar, white hair, horns, incredibly clumsy...

It should have been obvious, she wondered why she hadn't seen it before. "BAHAHAHHA!" She burst out in a fit of laughter unable to control herself. The rest of her team eyed her warily, "Uh... Blake... you okay?" came Yang's voice.

"I'm...sorry... it... just..." She said in between bouts of laughter, once she finally calmed down she spoke up, "Sorry... it's just that... I know him." She said pointing at her unconscious friend.

Everyone just blinked, even Luna, "Huh?!"

"We were friends as kids, well sorta. I was friends with Adam and he was friends with Nova, we all went to the same junior combat academy, well they usually didn't let the young ones in, you had to at least be ten years of age but I and Nova were... special, so they let us train. Think of it like Signal but for Faunus on Menagerie." Blake explained, not wanting to bring up her own family. "We would train together and hang out. One day he stopped coming to school, they said..." She trailed off looking to the young dragon for permission to continue.

Luna nodded affirmatively, so she continued, "They said the Dragon manor had burned down, and everyone inside got trapped and died in the blaze... I was angry and frustrated, later on, I heard on the news that the family was selling secrets to the humans this whole time... I felt betrayed, and so did Adam. He... stopped going to the training school after that, and it didn't take me long to follow either... and that's how I ended up in the White Fang." Blake held her hands up to her mouth in shock and regret.

"You don't believe them... do you, Blake?" Luna asked, her eyes laden with worry that her friend might harbour some grudges, even if they were seemingly misplaced. Luna wasn't even aware that there were such accusations against her family, but it did explain why her brother didn't trust anyone, particularly the Faunus.

Blake shook her head, "I did once... but the White Fang was the one that 'uncovered' those 'secrets'. When I realized what that organization was truly capable off... the atrocities that were being committed... I didn't know what to believe..."

Luna breathed a sigh, "From what my brother's told me of that night... and from what I remember... The White Fang were the ones who started that fire in the first place... They were trying to kill us..."

Everyone gasped, except Weiss who folded her arms as if to say 'typical'.

"I don't know about any sold out secrets... but what I do know is that my parents are gone because of them. Nova keeps telling me that they're alive out there somewhere, that he bodies were never found but... I find it hard to believe..." the blue girl sighed solemnly, she knew better than to hold false hopes.

"I believe they're alive..." Ruby said wrapping her good arm around the girl, the other was wrapped in bandages.

* * *

Day turned into night, night back into day and so on, for what seemed to be ages, despite it only being a couple of days, Nova lay cocooned in the hospital, no doctor nor medical expert could wake up, not that they could even get close, Randolf kept a close eye on the young boy, all throughout his comatose state, even Ozpin made a guest appearance once. Sometimes at night, Nova would briefly wake in shrill screams of pain only to be sedated again. Eventually, the screaming died down to a low grumble. There were very few things that stayed consistent over the last several days, only the weather changed, team SHNRWBY came through every now and then, Luna would frequently check up on her brother, not a day went by when she wasn't in there until Hex, Yang and Blake decided they needed to be proper older sisters and distract the young girl from her despair.

Luna spent her entire life with Nova, they ate, trained and played together nearly every single day of their lives. The two siblings were nigh inseparable, this was the first time since she was three years old that she didn't have her brother with her, guiding her and looking out for her. Had it not been for Blake and the others, she'd have been lost completely, they were like a surrogate family to her now. The problem was she had no idea what to do with herself now that her brother was out of commission, no matter what she did her mind always wandered back to her comatose sibling.

"Honestly kid, you need to chill, eat some ice-cream or something, Smokey's not gonna suddenly wake up because you tormented yourself so much, he would probably come out of his coma, just to stop your brain noise," Nitro said chewing on what seemed to be a chili stick.

"But what if he wakes up and I'm not there, what if he wakes up and he's all messed up cuz that funky juice mutated him or something," she mulled, her white hair draped over her face a little, the blue of her eyes weren't shining like they usually do. She leaned her head against the backboard of her bed, staring up at the bunk above trying to figure out what she could have done back then to save him. Her strength, her powers were nowhere near his level, it took everything she had just to save Qrow. She needed to get stronger, she would train every day, harder, faster, better. Building up determination she was about to pick up Galaxia when Yang bust through their dorm door.

"WHA!" she jumped back as she was almost face slammed by the door. A grinning Yang looked down, "Ah princess, we were lookin for yah! C'mon it's girls' day out!" she said clapping her hands, Luna just looked up at her quizzically, Princess? and um… we?" she was about to comment further when two wiggling cat ears popped up behind Yang and a head of purple hair rounded the side of the frame. "Yes we, now get your fun pants on we're goin' out," Hex said cheerily, her hazel eyes gleaming.  
Luna just sighed in dismay realizing her plans were now shifted in place of her friends. "Fine! I'll be out in five," she grabbed some clothes and bundled into the bathroom.

"One down hehe," Yang fist-bumped Hex, now that their leaders were down and needed them, they would fulfill their roles as the big sisters of the group, and make everyone feel better, hold them together.

"All that's left are Ice Princess and Ruby," Hex said checking her scroll to see if Weiss responded to her text from earlier asking if she was free.

"Any news?" Blake asked, her ears twitching up and down.

"Nah she just left me on seen," she responded.

* * *

Meanwhile Ruby was having her own conundrums, like Luna, she to spent her time mulling over how different things could have been. She almost lost him, a friend who was closer to her than anyone else. The mere memory of him in that beaten state gave her shudders.

Ruby walked in through the infirmary doors, visiting Nova for the fourth time in the past two days, he still lay in the same spot in the same position as he was yesterday and the day before that. Honestly, she couldn't stand it, she knew he would be fine but it still worried her to end. The large wound that streaked from his lower left hip to his right shoulder, didn't heal from the flames, all his cuts stayed the same, healing like that of a normal person, leaving scars. It was strange, some cuts were healed instantly but the more the golden flames tried to get near the open wound the more they would be warded off. Randolf suggested that the wounds that didn't heal were the ones left by Adam's sword, something about a reaction between the blade and the Aegis gene that limited healing. What scared her the most is that he said the nanomachines would mutate Nova and he may not wake up the same person he was before. She was scared he would forget who she was if she wasn't the first person to see him.

She pulled up a chair near the side of his bed and sat down, staring longingly at him. "You're one big idiot you know that? Pushing yourself to that extent. Do you have any idea how I would feel if anything had happened to you? Well things happened to you but you know what I mean."

She took his hand in hers, playing around with it, at first, she was a little reserved at touching him but it was as if the golden flames wanted her to, the first time Nitro tried to touch them he was burned as if it was protecting Nova. The moment she reached down, the flames parted, allowing her to touch him freely. Now they happily licked at her hands, a warm gentle feeling, she didn't know what made her special but she didn't care. Turning over his hands in hers, his semi-scaly skin was smooth and soft, not at all like you would expect touching a Dragon. His hands were coarse and rough from years of training and combat, yet they held a gentleness unlike she had felt before. As if they were meant for protecting not hurting.

"Hey, I knew you hid your identity for a good reason, I'm sure you spent your life running, never being able to enjoy yourself, always on edge, afraid to build relationships because you might endanger them or yourself. I just want you to know, that no matter what happens, I'm…we're here for you, everyone's got your back so you don't have to hide anymore." She stroked his palm. "You're an ass you know that, leaving us here like this while you take a nap. Hurry and wake up already so I can smack you for being a reckless idiot." She said half-jokingly.

She spent what felt like several hours just sitting there, watching over him in silent regret. She hadn't noticed when the quartet of girls walked in, it wasn't until Yang tapped her over the shoulder, shaking her out of her daze that Ruby was brought back to reality. Startled at the sudden interruption Ruby recoiled looking up at her sister, the myriad of eyes staring back at her. "What are you all doing here?" she asked wiping the haze from her eyes.

"We're here to get you of course!" Yang piped, her voice had an underlying tone of 'no arguments'. "Where…" the girl in red asked but was pulled up forcefully by Yang and Hex. "Come come, we're heading into town, the dance is in two days and you still don't have a dress!" the purple-headed girl said.

"Is that why you're dragging me? Damnit Yang!" Luna said feigning anger. Yang just pinched her cheeks playfully, "Come on you and Ruby have been sitting here moping all day about sleeping _hottie_ over there, you need some time to relax." She said as she led her sister out.

"Did you seriously just make a pun out of my unconscious brother... and an actually clever one?" The younger dragon said quirking her eyebrow at the blonde. Yang just rubbed the back of her neck, "What? Too soon?"

"But Yang! If Nova isn't awake by the time of the dance…I don't wanna go…" she said dejectedly. Hex looked at her sorrowfully, placing an arm around her she said, "Listen, Ruby, even if your boyfriend is out cold…err hot? Doesn't mean you gotta shirk this event, I know you and Luna are hurting but you need to think, does he really want you to miss out on your own fun just because he can't be there with you?".

Ruby just looked at her friend, the girl was quite mature, almost like a mother, it took a few minutes to fully register her words, "HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" she defended, her face matching her hood. Yang and Luna just chuckled, "Sure and I'm not a natural blonde." Yang said as they left the building.

* * *

**-Meanwhile in the Mind of Nova-**

Nova wasn't sure what was going on, one minute he's fighting Adam the next he's standing back at his home in Menagerie. The grand stone pillars of the oriental looking mansion gleaming in the golden sunshine. It stood quite large atop a hill, overlooking the town. The area around it was covered in a lush garden of various exotic flowers and fruit trees, a small pond with bamboo stalks in the middle sat to the front of the house, near a cobblestone path leading up to two grand dark oak doors. The house itself was a sunshine orange with white supporting pillars. The roof was a dark brown, matching the doors. For a mansion it wasn't that large, only two stories tall, fenced off by a great stone wall. The air smelled clean and each breath was refreshing, the sound of whistling winds and crashing waves permeated Nova' ears, he could not help but close his eyes and drink in the atmosphere, how he longed to feel this, it was the spitting image of the legacy he once knew.

"Why aren't you coming inside? You plan to stay in the garden all day?" The bubbly voice of a woman, with bright blue and orange hair and piercing blue eyes, came through. She stood around five feet seven inches tall, wearing what appeared to be a blue sundress, patterned with bright pink cherry blossoms. Her smile radiated a warmth and kindness that could make the darkest of nights bright.

Tears forming in his eyes as he stared at the woman whose face so much resembled his own. "Are you okay my flame?" she asked, her face riddled with concern. Nova sniffled and just wiped his tears, running up and hugged the woman, drinking in her scent of fresh paper, ink and cherry blossoms. "Nothing mom just, felt like a hug," Nova said muffled in his mother's arms. Memories of his childhood flashing before him, training in the local dojo with the other kids. He remembered idolizing Adam and his strength, the time he spent playing with his newborn sister, the successes and failures of his life. The time he broke his arm falling off the wall at his house, so many fond memories.

He wanted nothing more than to stay like this forever but the scene quickly shifted, his mother gone. The smell of smoke and burning wood filled the air. The once glorious house was now in burning ruins. He was inside the living room, the various pictures on the walls had fallen or caught on fire, the once pristine furniture burnt and broken. A tall man standing in front of him, his hair bright silver and his eyes a piercing red. A lab coat hung loosely around him, covering a black shirt and pants. His face was rugged, with a light stubble forming around his chiseled jawline. "Son you need to get out of here, find your sister, don't worry about me I'll be fine just run!" he said. The pain and hurt flashing before him in his father's eyes.

Nova couldn't stop his mouth from moving as if he was no longer in control, "Dad! Wait No!" He screamed but the scene was already changing, moving away from him as if he was being pulled. All he could see as he was being pulled away was the crumbling wooden beams of the house, the armed forces of the White fang filling into the room and grabbing hold of his father. He remembered the sickening feeling of fear and despair as he could only watch helplessly as his home, his family's legacy burned to the ground. He remembered nearing the end of the calamity that the flames that once threatened his life began submitting themselves to him, the night he awoke his powers and semblance.

The visions eventually cleared, the rush of emotions subsiding.

Now he stood in an empty white space, nothing in front of him except a black box, not much larger than his hand, on a stone pedestal.

_Open the box and escape!_ Whispers echoed around him. Yet something stopped him, something that told him if he opened the box he would be forfeiting something extremely precious.

_You're right, open that box and you won't ever remember your friends and family again, you'll just be a tool of fate, a weapon for destiny to control to its own pleasures. _Different whispers echoed around him.

"You really are pathetic," a cold voice reverberated behind him, spinning around he came face to face with a young Adam Taurus. "You couldn't save them back then, and you can't save anyone now, just look at you, weak and pathetic, that's all you were and all you will ever be!" The boy spoke his tone cold and angry. Nova's attention was immediately drawn from the inner voice, the sinister sound that was not unlike his own voice.

"You're wrong! I will avenge my parents, my family, I'll stop you!" Nova retorted, his fists shaking with anger, the fury clouding his mind as he almost forgot where he was.

"Stop me? You couldn't stop yourself from getting beaten to a pulp! You couldn't stop Qrow from getting pummeled. You couldn't stop your precious friends from getting tossed around like a bunch of ragdolls. You couldn't stop the fire nine years ago and you couldn't even save your family. You are nothing!" Adam cursed, the words pouring in echoing the subconscious thoughts in his mind, as he spoke dark tendrils of smoke emanated from behind him, encircling the area around Nova, grasping onto his limbs, restricting his movements as if to say that he had no choice but to submit.

_He's right you know_ his own voice rang through as if it had grown a mind of its own. _You're weak, you always will be. Just give up now, let the flames of despair consume you. Lay down and rest, you've suffered enough_. The words were painful to hear, they compelled him to listen if only to stop their incessant rasping, only his bare willpower kept him from instantly committing to them.

The pressure he felt was immeasurable like an entire ocean was pressing down on his back, such was the weight his choices carried. He wanted to quit, everything in his body screamed at him to give in, but something stopped him. A voice, so familiar, caring and kind, loaded with warmth and love, permeated the room. The dark tendrils that had now enwrapped Nova paused their assault. Above him a vision of the outside world, Ruby sitting at his bedside holding his hand, tears threatening to stream down her face as a sad smile graced her lips. He could hear her words, "I'm…we're here for you, everyone's got your back so you don't have to hide anymore" he could hear her say.

He got up from his crouched position and punched himself hard. How could you be so weak-minded? He almost gave in to the despair. The miniature Adam just looked at him confused. Nova turned to it and spoke, walking slowly towards the box.

"You're right! I couldn't stop it, not by myself. I spent the last nine years running and hiding, lurking in the shadows always afraid. But you see that?" Nova said pointing to the vision of Ruby that played above him. "She believes in me, and my friends? They'll stick by me... Things are going to change, I will put an end to this madness!." Nova roared, baring his fangs, making him look akin to an actual monster, his fire encircling him driving off the darkness. The flames curled around the black box turning it a bright red and silver.

"Stop! You open that box now and you'll meet nothing but pain in reality!" Adam yelled, the voice desperate and pleading. Nova just looked back, smirking. "Good thing I have thick skin." He said as he opened the box. Just before he awoke to reality, Adam mouthed the words, he almost missed them, "Save me, please!". And with that, he awoke, the bright light of the evening surrounding him as he lay there in a cold sweat. The golden flames that glowed around him began to dissipate, he glanced down at himself. _The hell am I? _

He was in a hospital bed, a bandage across his chest with a long-stitched scar. He seemed fine otherwise, no broken bones or bruises, save for the feeling of getting hit by a truck. Tenderly he touched the scar on his chest, it hurt a lot. His whole life he spent healing somewhat faster than the normal person, this was the second time he was this injured._ Wonder why these cuts haven't healed but the rest have._

He attempted to sit up in bed but the pain sent a wave of dizziness over him forcing him down. Figuring it made no sense to try and move just yet he fell back asleep.

* * *

**-Several hours earlier after-**

Vale City's only shopping mall was quite grand, pristine white walls, glass ceilings, and water fountains. The type of place that screamed tourist trap, and unsurprisingly, it was loaded with foreigners from all around Remnant who had flocked to the city for the festival. There were even several Beacon students who were there, possibly preparing for the upcoming dance.

Ruby and Luna were dragged through what felt like several hundred stores before they eventually settled on what they were wearing. Of course, that didn't stop Yellow, Black, and Purple from dragging them around for accessories. Even Blake, who was generally calm and nonchalant about everything, especially shopping...seemed eager.

The entire day had gone by and Ruby, as glad as she was for the distraction, wanted nothing more than to check up on Nova. Her stomach rumbled loudly as she hadn't eaten since they left in the morning. "Hey guys can we stop for a bit, I'm kinda starving," she pointed out as they approached the food court, hoping her bodily needs would give her the much-needed cop-out she so longed for.

"Yeah I could probably go for some grub, what about you girls?" Yang turned to the rest of them. "Sure whatever," Blake said pulling up a chair at a food court table. Yang and Hex left to go find what they wanted leaving Ruby, Luna and Blake to wait on their return. Seeing this as her moment the young dragon leaned over and poked Ruby who seemed to be dazing off.

"Yo earth to Red, You good?" she asked, her blue hood draping loosely off the chair. Ruby shook her head sadly, "In all honesty... no... I'm worried," the girl in the red hood mulled. Blake had somehow disappeared again.

"Worried? About my brother?" she asked with a slight smirk, though she couldn't hide that her heads read 'me too'. Ruby just laughed slightly, "Am I that obvious? But it's not just that I feel like, I'm not good enough," she was blushing a bit amidst the downed look in her eyes.

Luna stared at her with a serious expression, "Ruby he'll be fine, trust me…. I'm worried to but, knowing him, he'll pull through this." She reached across the table and put an arm on Ruby's. "And what's this about not being good enough? For what?". Somehow it felt like pretending to be okay, and talking to someone about their problems, made her feel less dead inside, allowed her to put on the face that they needed...that she needed.

Ruby just let out a long sigh again, "I'm team leader, I should be strong, I should be smart, I should know what to do best for every situation, but back in the valley, I wasn't strong enough to beat that strange guy, Lyme? I think was his name?". She breathed turning her gaze away from Luna. Blue orbs just looked at the young leader solemnly knowing all too well what she meant. "Then when Nova got hurt, I froze up! My brain stopped functioning I couldn't believe or rather I didn't want to believe that anyone of us could get hurt or possibly killed. I knew it could happen but my naivety didn't want to accept the reality."

Things got silent between them for a moment, until Luna chose to speak up, "Ruby, listen, I…feel the same way. When he came out of there looking like he got run over by a train I completely lost it. I spent the entire time not once helping to fight because my powers drain everything I have. I'm sure everyone else feels it to but we can't dwell on the past that we can't change, we just need to focus on the future that we can." She had her head bent low as she spoke, the silver-eyed girl stared wide in awe.

"Ruby we can't let these things rule us, we'll get stronger, together," she said with a smile so bright and full of hope Ruby couldn't help but feel inspired, her words not only bolstered the red leader's confidence but helped her believe as well.

Their moment of mutual uplifting was interrupted when Yang and Hex decided to barge in.

"Heyo! Sorry, that took so long, purple couldn't decide between a burger or pasta," Yang said plopping her tray of food next to them at the table.

"So what's up? Where's Blake?" Hex asked as she put down three massive burgers on the table.

Ruby just gaped, "You're gonna eat all that?".

"Ayup!" Hex just responded like it was completely normal. Ruby looked to Luna in question but the dragon just gave her a look that said, _She's taking after Nitro now._

Just then Blake came back with a tray of what appeared to be sushi and a bag of cookies, the latter of which she handed to Ruby who viciously dug in.

"Mmnk Mmmou MMke" which translated to Thank you, Blake.  
Blake just smiled and popped a tuna roll into her mouth. "Figured you'd want something after offloading your baggage," she said not looking up from her food.

"Hey Blake where'd you get the sushi?" Luna asked, the girl in black just pointed behind her to a restaurant. The blue girl got up happily and left for the sushi bar leaving the other girls to talk.

"Baggage?" Yang raised an eyebrow at Ruby who just shrugged, "Nothin' just dragon problems is all."

"Mhm with the amount of time you spend thinking of match stick, I'd have thought you'd have proposed by now," Hex joked causing Ruby's face to turn beet red.

"If thinking about them was all it took to propose, I'd already be married to you," Yang said a sly smirk on her face as she looked at her girlfriend. Now it was Hex's turn to become overheated, "That was smooth..." she whispered under her breath. Yang just kissed her cheek in response.

"Ugh get a room you two, I'm trying to not toss up my meal..." Blake said with a playful grin.

Luna came back with what looked to be salmon rolls. "Alright, I'll get straight to the point," she said sitting down harshly. She pointed a chopstick at Ruby. "Ruby, what do you truly think of my brother,".

The young leader was taken aback by the blue girl's sudden question.

"Well um…. What's this all of a sudden," She tried to shirk the subject.

"Nuh-uh, you're gonna answer my question, what do you think of him, and answer honestly. Is it just a crush or something more..." she said determined to be the gatekeeper of her brother.

"Yeah come on sis I need to know for sure if I need to have a _chat_ with our local dragon," Yang said.

Ruby thought for a moment, her face scrunching up in thought, she was unsure of how to begin, "Well… he's kind and really sweet. He has this weird way of bumping or tripping over everything but somehow fights with the balance and poise of a trapeze artist over a river of lava." The light in her eyes was shining brilliantly.

"He's mega strong, probably the strongest person I've ever met, and not just physically. He spent years growing up without his parents, practically raising you on his own. He is super strange to like you spend a while talking to him and he has the weirdest quirks, but they're all adorable. I admire him a lot, he's dependable and smart, a great leader and a caring person. He might be a little weird at times but he has the kindest heart of anyone I know. I like him a lot." Ruby finished with a bright smile, apparently saying more than she'd intended. She had zoned off into her own little world while speaking and hadn't realized all the others stopped eating and watching her with big grins on their faces.

"Girl if I didn't know any better, I'd say you more than just 'like' the guy, you're in love!" Hex said.

Ruby just turned the colour of her name, "WAH! I Don't know maybe…."

Yang grinned, "Well after I have a 'talk' with the human torch I'll give my seal of approval." She pumped her fists.

"YANG!" Ruby recoiled at what she was insinuating.

Luna just grinned bringing her hand up to her chin in a thinking pose. "Well Ruby you have my seal of approval," she said with a smile.

"You guys! I don't even know how he feels about me!" Ruby was flustered.

"PFFT Sis, have you _SEEN_ the way he looks at you?" Yang laughed.

Ruby nearly spat out her cookies, "You think he might like me?!"

Luna held a smug look, "Au contraire mon ami, my brother is definitely gobsmacked in love with you, he looks at you like he looks at freshly cut pink salmon, absolutely enamoured." she flicked her silver hair.

"You mean he wants to eat me?" Ruby gasped in horror, the implications of that statement escaping the innocent girl's mind.

"Probably," Yang said with a snicker. Ruby was a bit confused and it took Blake a moment before she realized what Yang was implying and smacked her.

Luna just laughed at their antics, "Come on we need to head back to the academy before curfew,".

* * *

**SO we got some more mushy stuff for a while before I slap down the next arc. Chapters are going to slow down because semester is starting up soon and it's kinda hard to balance studying Electrical Engineering and my hobbies, I'll try to pump out as many chapters as I can before the 20th but... Cant...fail...courses...again...**

**Doom on you whoever invented this program, y'all tryna kill me.**


	14. Chapter 14: Explanations

**Chapter 14: Well this makes things more complicated**

* * *

-**Three Days Earlier-**

Ozpin sat in his office in deafening silence, the stillness of the room was permeated only by the ticking of the sole clock that hung on the eastern wall, its noise being the only thing that kept the atmosphere from being a practical time stop. His coffee mug lying neatly on the corner of his oddly shaped clockwork desk, the cogs and gears around the room turning at the constant speed they always were, even Ozpin wasn't sure if they served any other purpose than decoration. It was solitary moments like these he would sit back and wonder how his entire aesthetic ever become steampunk and clockwork. Shrugging mentally, he moved to pick up a sheet of paper on his desk, looking over some of the plans for the festival, when the entire table rattled violently, a loud banging heard in the distance and the unmistakable sound of a violently shouting Yang Xialong.

He clasped his hands around his chin, _so... they've returned... any moment now..._

Not more than ten minutes later the elevator up to his office dinged, and his doors burst open to reveal a rather serious looking tall Faunus with silver hair, his white coat still covered in the remains of the battle, a rather furious looking Glynda following closely behind him. The blonde teacher rushed up the headmaster, "Sir, I did try to stop him but this ruffian blew past me and was making a b-line for your office." She said stiffly, instantly turning a one-eighty, "AND YOU! Who the hell do you think you are barging in here, galavanting around our campus without permission?! I have half a mind to call security right now!" She directed at Randolf.

The grey wolf smirked, "You could call them... doesn't mean they'd be able to stop me." He answered, a sly smirk gracing his features as he folded his arms, contesting the professor. Her face was purely baffled, "Are you challenging me?" She glowered. His response was to let out a throaty chortle.

"Ozpin, we need to talk." He addressed the headmaster, no formalities as if they were familiar with each other.

"What gives you the right to just directly-"

"Glynda, please. He's an old friend." Ozpin interrupted the furious blonde, her anger simmering down almost instantly, still, she stiffly persisted, "Well if he'd said that before..."

"Would you have believed him?"

"Probably not..."

"Mr. Wulf, glad to see you're unharmed," Ozpin said getting up from his chair to greet the man, sticking out his hand for a handshake. He'd expected the Faunus to show up eventually, he just wasn't sure when that would be, given the urgency he rushed in here with, he could only assume that the situation was grave.

Randolf just quirked his eyebrow, "Really Oz? We haven't seen each other in thirteen years and the first thing you do when you see me is greet me as 'Mr. Wulf' and a handshake?"

Ozpin just blinked incredulously, as if confused as to what he was implying. Randolf just shook his head with a smile, walked up and wrapped the man in a tight hug, "It's good to see you to Oz, you never change." Ozpin blinked incredulously before awkwardly returning the hug, physical displays of affection were never his 'thing'. Once they released, Randolf's light expression had turned very serious, Ozpin knew that look.

"Tell me everything." He said sitting back down at his desk, awaiting the full brunt of the news.

"He's found it... The Lunar Shard of Remnant... and he's managed to harness it..." Randolf explained. Ozpin's eyes went unceremoniously wide, expressions of deep worry were rare on the old man's face. "My thoughts exactly Oz, this is borderline worst-case scenario. I'm not sure how he's managed to find it after all these years, I thought the pieces of the gods were split into only natural elements, that the Shards of Lunar and Solar were just myths... the fact that he's found one just put everything we know into question."

"And what of the fragment? What has he done with it?" Ozpin's face was scrunched up in thought, Glynda had never seen the older headmaster like this before, the fact that something had managed to rattle his usually stoic exterior was unheard of.

"He's given it to the boy, young Taurus. The boy has somehow resonated with the gem, he's able to harness its power to make himself something just shy of a demigod."

Ozpin was quiet, contemplating, "How? If my knowledge about this subject is correct, fragments, they only resonate with a person who possesses the corresponding Aegis gene, nothing short of an Aspect should be able to activate the gem. Are we sure that Adam Taurus was not an Aspect by birth?"

"He's not displayed any signs of being one in the entire time he's been active, nothing on his records indicate the birthmark symbol and his family's lineage holds no connection to the original bloodlines either. I'm not sure why it's resonated with him but we can't simply play passive to Onyx's actions anymore."

"I agree... it's about time we start taking initiative, no more skulking about in the shadows, no more espionage, and observance. It's gotten out of hand..."Ozpin said now sitting up in his chair. "But the problem is we don't even know where to begin looking... how do we even go about tracking him?"

"We could start by scouting out potential hotspots of White fang activity in Vale, then move outward. It's time to finish what we started all those years ago..." the wolf finished. The two older men played off each other's thoughts like they'd been in sync for years, answering any lingering and unspoken questions, saying only the relevant information. A theme that seemed to perfectly suit the two individuals.

"AHEM!" A came the loud voice of Glynda Goodwitch, who, until this moment, had her existence forgotten by the two males. "Care to explain what's going on here?"

Ozpin rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "My apologies Glynda, this is Randolf Wulf, my old partner from when I was a huntsman. You already know the situation so I'll skip the most of it. Mr. Wulf here has brought us news that High Commander Onyx of the White Fang has harnessed the power of a Shard of Remnant that was thought to be a myth. It is currently in the possession of his apprentice Adam Taurus and if what Wulf says is true... we may be looking at an artificial Aegis gene, a false Aspect of Remnant." Ozpin explained to the professor who's brain seemed to have shut down after hearing this.

"But that's..."

"Impossible? It was supposed to be... now I'm not so sure..." Ozpin finished for her.

"Is there anything good that's come out of our expedition then? Other than information?" Glynda asked turning to Randolf.

"Well there... IS a silver lining... but it's complicated... I... promised team ASHNRWBY to explain everything once Nova wakes up... they've gotten themselves this far deep into it... they deserve to know what they're going to be facing." he explained causing Ozpin to look thoughtful.

"Are you sure it's wise to do this? And what's this about Nova not being awake?"

"Wise or not, we no longer have a choice. And my apprentice may have sustained heavy injuries and is currently in critical condition in the infirmary."

"I'm liking this less and less..." Glynda said looking up at the ceiling.

* * *

-**Present Day-**

It was a bit after eleven in the night when Ruby snuck out of her dorm, creeping her way into the infirmary. She had spent the day with Yang and the rest of the girls so she hadn't gotten time to check up on Nova. She had to see him at least once before she fell asleep, otherwise, she would never be able to. Thoughts of him waking up when she wasn't there and forgetting all about her plagued her mind.

The night air was crisp and clean, the open window in the dark infirmary draped a veil of silver moonlight over the room. Nova lay sound asleep in his bed. Ruby sat down in her usual chair at the side of his bed, looking longingly over his sleeping form. How she wanted him to wake up and tell her he was okay, and hold her in his arms. She almost fell asleep there when a shift in the bed stirred her wide awake. _It couldn't be…._

A low rumbling like a gurgling sound came quietly from the person laying on the bed. She glanced at him, his eyes were moving below the lids... his breathing no longer slow and shallow but deep and normal. Her eyes went wide in surprise and excitement.

_No way…but the flames? _ Ruby glanced around him but the golden flames that once encircled his body were no longer there. Slowly, the sleeping form of the boy rose and shifted, so he sat up on his arms. Ruby sat stock-still the entire time, her eyes barely registering the reality before her.

"Ugh what time is it…" a deep quiet voice said aloud. Nova eased himself up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He glanced around the room, it was dark except for a young girl sitting at his bedside, she had black hair with red streaks around the edges, clad in a short black top with a cat on it and polka-dotted long pants. It wasn't until he saw the light of her eyes that he registered who he was looking at, which was weird because usually, he could only see a limited view.

_Since when was my field of vision so wide..._ he thought as he raised himself to a sitting position.

"Ruby…?" he began but was cut off when the girl in question almost body-slammed him in a hug, the warm softness of her body was a welcome comfort as she held onto him, it felt so... right... to be in her arms. Not knowing what else to do he just reciprocated the hug, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feeling of her around him, she still smelled like roses and freshly baked cookies. A quiet sniffle could be heard from her as he held her.

"Red you okay? How long was I out for, last thing I remember was being in excruciating pain and being injected with something that made that pain worse..." Nova said rubbing her back. She relinquished the embrace and sat back in her chair facing him, wiping her eyes.

"Me okay? You idiot, you're the one who's been in a coma for like three days." She was smiling, genuinely smiling out of happiness. The sight warmed his heart to no end.

Nova's eyes went wide when he realized he didn't feel the familiar weight of a mask pressed against his mouth, gingerly he reached up and touched the top of his head and felt his horns, this whole time Ruby had been seeing him without his disguise.

He was quiet, contemplating his next actions carefully, the fact that Ruby had hugged him was a good sign, she didn't hate him. "So... is this weird for you?" He asked nervously, gesturing to his face that was completely exposed.

Ruby stared at him, giving his face a good long look, analyzing every inch of his face, "Nope!" she said with a familiar popping of the p.

He just blinked, "What?! Aren't you mad that I lied to you this whole time? Are you not freaked out by the fact that I'm... a dragon?!"

"To say I wasn't surprised would be a lie... but... I don't really care if this is what you really look like... besides..." She said smiling warmly, she reached out and touched his face, tracing the scar on his left eye, "I like this version better..."

Nova instantly turned beet red, her words were like being struck by cupids arrow in the heart nine times over, it made all the warm and happy feelings inside him gush forth like a broken dam. When Ruby retracted her arm, blushing herself, they sat for a moment. Then it hit Nova like a truck, he'd been asleep for days.

"Ah shit, did I miss the dance?" he asked slightly nervous. He had no obligation to go it's just that he'd hoped to at least still be able to hang out with her, perhaps if he was lucky, even dance with her.

Ruby stifled a giggle trying not to wake the building. "The dance is Friday, it's Wednesday…err well Thursday I guess, it's midnight."

"Seriously?! Well provided I can uh..leave here..." he began sheepishly, thanking the night covered this blush, he trailed the end of his sentence.

Ruby turned red as well, "Y-yeah if they would let you…" she twiddled her fingers together.

"What I mean is..." _Shit Nova you've come this far, so just do it._ "... Provided they let me out... would you go to the dance with me?"

"Yes." She answered so quickly she almost got whiplash, "What I mean to say is... if you'd be happy with me... then I'd be glad to go with you..." she amended.

Nova almost blacked out from excitement, "Happy with you?! I've wanted to ask you for a while but... well you know what happened." She just blushed in silence, there was so much she wanted to say, but where would she begin? Telling him how she felt was a much harder task than expected now that she was confronted with the reality.

A nervous silence fell between them until Ruby spoke.

"Hey um… Randolf said you were gonna get some mutations or anything, are you feeling okay? Any extra limbs?" she asked half-joking half-serious.

He laughed, "None that I know of, I woke up this... err well yesterday afternoon,I may have been knocked out but for some reason, I remember everything that people said as if I was awake. I just wish I had an explanation for what was going on..." he said holding out his hand for Ruby to see, he tried generating some heat. As he channeled his power the strangest thing happened, his arm instantly became covered in fiery red scales, like a second layer of skin, and a small ball of flame erupted from his hand startling the both of them.

"WOAH SO COOL!" she almost yelled. "So you can like shoot fire and stuff now?" she asked with a cute head tilt.

" I have... no idea... this is new to me... I could always create heat, when I fought Adam, it was the first time I used actual fire, but it took everything I had. I feel like I can handle a lot more now though. My body feels like it's been upgraded?" he said extinguishing the flame.

"So what else is new?" she asked him, curiously scanning his face, there was something different about him...

"I have... an idea... you know... it's been a lot easier focusing on you even though you've been sitting on my left this whole time."

She raised her eyebrow at him but he just pointed to his left eye with the black iris. Her eyes bulged, "You're kidding…" she mouthed.

"Nope, I don't know what happened but…my fake eye is well…real," Nova said happily, grinning like an idiot. Ruby squeezed his arm tightly, "I'm so happy for you," she said wiping away a tear of happiness. "Thanks Ruby, I feel like you're happier about this than me."

"Of course I'm happy, you went so long without your eye, you probably suffered a lot because of it, now you're…well…whole." she relinquished her hold on him.

"Yeah it's amazing, I feel like a completely new person," he said flexing his arms outward and rolling his eyes to test rotations.

"OHHHH! Well that's neat," she said, she was trying to work up the courage to tell him her true feelings, that she was, in fact crushing on him to the point where she thinks she might be in love.

"Sooo…dragon, as in actual fire breathing dragon..." She started nervously.

"Yup, that's what I am." He emphasized the p sound.

"How come you're skin is like well…" she wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"Like skin?" he raised an eyebrow. "Well, the truth is, it's like my skin is actually made up of layers of scales, it looks like skin but if I concentrate really hard, like what I did before, I can manifest these scales. These are new." He explained

"I read in stories that Dragon scales are as tough as chainmail? Do you think yours is too?" She asked curiously.

"I wouldn't doubt it." he smiled.

The gleam in her eyes was ever-present. The two chattered way into the hours of the morning until both of them fell asleep, neither of them sure as to when exactly that was.

* * *

The next morning Ruby awoke unsure of her surroundings, she'd not have moved had the sunlight streaming through the open window pierce through her eyelids. Her pillow was warm but kind of hard, a very familiar feeling. It also moved. Wait…. Moving pillow? Does that mean…

And so, the memories of last night surged back into memory as she sat up with a jolt. Looking down at the sleeping form of Nova she couldn't help but smile happily. She would've stayed a while admiring his adorable sleeping form, the way his chest rose softly or the way his silver hair was messed up around his head, if not for the sudden coughing behind her.

Her eyes went wide and she froze, slowly turning around she saw a suspiciously smiling Yang and Luna who held unbelievably smug looks.

"I wake up this morning to find my baby sister, not in her bead, would you believe my surprise when I come down here to find you sleeping with a boy!" Yang said in fake shock.

"Pfft come on Yang you totally knew, give the girl a break, from the looks of things bro woke up last night, right?" Luna asked laughing, the sheer relief on her face was hard to miss.

Ruby deciding it best to get off Nova to avoid further embarrassment, gently climbed off him and sat back in her chair. "Yeah I couldn't sleep so I came to see him and he was awake, don't worry though he is pretty normal, err as normal as he gets." She said trying to leave out the events of last night.

"Oh, so you sleeping on him was just because you got so excited, he was awake you fainted on him?" the blue dragon asked smugly.

"Err…. Well you see…." Ruby started but was interrupted when the rest of their teams, Ozpin and Randolf walked in, rather loudly.

Randolf looked at the sleeping Nova, "OI HOW LONG ARE YOU GONNA SLEEP YOU LAZY LIZARD!" he yelled immediately waking up the boy. With a jolt he sat upright alert to his surroundings.

"Holy shit old man! Could you have been a bit louder? I think the people living on the moon didn't hear you," he said glancing around at his team and friends piling in, the grins on all of their faces could be anything short of face splitting.

"Yo guys! Wassup?" he grinned a big toothy grin. Hex just shook her head with a smile and Nitro walked up and clapped his back, while Luna came and gave her brother a hug. He returned it, softly petting her hair, "I'm fine, nothing wrong in the slightest." he smiled comforting her.

"Good seeing you up my man," Nitro smiled.

"We missed you!" Luna chirped burying her head in her brother's arm. A comfortable and warm atmosphere enveloped the room, the smiling faces of his friends beaming toward him like a radiant light. He missed this peace.

"Yes, yes reunions are nice but we must get down to business. Randolf, if you would kindly explain the situation as promised. I need to hear this to after all." Ozpin said with zeal. Everyone in the room especially Weiss and Ruby listened to the old wolf as he began.

"Alright, listen up what I'm about to tell you is a brief summary of what I know or have discovered. Blake, you may know some of this already if you are familiar with Faunus history." He said looking to the black cat.

She just nodded silently and urged him to continue.

"Nova and Luna are Dragon Faunus as you've figured already. What you probably don't know is that they are the last two heirs of the White Dragon Clan, one of the four Royal Families of Gaia, the ancient homeland of the Faunus, I believe you humans referred to it as Pandora, but those who still remember the name are few and far between. The White Dragons, Gold Lions, Black Cats and Grey Wolves, composed the four royal families that ruled over our kind." the wolf began.

"Wait the Faunus had royal families? Where? When? All I know is that the Faunus were oppressed until they fought back and gained Menagerie," Weiss interrupted much more interested now.

Blake was confused, "I mean I knew we had royal families but then we adopted democracy but the books make no mention of what happened to the families. They were said to have been lost in the great war." The car girl spoke up.

"You know that Dragon shaped continent on the map that no one ever makes reference to? Yeah, that's Pandora. We abandoned the land after it became overrun by Grimm from the war. After the great war the four families agreed to change from a centralized monarchy to a more democratic rule. Anyway, politics aside the four families had a deeper task, to protect the shards, the Fragments of Remnant, four gems with each with enough energy to power a country for thousands of years." He took a moment to breathe, the story was getting deeper and no one dared interrupt now. Ozpin's hands were clasped together over his cane near his mouth in deep thought. Everyone else in the room had to slowly process what was being told to them.

"So you mean to tell me there's an entire chapter of history that we humans don't even have record off?" Weiss asked placing her hand on her chin, this was news to Hex as well, she was... apparently taking notes.

"That's right Ice princess," A rough voice said, entering the room. Standing in the doorway was a rather chipper looking Qrow. He was looking much better than he did a few days ago.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby and Luna both tackled their uncle. "Are you okay?" they both simultaneously asked. The older huntsman just laughed, "It'll take a lot more than that to take me down kids." he said before turning to the other two adults in the room, "What's the situation?"

"Good Morning to you to Qrow." Randolf said rolling his eyes, "You're just in time, I was just explaining everything. Grab a chair. this'll be a doozy."

"Well don't let me keep you back..." Qrow said taking a sip from his flask before sitting down next to Ozpin.

"The gems were created long before humans existed by the original gods of Death and Creation. The gems served as a power conduit for the manifestation of life as we know it. Humans were created by the gods, but animals and Grimm were created from the gems. Each gem changed over time garnering a symbol of an animal, a Lion, Dragon, Cat, and Wolf. From these, the original families of the Faunus were born. Of course, over time and evolution, we have the diverse society we know today." He paused to let everyone drink in the information before continuing. Once the all looked well acquainted he continued.

"Not much was known about the gems other than they possessed enormous energy, as no one could properly use them, except for a select race of warriors within the original families known as Aspects of Remnant. Children of Royal Blood who were born with the gift of the Aegis gene were able to wield the gems, though the effects varied depending on the user. After the great war, most knowledge about the gems were lost except for the one that belonged to the family of Dragons. Each family hid away their gems, except the Dragon clan, they chose to study it, research it, and for years they produced scientists and blacksmiths and researchers who devoted their lives to the study of the gem." He looked around for a reaction on Blake, it seems she didn't know, well it wasn't his place to tell her after all.

"However, as a result of constant contact, the gift of the Aegis gene occurred less and less. The last two Aspects I know about are Nova and Luna, however, a man known as Onyx Ursur discovered something many years ago that he believed was the key to using the gems to their full potential. The problem is that Onyx didn't want to use the power for good, his hatred for humanity ran deep, he seeks to destroy all of humanity leaving only the Faunus to rule. I had been tracking the whereabouts of the gem that belonged to the Dragon family for the last four years and I finally tracked it to that facility." Randolf finished.

It was a lot to take in truly, most of it was quite difficult to believe.

"So assuming everything you said is true, what happened to the other clans? What makes Nova and Luna so special?".

Randolf inhaled sharply thinking about his next words carefully. "The Black Cats, are currently the ones governing Menagerie, though they have opted to stay away from anything involving Gaia or the Aegis, their crystal believed to be destroyed."

Blake went cold, her entire body rigid, all eyes fell onto her. "By Black Cats, you don't mean…." Yang started but Blake's eyes were unreadable as her ears and head bent low. "Blake are…"

"NO! As far as I know, my mom made no mention of anything like it," she said rubbing her left arm raw.

Randolf just breathed, "You'll have to ask her for sure."

Blake knew she would have to confront her parents eventually but she had no idea how to see them again, given their parting.

"Randolf, what of the Grey Wolves and Gold Lions you speak of?" Ozpin asked his face still broody.

"Ah yes well, I am a Grey Wolf but I am not a pureblood, I do possess some of their power but I can't conjure fire like Nova or distort space like Luna, I can just, move really fast. My body can't handle the nanomachines." He said trying not to good into detail, a pained look crossed his features. "Our crystal is hidden back at our temple on Menagerie. Heavily guarded."

"Speaking of nanomachines, is that what you injected me with?" Nova asked curiously, eyeing the older man, he wanted to ask about the connection between the serum and his mother, but that was another load to drop.

"The Lions disappeared one day, an entire clan of people seemingly vanished into thin air. Rumour has it they ventured back into Pandora to reclaim their homeland but no one who ventured into those lands ever came back alive to tell the tale." He flexed his arms outwards to stretch.

"And…what happened to the Dragons?.." Ruby asked nervously, looking to Nova hesitant at what the answer might be. Just as she thought the mention of it Nova's eyes grew dark and she could feel the fire dying inside him.

"Th-" Randolf stopped himself when he looked at Nova. "I think it best you tell them boy, sooner or later you were gonna have to tell someone." Luna joined her brother and held his hand for support. All eyes turned to Nova curiously and filled with concern, Hex and Nitro especially since even they didn't know the whole story, just fragments.

"I was barely eight years old at the time it happened. Honestly, people say cherish what you have because you don't know when it will be gone." His expression was pained and his eyes were shattered. Ruby gripped his left arm, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Yang and Weiss. "You don't have to if it's too hard," Ruby said her eyes filled with worry.

Nova felt his heart warm at the young girl's care for him. He just shook his head sadly, "No I, we need to tell you though Luna was too young to remember." He said with more determination.

"That night, the White Fang came into our house, armed with weapons. I was in the living room at the time, they approached my father in his study which was the room on the other side of the wall. I heard them, loud yelling, screaming, some gunshots. I was too terrified to move. It wasn't until my father came running in telling me to get my sister and run. My uncle Quartz helped us to escape as the White Fang set fire to our home. Everything was burning, the pictures, the furniture, our family legacy. It was all going up in smoke. I remember as we were leaving the house, flaming beams came crashing down onto Luna trapping her under debris." He paused shuddering at the memory.

Luna also looked shaken up by the memory, the physical grimace on her face as she held her arms around herself, Ruby hugged the small girl. "They say your semblance awakens when you need it. My semblance adapted my strength to move the beams but the fire was still there blocking the entrance. It was then my powers started to awaken as well, I didn't know it at the time but I controlled the fire to allow us to pass. We escaped within a hair of our lives. A toddler and a child wandering the outskirts of Menagerie, stowing away on a ship to Mistral with his injured sister, boy, was I a fool. We would have died if Randolf hadn't found us and took us in. It was, later on, we found out the White Fang lead by Onyx burned our family to the ground, covering it up as a freak accident caused by my parent's experiments. We were forced out of house and home, always on the run hiding our identities and race to survive." Nova said tears forming in his eyes remembering the pain.

Ruby just squeezed his hand and his sister held him looking quite shaken. "We have no idea what happened to our parents but we assumed they were dead."

Blake chose then to interrupt. "I remember the fire; it was late in the night when I woke up to commotion outside. I remember seeing the great mansion in a blaze and later on I heard the story. They said there were no survivors though no one mourned the dead except for the ones who were close. Hearing this from you, and knowing the extent the White Fang would go to achieve their goals, I…I believe you Nova, Luna." Blake smiled sadly at them.

Nitro and Hex had heard this story before, it didn't mean it got easier to listen to it the second time around... The fact that everyone here was supporting the dragons made them immeasurably relieved.

Nova's heart swelled with happiness. He was afraid he would be rejected by his friends for who he really was but it seems his fears were unjustified. Tears welled in his eyes, for the first time in a long time, he truly had friends, a real family.

"You said the Aegis gene and the gems were connected, how?" Ozpin asked Randolf. The old wolf looked at him, "Think of it like this, the gem is a specified battery loaded to the brim with energy. Sure you can put the battery in another device and draw power, but you will never use its full potential unless it is paired with the device made for it, in other words, its respective Aspect. The same goes for the Aspect, they have their own powers but without their gems, they can't use their own full potential."

"This is a lot to take in," Ozpin finally said, getting up from his seat and walking to the door. "I'll go over the information we have, for now, take a break, you deserve it." With that, he walked out the door, his cane in full swing behind him.

"This is way too much for me to take in and I'm not nearly drunk enough for this." Qrow who'd been silently mulling over the information this entire time finally spoke up. They all just watched curiously as he stumbled out of the door, it was amazing how someone could intake alcohol as the first thing in the morning and last thing at night every day of their lives.

"Yo flame boy, so sorry if I'm being blunt here but, your parents are gone? Like …" she made a decapitating sign with her finger and neck. Yang swatter her over the head, "Yang! That's insensitive!" she reprimanded.

"No Weiss, it's quite alright. Well, we don't know for sure; I spent a long time thinking they were dead; I was prepared to live my life as if they were." Nova began, the way he said it, hinted at there being contrasting information, something that filled his sister with a shocking amount of wishfulness.

"But?..." Luna was staring at him with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. It broke his heart to know his sister who had grown up without a mother or father believed they were dead.

"But, while I was down in the facility, I found this," he reached tenderly into his pocket and felt around hoping they hadn't removed his belongings. Sure enough, a folded piece of paper lay at the base of his back pocket. He handed it to Luna who then read it aloud.

"This is…. Unbelievable!" she practically jumped for joy. "Mom is alive! At least there's a chance!" the young girl was ecstatic. Everyone in the room broke into a smile seeing the small girl happy.

Nova ruffled her hair. "Told you there was always a chance. They weren't killed, they were kidnapped... err adultnapped."

"Elain was the only person who was researching the Aegis gene, I know for a fact the White Fang would never throw away such a valuable asset. Your mother is definitely alive." Randolf said pushing up his glasses.

"Old man, you mind explaining to me why my mother said you'd know what to do? How long had this been going on?" Nova asked gesturing to the paper in Luna's hand. The wolf sighed heavily.

"After I left you to go on my mission I found your mother when I infiltrated a White Fang research facility, the very one that you got the serum from. I was working as a guard, my goal was to gather information but imagine my surprise when Elain showed up. My entire plan went from, get information to rescue her, the only problem is that everything went south. She was being forced to work on a serum that would create an artificial Aegis gene, to turn the average Faunus into a super-soldier of sorts. Despite our best efforts to sabotage it, they eventually succeeded... so we compromised the facility and rigged its systems, she hid the prototype serums and stayed behind to delay their progress from the inside. They also still have your father, Flint." Wulf explained.

"What do you mean they have him? Wasn't he with mom?" Luna asked now worried.

"No... they were separated, she's currently somewhere in another part of Remnant working on the Aegis gene while I believe your father is being forced to engineer weapons for Onyx at another location. As of right now, both of their whereabouts are unknown."

"And what of... the fragment that she left me..." Nova spoke up. He was curious now, why did she leave him such a valuable item, why not entrust it to Randolf, or destroy it.

"She left you the Fragment?! This is incredible... where is it?!" Randolf asked frantically, apparently, he was not aware she managed to hide it.

"It attached itself to Asura... my weapon, I'm not sure why. When it did, it changed the blade, and began resonating with me," he explained gesturing to Asura which was perched neatly against his bedside.

Wulf took up the sword and examined it, sure enough, embedded in the left eye of the golden dragon was a shining gem, like red jade.

"I believe the gem's chosen you to be its wielder. I won't be able to remove it, I don't think anyone will, it's resonated with the Incindium in your weapon, that's probably why it changed. Incindium is a rare metal that was created by exposure to the Fire Fragment after all." The old wolf was now regaining his composure.

"Wait how does Adam have the gift of Aegis, he isn't a noble-born," Nova questioned, trying to understand his last battle.

The older man just sighed, "Yes, even more mysteries, well enough, for now, I'm sure your team and friends are dying to catch you up on the things you missed. If you need me, I'll be wherever Qrow is or Ozpin." With that he left.

* * *

The room was silent for a bit, there was a lot of information to process and everyone had questions.

"Now that he's gone...lookin good smokey, I'd say that week-long beauty nap went really well for you," Nitro said folding his arms in laughter.

"You're one huge idiot making us worry this whole time," Weiss said with a slight smile which was rare for her. Nova felt warmed to know she cared.

The teams played catch up for a little while before everyone left to prepare for the upcoming dance.

This left Ruby and Nova alone again.

"So…. Now that everyone has left, what are we gonna do?" he asked getting himself off the bed and stretching his shirtless torso. His exposed muscles gleaming in the golden sunshine, enhanced by the semi-reflective scales. Ruby felt the room rise in temperature a few degrees.

"First of all you should put on a shirt," she muttered trying not to stare. Nova just turned to her and smirked, fully facing his toned abs and chest to her, though some of it was covered by bandages.

"Like what you see?" he said with a smug look, trying to take a page out of Yang's book and be openly flirty.

Ruby felt steam coming out of her ears, "S-shut up. Stop distracting me."

"You sure about that?" he asked mockingly walking up to her, she was on her feet facing him, he was so close she could feel the temperature radiating from his unnatural heat.

"Maybe not…" she leaned forward unconsciously, the warmth his body generated beckoning her closer, her arms snaked up his forearms, latching onto his shoulders, his arms rested holding hers. Both of them instinctively drawing closer until they could practically feel each other's breath on their faces.

She could see his face so close to hers, the three-clawed scar on his left orange eye curving diagonally down his face to his upper cheek. The way the light seemed to enhance his already gorgeous skin. Her eyes drifted to his lips that were just staring her in the face, how soft they looked, she wondered how they would taste. They weren't together and by god he wished they were,

He was having similar thoughts, about the way her dark hair and silver eyes made for a striking combination up close. Her round face, coupled with those beautiful eyes and adorable nose, and those pink lips that were just begging him to touch them.

They were both absorbed in each other, their thoughts consumed mirroring the other, how they wanted nothing more than to close that remaining hair strand of a distance between them.

"Hey, I forgot my…" Luna walked in startling the two. They jumped back as if they'd just been sprayed with water, pulled out of whatever trance they were in both beet red.

"Scroll… OH GOD I'M SO SORRY EEP!" she squealed grabbing the item from the table and bolting out the door, her face in the same state as theirs.

Nova mentally cursed his sister's awful timing. Turning back to Ruby he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I-I should go get dressed…" he spoke and his stomach made the loudest grumble.

"And some food by the looks of it," Ruby laughed the embarrassment fading.

"Yeah, I guess I haven't eaten in what? A week?" he asked grabbing his jacket which had been conveniently placed on the table next to the bed folded.

"Dunno… you should go find him." She said still trying to shake herself. The temptation she felt just now was incredible, how she so much wanted to take his lips right then and there but she wasn't mentally prepared to try.

"W-wanna meet me at the café in like thirty minutes? I gotta shower and stuff." He said sniffing his right armpit to see how bad he stunk. Surprisingly he didn't, the staff must've at least deodorized him during his week-long sleep. Still, he felt the compelling urge to be properly clean around Ruby.

"Sure thing, gotta make it past Yang though, she'll probably try to chew me out once I get back to the dorm, your sister probably spread the word by now." She laughed, Nova felt his heart skip at the sight, even the brightest stars in the sky couldn't compare to the way her smile radiated to him.

* * *

Ruby waited at the cafeteria patiently her friend, she sat at one of the window tables feeling slightly awkward she was alone. He said thirty minutes but she had to get there early, having feelings for someone made you do strange things. Was she acting strangely? Did he think she was being strange? What if he didn't like her weirdness, she needed to be cool, normal, otherwise, she may never be able to speak her mind.

_Normal knees..._ she mentally chanted a familiar mantra from her initiation ceremony. She was torn from her thoughts when a familiar male voice called out to her.

"Hey Red what's good?" A cheery voice came from behind, she turned to see the smiling face of Sun Wukong and Neptune.

The former sported his traditional unbuttoned white jacket with exposed torso and jeans, Neptune was in his classic garb, his blue hair defying gravity as usual. They both sat on the opposite end of the table to her, "Whatcha doin here alone?" Neptune asked a hint of bravado in his voice.

Sun smacked him, "Come on dude, are you gonna hit on every girl you see? Even Ruby isn't safe…" he feigned shock.

Neptune just looked at him as if he was just asked to eat rotten food, "Dude... chill that's just how I am. Besides, I know Red's already spoken for, by that Alexandrite dude."

Ruby was shocked, "Wait how do you know I have a crush on him? And he's not my boyfriend... yet..."

"It's pretty obvious dude, the only one who probably doesn't know is Alex himself." Neptune rolled his eyes.

"Seriously though, where's the gang? Did ya get hungry and decide to come here by yourself?" Sun asked his eyebrow raising inquisitively.

A few tables across from them a loud bang could be heard, like a fist colliding with wood.

The trio turned their heads to see the infamous tall boy with short dark brown hair and rich looking clothes glaring at them. "Hey, monkey boy you wanna piss off? You're stinking up the place with your monkey smell." the one and only Cardin Winchester sneered, it was like this boy existed just to be a generic bully that made aggravating situations.

Sun was quite furious before he could say something Ruby piped in, "Cardin can you, for one-second control yourself?" Ruby was emanating an aura of anger that would've made Yang proud.

"I'm sorry, didn't realize the zoo was allowing their animals to roam free, must've missed the memo!" he cackled evilly standing up and walking toward them, one had to wonder what crawled up his pants. Ruby, seething with fury got up and walked up to him as well, the stood squaring off in the middle of the cafeteria, she was undeniably short in comparison to him, her head barely reaching his torso.

"You say one more thing about my friend and I swear to god…" she stared him directly in the eye not even flinching.

Cardin was quite pissed at how she was outright challenging him.

"Or what? You're gonna let the jungle patrol beat me up? Hey, monkey boy why don't you go eat some bugs or something, that's all you Faunus are good for anyway," his racism was starting to reach its limit and so was Ruby's patience.

Ruby was about to let a fist fly toward his face when a warm hand stopped her.

"Yo Winchester, you wanna take the nasty attitude of yours and jump off a cliff?" a voice that had an underlying tone of vibrating fury said. Ruby looked to her right to see Nova standing next to her holding her fist, he was clad in his red jacket and a black undershirt with the number four in roman numerals on it, his white and orange hair was in full display, his mask completely gone, much to Ruby's pleasure. At the sight she simmered down, relaxing her hand into his.

Nova didn't look to her just yet, his eyes were now locked with Cardin's.

"Or what you freak? What are you some kind of goat? I've never seen you around before..." he asked trying to size up to Nova.

The boy in question shot him a mismatched glare, the air around him heating up to an uncomfortable level, familiar eyes that reverberated fear in him. Cardin unconsciously stepped back, "Come on Winchester, have you already forgotten who I am?" he said, his smile turning wicked and Cardon could swear he saw the aura of death behind the white-haired teen. It took a moment for Cardin to piece together that all too familiar feeling, realizing this was the exact same man who fought toe to toe with Pyrrah Nikos, he saw them duel and he knew he was no match.

"You're not worth my time," Cardin sneered walking off, trying to mask the fear on his face, but he could not hide the fact that his legs were shaking.

The temperature dropped back to normal and Nova turned to look at Ruby who just gripped his hand tighter smiling.

"If you hadn't come, I'd have punched him out the door," Ruby said calming down, the light smile on her face not going away. Nova just ruffled her hair, "I know Red, I came to save him from ending up with permanent spinal injury, though he deserves worse… Anyone who wears that outfit with those shoes needs to be arrested." he said with an evil glint in his eyes.

Ruby giggled squeezing his hand they would have gotten lost in their own world if not for a sudden AHEM! From Sun.

The two turned to see Sun looking at them with his arms folded. "Yo, Red long time no see! Who's this guy? Have you moved on from Alexandrite?" he asked, putting an arm on the girl's shoulder.

"Sun, it's me, Alex... um.. well my real name's Nova." the dragon said with a straight face.

"Oh okay, nice to meet you Nova..." his voice trailed off when the news dawned on him, his face morphing into one of shock, he blinked incredulously, "Huh?! Spill now!".

"It's a doozy of a story…most of it is classified courtesy of Ozpin, sorry I can't give you details but long story short, I got really hurt in a fight with an old enemy and I ended up comatose for a week." He lifted his shirt a little to show his scar, "I got this sweet scar to show for it, and I decided to stop wearing my mask, and the hair was fake the whole time" he showed it off like a trophy to which Sun and Neptune both ogled.

"Wait so you were a Faunus this whole time... totally called it." Neptune said smirking causing Sun to give him five Lien. Nova just watched the exchange in amusement.

Sun looked at Nova, then back at Ruby, the two were alone, and he knew Red had a crush on Alex, so if Nova was Alexandrite then... "Well Neptune and I have some..things to do…carry on!" he coughed into his fist awkwardly grabbing Neptune, leaving the two alone again.

"That was weird..." They both said simultaneously.

They were well into their meal, Ruby scarfing down actual food instead of sugary sweets for once and Nova was eating what appeared to be fried tofu.

"Mfft Mmm Mmo," Ruby started speaking with her mouthful but Nova shook his head, "Rubes, swallow before you choke," he smiled, she was adorable.

"Why're you eating tofu, I thought you ate fish like Blake. Or do you just not eat meat?" She asked pointing to the stuff on his plate. He just looked at her curiously, did she think dragons were like cats? "What makes you think I don't eat meat. What if I actually _like_ tofu?" He countered

"Maybe... but you don't look to happy with that," Ruby said again pointing to his tofu.

"Honestly? The tofu here isn't bad but, I would much rather have a nice slab of salmon or a whole tuna. And you're right I don't eat meat, but that's just a personal preference. It's not that I can't eat the stuff, nor do I abscorn the idea of it, it's just that...because well, when I was a kid, I had a friend who was a bird Faunus, when I found out where chicken meat came from, I felt so grossed out, like I was eating my own species." He said taking a mouthful of rice.

Ruby raised her eyebrow inquisitively, he noticed she wanted more explanation, "Dragons can eat anything, we just have an extreme preference to fish. So just eating fish as my primary meat wasn't odd. That being said if I had to, I'd still eat other meats., doesn't mean I won't feel sick though, but at that point, it's just a mental thing." he shrugged.

She just gawked at his roundabout reasoning.

"I know I'm weird, yeesh girl," he said waving his fork around. She just giggled, "No not like that I just think it's cute that you felt bad about eating meat when you realized your friend was a bird, who is he anyway?" she asked referring to the friend.

"Terrance, haven't seen him since I left Menagerie," he grimaced at the memory.

* * *

It wasn't long before Nova thoroughly devoured three plates of food and was walking back to the dorm with Ruby. Upon their arrival, they were met with the six faces of the remaining members of team ASHNRWBY, all huddled together in RWBY's dorm.

"Uhh, guys... what're you doing here?" Nova asked as he and Ruby stepped inside.

"We were promised a story," Yang said as she folded her arms, staring at the two.

Nova just looked baffled, "What are you talking about?"

"What she means is, we want to hear the full story, what happened to you nine years ago. We want details." She said pressing the matter, a few months ago it'd have been insensitive to ask this of them, but since they were like a little family, and the information was already out in the open, it made sense for him to just give his story.

He sighed heavily, knowing he really couldn't avoid this any longer.

"When I was a kid, my parents sent me for training at Menagerie Junior Combat school, they trained me, Blake, Adam and the rest of kids there how to fight, a traditional Faunus style of swordsmanship based primarily on sword drawing techniques. Normally I wouldn't have to train until I was ten years old but my parents started training me at age seven. I was told it was because they wanted to hone my raw talent.

Anyway, I was told I was a prodigy of sorts, the only person I couldn't match outside of the teachers was Adam, he was two years above me in training and had a much stronger physique. Weirdly enough I found out later that I wasn't a super genius I was just slightly talented at this stuff.

Of course, that didn't stop me from training my ass off every day, I had to uphold our family's name after all."

Ruby shot him a questionable look, "What do you mean?"

"Well you know how I'm kinda royalty?" he asked to see if she was paying attention, to which she nodded.

"Well the Faunus do work under democracy, so we're a royal family only in name, people treated us like a prestigious family but we had no real political power. My parents were scientists not Kings and Queens. That being said we still were quite popular so it made sense I still upheld our family honour. It was strange that we had that much respect, most Faunus don't even remember that the dragons were royalty, they just knew us as 'high class' like the Schnees.

Everything changed that one fateful night..."

* * *

**Next chapter, full backstory on Nova and Luna, what exactly happened that night. I do apologize again for how long these are going to take, there's just no way around my class schedules, coming next week I'll probably be doing one chapter a week at least.**


	15. Chapter 15: Bitter Tastes of The Past

**Chapter 15: Long Ago In A Distant Past**

* * *

**-Menagerie 9 years ago-**

It was late in the night, around nine, young Nova sat playing in the living room in his day clothes, a simple red shirt, and black shorts. His white and orange hair short and barely reaching his forehead, both eyes a ruby red. He would jump off the black sofa and attempt to do a flip only to fail and land on his rear, a few of the paintings that lined the pristine orange walls rattled on impact. Thankfully he suffered little damage from the plush red rug that sat in the middle of the white-tiled room.

"What are you doing up past your bedtime kiddo?" A tall man wearing a white lab coat and grey underclothing said as he passed through the room, his hair a shining silver and his horns a glossy black in the light of the room. His eyes matched Nova and his face exuded an aura of a loving father.

"Trying to do a flip!" the young dragon said, rubbing his sore rump. "Son, you'll never attain the right attitude with the couch... if you want real air time I'd say I could help you jump from the staircase..." the older man said with a devilish glint in his eye.

"THERE WILL BE NO SUCH THING IN THIS HOUSEHOLD FLINT! AND SEND NOVA TO BED!" The shrill voice of Elain yelled from somewhere in the house, her voice booming along the walls.

"Sh- Crap I forgot your mother has the hearing of a wolf... I mean... Get to bed this instant Nova Alexandrite Flareheart!" He fake yelled pointing his finger up the stairs, despite his voice he was grinning like an idiot, they both were. Nova stifled a chuckle as his father winked and walked into the other room, his study.

As he left the room another man entered the room, he was shorter than Flint, his eyes were a hazy purple and his hair was a faded silver, he to had black horns on his head, he also wore a lab coat and grey underclothes. "Hey squirt, where's your dad?" he asked.

"Uncle Quartz? What are you doing here?" The eight-year-old asked puzzled.

"I came home with your dad, we're supposed to work on some stuff tonight. " Quartz said holding up a stack of papers.

"If you came in with him then why didn't you just follow him?"

"I... may have taken a detour in your fridge... by the way you're out of strawberries."

Nova just cackled at his uncle's antics, "Once you don't eat my tuna we're cool. Dad's in the study." He said pointing to the other room. Quartz saluted thanks and disappeared. Nova had no idea how many hours had passed but he'd not seen anyone come out of the room... which was strange... He pressed his ears up against the wall, listening in, he could barely hear what was being said but he could make out a few words.

"... WILL NOT HAVE THEM! ..." He heard his father yell... the share anger and ferocity behind the voice was terrifying.

"...THEN...WILL...YOU!" An unfamiliar voice sounded off. Nova was shaken by the violent yelling, who was that man? It wasn't uncle Quartz... so who was it? How did they get in?

He didn't have time to think on it as the sound of stomping boots and a yelling voice echoed throughout the household. Several men clad in white armor and Grimm masks flooded into the house, the smell of smoke began filtering and Nova was now thoroughly panicking. Three men came into the living room, aiming rifles down at the young boy.

"Sir, we found the boy. Your orders." One of them said into a radio attached to their ear. "But sir he's just a boy... I...understand..." the man turned to the others, staring down the young Nova, the boy was scared stiff, unable to move.

"Waste him." Were the only words that left his mouth, Nova's eyes went wide as they all raised their guns, ready to fire. He closed his eyes and awaited the impending pain but nothing happened. Gunshots went off and men screamed in pain. Nova peeled back his lids to see his Uncle Quartz standing there looking like he'd run a marathon and all three soldiers on the floor.

Nova looked up at his uncle teary-eyed, "W-What's going on?! Who're these guys?!"

"No time to explain, you need to find take your sister and get out of here! Find her quickly! I'll hold off the White Fang!" Quartz said as he pushed the confused and terrified boy. "YOU NEED TO BE BRAVE!" He yelled out.

_The White Fang? Is that who those guys were? I thought the White Fang were good guys..._ he thought as he made his way through the house. He heard his mother scream from the kitchen but he had no way to help, the entryway was blocked by a collapsed door frame, "MOM!" He called out frantically but there was no response. Silently cursing to himself he resolved to stick to finding his sister.

Nova ran up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him, stumbling up all he could smell was the thick scent of smoke that sat heavy in the air. The heat that radiated around him was immense, he was barely able to approach it. He could hear the desperate cries of his sister coming from her room. Instantly on alert, he mustered as much courage as he could and plunged himself down the corridor and barged straight into Luna's room. He almost fell over when a burst of fire erupted blocking his path. He looked on in fear of the dangerous calamity before him, how could he pass? No... he needed to pass. Inhaling sharply he ran headfirst into the blazing inferno, thoroughly expecting to get burned... instead, the fire was pleasantly warm, the moment it graced his skin his entire body stopped feeling fear as if the fire was welcoming him with open arms. Not contemplating it, he pushed forward and barged into Luna's room.

The inside of the room was worse than outside as if the fire had been started from that general area. The ceiling had collapsed in and flames erupted from the walls, the entire room bathed in an ominous orange glow. "LUNA WHERE ARE YOU?!" He cried out desperately searching for his sister. A stifled cry erupted from the pile of ceiling on the floor, Nova's face paled, she was trapped under a pile of debris that weighed more than three times his own body weight. Without sparing a moment of hesitation, he began attempting to lift the mass mixture of stone and wood, squeezing out as much strength his little arms could generate.

_COME ON PLEASE! PLEASE I NEED THE STRENGTH PLEASE!_ He cried out in his mind, desperate to save his sister, the longer she stayed down there the worse it got, she could die. He was just eight years old, he couldn't handle death.

Struggling with all his might he pulled and tugged, willing his muscles to go far beyond their limit, the longer he pulled, the easier it got, eventually, it was simple to lift it off. His entire body was glowing a fiery orange, almost red. He'd unlocked his semblance. He didn't have much time to dwell on it as he reached down and pulled up his sister, she was also glowing a bright cyan blue, she looked unharmed for the most part.

"Are you okay?" He asked dusting off her dress. She just nodded meekly, staring up at him her eyes filled with fear.

"What's going on? Where's mum and dad?" She asked pleadingly. Nova grasped her hand tightly and pulled her along, "I'm not sure but they'll meet us outside." Once he managed to get back downstairs he saw Quartz standing in a pile of fallen soldiers, they weren't breathing. When he realized that the kids had seen the pile of corpses he silently cursed.

"Nova, you've found your sister, good... You need to take her and get out of here, run_, _run as far as you can and never look back! Trust no one, just get as far away as possible, you two are all that is left of this family and I will not lose you!" He yelled pushing them out of the front door, the burning house collapsing around them.

"BUT WHAT ABOUT MOM AND DAD?!" Nova yelled over the raging inferno. Quartz didn't answer, he couldn't as they made it to the door the ceiling came down on the old man crushing him, leaving Nova and Luna to watch in horror as the house along with their uncle went up in flames. Nova could barely shield Luna's eyes from the ghastly scene before them. Sucking in his cries and sobs, he wiped a stray strand of snot that threatened to leak from his nose. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, to pinch himself and wake up to find out this was all a bad dream but he couldn't.

"I THINK I HEARD THEM THIS WAY!" A male soldier yelled in the distance. Acting on instinct Nova grabbed his sister by the hand and bolted.

"We need to hurry, if we don't move fast they'll definitely spot us trying to escape," a young Nova said tugging his sister behind him. The grassy lawn of the Flareheart estate was damp and slick with the ash that had floated from the billowing pillar of smoke rising into the air. Rain poured lightly and despite the atmospheric downpour, the manor was still ablaze with flames flickering up and out of the windows, roof and anywhere it could, licking the night sky ever so longingly, as if its fuel wasn't nearly enough to satiate its hunger.

Six-year-old Luna barely struggling to keep up with her brother, her once bright pink dress now blackened and dirtied from soot, her legs and knees scraped from falling debris. To say she was crying was nothing short of a lie, despite the gravity of the situation, the young child who very well could never see her parents again, survived a ceiling collapsing on top of her and running for her life, was holding it in. Her tears lay unshed in her eyes as her face contorted in an effort to spill the overwhelming emotion building up inside her but she would not. Not until they were safe could she cry, she was overwhelmingly smart and observant for a six-year-old, a child prodigy she was called, learning how to read and write by the time she was four.

As the crossed the grassy expanse of land leading to the fence wall, Nova spotted the faint lights of White Fang foot soldiers scanning the area for any escapees or witnesses. With no hesitation he yanked his sister's arm, pulling her and himself into a nearby shrub where he hid in wait.

"Any sign of the kids?" One of the soldiers called.

"None, north side is good. Pretty sure they burned up in the debris but Master Onyx said we need to stay alert." The other said.

"Meh, he's just being paranoid," the first one replied stationing himself a few yards from the bush where the children hid.

Nova's brain was wracked in thought. He needed to escape, quietly, they can't know they survived and escaped, otherwise, they'd be hunted down as long as they lived. His sister tightly clutched onto his hand, and he felt for her, they needed time to grieve, recuperate and plan but now was not that time.

He willed himself forward, concentrating on moving as quietly as possible. He barely had any control over his semblance but he prayed to Oum that it would work. Gradually but surely, his footsteps became softer and softer as he padded his way across the grass towing his sibling. It wasn't long before they were faced with the daunting task of scaling the south wall. While not particularly large to an adult, in the eyes of an eight-year-old and four years old, it looked pretty dicey.

"We might need to find some other way around, not sure how to get both you and me over…" Nova contemplated to his sister.

Luna sniffled and wiped her eyes and nose. "I can push." She uttered out. She was still young and complex speech was still a task for her but he knew she had an idea. From a very early age, mere moments after she was born, Luna's powers manifested. Nova could vaguely remember the shocked faces of the nurses as a newborn baby was causing the hospital trays and tables to float.

Luna took a deep breath and concentrated hard, feeling the force and vectors gather in her core, she felt the flow of the objects around them and pushed mentally. Within the instant, a strange repulsion force rocketed both Luna and her brother over the wall.

Luna, having exhausted her power fell unconscious mid-air. Noticing this, Nova quickly grabbed hold of her in his arms and braced for landing. "Oh shit, this is going to hurt," the swear left his mouth as he came colliding into solid concrete.

"You alright Luna?" Nova asked his little sister, the small child just silently breathed, still unconscious. "Oh right, guess I'm carrying you…" he muttered to no one in particular.

Hoisting her up with a great heave, he trudged off into the night. The back streets were deserted and devoid of any form of activity. _All gone to see the big flaming commotion huh._ He thought.

_Uncle Quartz's last words were that we can't trust anyone, for all we know the next person we talk to could be a White Fang member. WE NEED to hide. _His thoughts rambled on the various options he had as he stumbled through the dark alleyways of Menagerie. This one particular alley fed into a dead end where he finally collapsed behind a dumpster out of exhaustion. Barely managing to set his sister in a comfortable position against his lap, he stroked her head gently. The once glistening silver hair was dirtied and laden with ash.

"I swear on Oum, I will protect you, even if it costs me my life. You're all I have left now and I'm all you've got. We'll get through this together." He quietly spoke to her. The words felt more akin to his own fears, as though saying them would somehow make their situation any less terrifying. No home, no parents, no food, no one they can trust, stuck on an island where everyone could be a potential threat.

The tears began welling up in his eyes, silently sobbing throughout the night trying not to alert anyone to where they were... until he began laughing maniacally. If he had to be completely honest, their situation was so bad it was hilarious. How the hell would he save them? When he was just some eight-year-old kid with barely a few years of sword training. He couldn't get a job, he was too young. He couldn't enroll in a hunters school because Menagerie had none, there was only the White Fang.

_THAT'S IT!_ The idea struck him like a slap to the face, if he couldn't survive here, he needed to go somewhere else. Anywhere, he didn't care where, anywhere was better than here. In the dark of the night, under a starless smoke-filled sky, he hatched a plan, a plan that would change his world even more than it has already.

* * *

**-The next morning-**

The distant squawking of gulls echoed from the cloudy blue sky. The stench of salt, fish and unwashed rope permeated the sensitive nose of one Nova Flareheart causing him to turn his face in disgust.

He was currently crouched behind a mountain of cargo crates, he wasn't sure where they were headed all he knew was that they were being delivered to one of the Kingdoms and he and Luna would be on the first ship off this wretched rock.

"Okay Luna, this requires the highest of stealth," he turned to his tiny sister who crouched behind him. Her pink dress torn into a skirt and beyond dirty now, in truth they were both in terrible condition, his own clothing was in rags. A thick layer of grime-covered their faces barely leaving a fingertip of clean skin.

The small girl nodded, "Hm," was the noise she made staring directly at him.

"Okay so, on the last crate, we jack ourselves into it and hitch a ride on that boat, so we need to be as sneaky as…" *GURGLING GROWL* "Possible…." His stomach interrupted his explanation. In truth he and his sister hadn't eaten since they had dinner the night of the fire which was near twelve hours ago, in short, they were starving. They only had one option however, and that was to sit and wait, so they did.

"Alright haul in the last batch over there! The crates with the fruit!" A gruff male voice yelled out.

"Aye boss!" a similar voice responded.

"Alright let's go, this is our shot!" Nova exclaimed. "Luna can you crack open this crate and seal it so it looks intact?" he asked his tiny sister, gesturing to the rather large crate infront of them. He hated having to rely on her so much, the poor kid must be laden with grief and confusion but he had no other option.

The young girl breathed and channeled her magic forcing the sealed crates open, their contents which looked to be dust were tossed out in a flash. The two climbed inside and she sealed the giant crate. It was a tight fit but the only one they had, luckily the crate had a sole apple as if someone was too lazy to fill it, Nova held up the fruit for his sister, she looked hesitant, her eyes asked what he would eat. "It's fine, you're the one using your powers, you need to keep your strength up," he whispered, smiling. The younger dragon nodded and viscously dug into it.

The waited, and waited, Nova occasionally peering through the small air holes in the crate while his sister just crouched silently near him.

"Oi this crate is a pain must be some heavy fruit." A male voice said as the crate they were in was hoisted up and carried around. The initial raising caught them off guard and they almost slipped up by making a surprised noise.

"Aye Cap'n why's this crate so heavy?!" The man called out, causing the two kids to freeze in fear.

"It's loaded with apples, of course, it's heavy you dimwit. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LET THOSE GOODS GET TAINTED OR SO HELP ME I'LL KEEL HAUL YAH!".

The two didn't know if the man responded but they took his quickened pace as a sign they were safe.

They were stowed away on a ship probably miles off the coast of Menagerie by now. They were starving and tired. Neither knew just how much further they were from their destination, or what that destination might actually be.

A low growl was heard next to him and his sister tugged on his shirt. "Nova, I'm hungry." She said softly, her face pale, dried lips and dark eyes told him she was indeed starving. They hadn't had any food or water in nearly twenty-four hours. He probably looked no better than her since he hadn't eaten in days. His body was weak, but his newfound semblance kept him going, his body was apparently adapting to the weakness, giving him just enough strength to push forward. He felt the insides of his stomach scraping itself for hours now but he kept it in. He was willing to starve until they hit land however long that might be but his sister, on the other hand, wouldn't make it. She was much younger and the use of her powers drained her.

He peered through the peephole, it was night time outside as far as he could tell. They were stowed in the bowels of the ship, so he had no clear answer but given there were no avid movement noises or footsteps it was safe to assume the crew had gone to sleep.

"Stay here, I'll go find some food." He whispered to her. With a strong push, he lifted the crate lid off them. Normally impossible for an eight-year-old, his years of training and semblance aided him.

He glanced around, no one in sight. Gingerly he crept out of the crate, careful not to make any noise. His semblance working around his footsteps helping him be quieter.

Forcing open a few crates he realized his efforts were in vain, it was all dust, crates, and crates of dust, nothing edible.

_Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Hey god or whoever, throw me a bone here, literally._ He mentally cursed. _Guess I have no choice, this ship has to have some sort of mess hall or kitchen_.

The ship itself wasn't very large, it seemed to be a standard sailing vessel. Unlike its modern counterparts, this ship was quite the antique, sporting large white sails standing aloft its wooden oak deck. It was like something out of an old pirate movie, minus the fact that it also had a motorized engine and underwater propulsion. Creeping onto the deck he scouted around for signs of anyone. Minus the snoring deckhand, nothing. The poor chap must've been on nightly cleaning duty and fell asleep.

Nova tiptoed around the deck toward what looked to be a light at the back of the ship, a door with a window. He ducked and rolled around a group of barrels for unnecessary dramatics and gently pushed open the door. Inside was a strange sight to behold. The entire crew or at least most of it were sprawled out in various positions in what appeared to be a mess hall. The stench of alcohol permeated the yellow-lit room. Overturned tables and bar stools, drunken and asleep sailors in their uniforms snoring soundly on their bellies in some of the most uncanny position. Nova had to stop and wonder how in the world someone managed to fall asleep upside down against a wall. His eyes scanned the room for any signs of edible food, surely as he expected, there were plates of scraps and food laying all around him. _Jackpot_.

Working his way around the room, he gathered whatever leftovers he could find that looked consumable. A bunch of bananas, some sizeable grapes, even a few chicken legs. The tray of food he carried was growing quite heavy and he needed to get water. A pitcher lay on the table a few feet from him, the main issue was, there were three sailors all sprawled out on the floor at the base of it.

_It's never easy is it?_ he sighed in his mind. The smell of the food on his plate was stirring his stomach. He gingerly stepped over the first of the three, stretching out for the pitcher on the table that stood almost as tall as he was. Being a four foot tall eight year old was starting to have its downsides. He stretched and strained and prayed to Oum that his stomach wouldn't *GROWL* make noise….

He immediately froze looking around to see if he disturbed anyone. Thankfully the snoring of the sailors made them immune to disturbing so easily. Grabbing the pitcher he was about to make a break for it when he forgot that he was currently standing over a very large individual. With a quick misstep, he tripped sending the tray of food minus the pitcher that he was grasping into the air. Within an instant he angled himself catching all of the food using amplified reflexes from his semblance.

"Brrhuh huh?" A male voice was heard, thick and laden with sleep. Nova's eyes shot wide, he turned to see the very man he tripped overlooking up with semi-closed eyes as if he were still half asleep.

In a last-ditch effort to maintain his cover he donned a soothing voice, "Shh you're dreamingggg~" he said wiggling his voice for effort.

The man nodded hazily and smiled, almost instantly the man's head dropped back onto the wooden floor with a soft thud.

Breathing a sigh of relief Nova snuck back out of the room carrying his tray.

"Here eat this," he said handing the tray to his starving sister, she looked pale and thin. The mere thought of her suffering any longer hurt him beyond words. Gratefully the small child dug into the mass. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" she asked concerned for her brother.

Nova shrugged it off, "I'll just eat these," he said picking up the bananas. They were a little brown but not inedible. Honestly, he had no room to be picky so he ate what he could.

The next day Nova and Luna could discern the voices of the crew outside their cargo hold.

"Sir I think the ship is haunted." A gruff male voice was heard outside. The morning had come and the crew had awakened, the general busying of their various duties could be heard echoing throughout the hull where they were stored.

"What makes you say that," An authoritative voice responded, most likely the captain.

"Well sir, last night the men say they heard growling noises, and when we woke up some of the food was missing." The original speaker answered.

Nova was shocked, he had no idea they would catch on this quick. If the ship didn't dock soon they may as well be found out.

"You lot are just crazy. Seafaring superstition is all, drunk sailors hear things all the time, 'twas probably just a squall." The captain responded brushing them off.

"But sir…I swore I saw a figure last night." He insisted.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, go check the storage holds and below deck, do a thorough sweep." The captain commanded.

"Aye cap'n"

The loud thump of boots on wood could be heard romping about along the deck. It felt roundabout and random but there must have been a method to his searching.

Surely, soon enough those very boots came knocking on the very door they hid behind. Nova held his sister close and placed a finger to his lips signaling quiet.

She nodded silently and held her breathing minimally. A short stocky man wearing a blue overcoat and white trousers was scanning the area, taking note of all the items they had. He opened one or two crates but not all.

Nova could feel his very breathing stop as the man drew ever so close to their crate. The hand of the sailor hovering just above their crate. Nova was prepared to do anything to ensure their safety, even if it meant killing the man. Though he was unsure how he would rid the smell or not cause a commotion. He hoped to Oum that he wouldn't need to result to those measures, after all, he had no weapon other than his semblance and his unpredictable powers.

The man placed his hand atop the wooden crate, teasing the unknown residents inside. The tension built up to a point where it was so thick it was suffocating.

"GIBBS ARE YOU QUITE DONE?!" The captain's voice rang out. "I NEED YOU ON DECK!"

"COMIN' CAP'N!" Gibbs responded, relinquishing his hold on the crate lid and scurrying off to the above deck.

* * *

It was only a day more before the ship finally docked. Nova and Luna managed to sneak themselves off the ship without being seen, leaving a very paranoid Gibbs behind. The port city was strange, unlike any he had seen before. The buildings weren't very tall and many of them looked residential. Human and Faunus seemed to get along quite well here.

"M-Mih-ster-all… Mistral! We're in a place called Mistral." Nova said squinting to see a tall welcome signboard.

They spoke English, good. It would definitely be a problem if they stood out any more than they already do. The docks smelled strongly of fish, causing the siblings to pinch their noses in disgust. Being Dragons their heightened sense of smell made this place dizzying. Ducking and dodging around the various cargo, they scrounged around for any scraps or supplies they could find. Nova spotted something strewn off to the side.

"This…is going to come in handy." He said to his sister who just tilted her head in confusion, an act that was both heart-wrenchingly adorable and funny. Nova reached down into a small dirty box and hauled out a large brown cloak, it reeked of fish, probably used by one of the sailors on a trip, it was big enough to fit both of them. Extending the nails on his hand forming claws, they weren't big or sharp like his dad's as he was still young, but they were about as useful as fabric scissors. Tearing the cloak into appropriate pieces, he rinsed them in the ocean before wrapping the smaller one around his sister.

She pinched her nose and recoiled. "It's gwoss." She said nasally.

"Just bare with it until we find something better to hide ourselves," Nova said. Most people outside of Menagerie have no idea what the royal heirs looked like, still, they couldn't take any chances, their silver hair and horns were a dead giveaway to those who knew.

_First thing's first._ Nova thought. _We need to find a place to stay._

They wandered the city for hours, their feet swollen and raw in the poor shoes they had. Most people avoided them, they looked like vagrants after all. Seemed this city wasn't too keen on helping the poor. Many alleys were filled with the homeless, castaways of society who either couldn't fit in or lost their way. Nova's heartfelt for them at one point, but he was one of them now. Sighing to himself he pulled his sister along until they eventually found what looked to be an inn, it was old and wooden, definitely not the cleanest place in the world, the rats outside just completed the look.

Cautiously the two entered, they barely made it through the door when they were stopped by a large, fat woman. She was the very definition of the word ugly, the matted brown hair with obese body, three chins and a mole on her left cheek. "And where do you think you're goin you little street rats?" her voice was rough and deep for a woman.

"We'd like a place to stay for the night, ma'am. We... have no money but we could work labour so... if you'd allow us..."

"The rule is, No money, no service." She responded without a hint of compassion for the two children, "I'm the owner, and I make the rules, no money." She lowered her head to their level, "No. Service." She practically spat.

"Please ma'am, We have nowhere else to..." He couldn't finish as they were forcefully picked up by the lady.

"GET OUTTA HERE AND DON'T COME BACK!" the grouchy female voice said as Nova was violently kicked, quite literally, out the door, his sister was simply thrown out since she couldn't kick them both. Nova silently thanked Oum that it was him and not her that got the beating.

Luna looked at her brother worriedly, holding him up. He coughed harshly and wiped his greasy and blackened face.

"This was the last one this side of town," Nova said solemnly looking up to the sky. It was getting quite dark, and the cloud coverage called for a heavy shower. They had tried seven inns and taverns excluding two bars. Seems no one here was generous enough to take pity on a couple of homeless people, even if they were kids.

They were running low on food, whatever scraps Nova managed to save was long gone. They were thoroughly doomed if he didn't find something soon. So he did the only thing that he could think off, setting himself and his sister down in the driest looking alley possible, he held his hands out to the people passing on the cobblestone sidewalks.

The passers-by simply looked in disdain at the two small children begging for scraps on the side of the road. Some kindly folks took pity and dropped a few Lien, others spat in their face. It was here Nova and Luna learned the true cruelty of the world.

A thunderous crack resounded as the streets became less populated, and where people once walked were now puddles to replace them, as though the sidewalk must remain filled at all times.

Luna shivered against her brother, the stench of muck and grime that had stuck to them like a second skin was being somewhat cleansed from nature's downpour. Huddling under the small overhanging of a drainpipe, crouched behind a metal dumpster, the once Prince and Princess of Menagerie were now cold and starving.

* * *

Days passed, Nova and Luna were both growing thin and pale, Nova more so than his sister. They had been chased out of their original spot by the owners of the building, finding themselves now close to the outskirts of town, living in an alley between a rich looking apartment complex and an old house. The alley itself was clean, there weren't many homeless people in this part of town and the only other one they knew of, was an elderly man who looked like he'd been there for ages. He lived in the same alley as them and was the closest thing to a friend the two dragons had ever known, he was kind and helpful, oftentimes offering water or food if he had any to the young Nova. The man was like a sort of protector, he would watch over Luna when Nova was away, they didn't know his real name because even he didn't remember, they just settled on calling him Old Man Jitters because he would vibrate like a rubber band whenever it got too cold.

The siblings survived by begging, what little Lien they got, Nova would spend it, if he even got the chance as most places didn't let him in, on food and water. He gave every scrap of whatever little he got, to his sister first, telling her that he had already eaten at the store. Late nights while she slept, he would go dumpster diving for the food people tossed out in hopes of finding a meal, most nights he couldn't find anything edible and thus he starved as long as he could. He never got sick because of his semblance, the moment he felt something coming on, his body would instantly adapt its immune system to be rid of the disease. His sister never got sick because he ensured she always had dry clothes, clean food, and water. Not once did he allow her to eat out of the garbage, he had to take care of her because no one else would take care of them.

It was late at night now, Luna was alone in the alley, awaiting her brother to return.

She sat there, huddled with her knees to her chest for warmth, the dull yellow glow of the street light was their only source of luminescence. Her brother was taking longer than usual to get home. She had a sickening feeling inside her that something wasn't right. A loud scream was heard in the darkness of the alley, instantly on alert now, she whipped her head around to find the source. A dark chuckle emanated from the shadows and Luna could only shiver in fear as she felt a pair of cold, sticky hands hover around her before she could scream the hands had clamped down on her mouth.

* * *

It was a month now, maybe six, Nova was unsure at this point how long it had been since they'd been on the streets, he could no longer keep track. All he could do was trudge silently in the night back to the alley where his sister slept. If his height as any measurement it might've been a year.

As he neared the ever so familiar dumpster that he had grown somewhat attached to, he heard a whimpering cry. Instantly he was on alert, rounding the corner with intent to launch himself at whatever was near. His eyes went wide in shock by what he found. A man standing maybe six feet tall, his eyes deranged and mad, torn clothes and tattered trousers stood over his sleeping sister. The young girl was awake staring in shock as the man's hand covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream. His sickly brown skin gripped around his face like a walking skeleton, a knife glinting almost as horrifying as the look in his eyes, bathed in the yellow street light.

Not a single word was uttered in the dead silence of the night as before the man could breathe Nova had sprung from his position tackling the man into the alley's brick wall. The crash resounding like a cymbal in the dead silence.

"Don't you DARE lay a hand on my sister!" Nova seethed with venom dripping with every word. Luna looked on terrified, too shocked to scream. The man just stared back unblinkingly, a wild look in his eye and cackled. Nova had no idea what kind of drugs this psycho was on but he didn't look like he'd get a straight answer if he asked.

The man wildly lashed out with the knife but Nova was quick to dodge, his body, however, couldn't respond to his reflexes and lagged due to lack of nutrition. The knife which normally would have sailed harmlessly passed his chest had managed to nick his shoulder, spraying blood on the ground. The wound wasn't deep but the hot-blooded fight had caused a greater flow. Enlarging his claws Nova slashed at the pain tearing three gaping gashes across his chest. The man, however, began laughing even harder, unphased by the apparent lethal wound in his upper abdomen.

Nova lunged in barely dodging a fatal blow from the knife and sank his claws into the man's eyes, holding it there. The young eight-year-old boy held his hand in place in horror at his own actions. The dread and guilt of the act he was committing sinking deeper into his subconscious as the man who was victim to his attack began to convulse violently until he stopped moving. The pulsating, warm and wet flesh of the inside of the man's skill was a sensation that burned itself into Nova's memory. Dropping to his knees in horror, he began to throw up on the floor.

Luna ran up to her brother holding him and crying, the dead look in his eyes scared her. The man that tried to kill her terrified her and the stinking corpse that had been made of him scarred her. Neither sibling would be the same after that. Nova just thanked his stars that his sister was unharmed and the worst was over… or so he thought.

* * *

"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" Nova awoke to the sound of a male voice towering above him. Apparently he had passed out from nausea and exhaustion last night, the corpse of the man still there behind the dumpster.

"W-Wuh…" Nova said groggily.

"YOU MURDERER!" The officer said, smacking the young boy with his baton. The man began a series of assaulting blows, Nova could only assume non-lethal force was being used because he was a kid. The instant the baton swung near Luna however, Nova was at her side.

Instantly alert Nova recoiled and stepped in front of his sister to protect her.

"Officer you got it wrong, this man attacked me last night, it was self-defense!" Nova pleaded staring up at the man. The officer just brought out a stun gun.

"OH yeah? Then what about that one over there, was that self-defence to?" The officer gestured to what appeared to be a second corpse further down the alley, it was Old Man Jitters. The sight which made Nova want to throw up again. He held his sister to him so she wouldn't see, both of their hearts breaking at the death of the old man, their friend. It explained why Nova didn't come back to find a dead Luna, Old Man Jitters had found the madman first and delayed him as long as possible before he eventually succumbed.

"He must've been done in by the other guy!" Nova argued, trying not to admit that he knew the other old man, any connections now could make things worse.

"HA! We got a witness in the building next door says she saw you kill both of 'em. You're comin' with me you lil' criminal!" The man moved to grab Nova but he ducked and pulled aside with his sister. A woman dressed in rather rich clothing was staring out of the third floor of the apartment complex. Her face was scornful yet smiling as if she'd gotten rid of the thorn in her side. Nova couldn't understand what he'd done to her, he'd never seen her before in his life. Perhaps she was just another vile human.

"I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME!" he yelled.

"TELL IT TO THE JUDGE!" The man yelled back and began chasing after the siblings.

Cursing under his breath he took off in a run, his sister in tow, an all too familiar situation having to run from the authorities.

He had no idea how long he had run, his sister now pulled onto his back he couldn't stop. The angry cries of law enforcement long lost in the ears as the roar of the wind picked up. His semblance working on overtime to accelerate his movement as he ran top speed down the streets. He was thankful that his hair was practically grey and black from dirt and his face was too dirty to be recognizable. It would be some time before things cooled down but one thing was for sure, the city was no longer safe.

The siblings stood at the edge of town, facing dense coagulation of green. Apparently the city itself was surrounded by a thick forest, most likely loaded with Grim. Sucking in air sharply he mustered the courage to step foot inside, it may be dangerous but chances were they would die either way. At least he could deal with Grimm.

Nova wasn't sure how long he walked, Luna was long asleep on his back, it helped his semblance was aiding him but his aura was running out. He could hear the Grimm lurking in the darkness, his keen Dragon senses were picking up on all of it, but he kept moving. They were waiting for him to stop and become vulnerable, he couldn't let that happen. So he kept on walking, and walking, and walking. His walk became a trudge, which became a hunched over creep to eventually a crawl. He could feel his eyesight blurring, strength in his body was long gone. _So this is how it ends… we had a good run_ he thought. His mind drifted back to when they left Menagerie, maybe if he stayed, found some decent Faunus and asked for asylum, they would help. Maybe he wasn't thinking rationally, but the more he looked back the more risks he had to account for. In the long run they were doomed regardless of their choice. Ironic truly, the universe played the world's sickest joke giving them hell, hope and then death. His eyes drifted closed as he awaited his death for what felt like the umpteenth time, his wish being that his sister would somehow survive.

* * *

With a start he awoke, almost instantly he felt pain rushing through him. He lay in a wooden bed with a woolen sheeted mattress. The room was entirely wooden except the windows, the furniture and upholstery looked all handcrafted, no electricity, only oil lamps, and candles.

LUNA! He remembered now, the events that transpired, quickly he rushed out of the room only to slam face-first into wall of hardened flesh.

"Woah slow down there kid, if you're lookin' for your sister, she's fine." A gentle male voice said,

Nova looked up to see a tall wolf Faunus with grey coloured ears and a tail, a slight stubble around his chin. Nova was on the defensive, eyeing the man cautiously. If the man wanted them dead, he'd have done it already, so what was he playing at? What was this man's angle?

"Here eat this." The man handed Nova plate of food, various meats and fruits lined the tray. Nova's first instinct was to smell for poison but he found none. The man laughed, "It's not poison and no I'm not going to hurt you or your sister. I found you two half-dead and about to be killed by Grimm in the forest." He said guiding Nova to the dining room table where the two sat and ate.

"Tell me, what reason you have for being out here alone? Two kids such as yourselves shouldn't be anywhere without their parents" the man raised an eyebrow.

"Forgive me if I seem rude, but given my…experience…with adults, especially fellow Faunus, I'd rather not share." Nova said eyeing him.

"Well spoken for such a young lad. Judging by your hair and your horns…I'd say you two are Dragons? Flareheart family?" The man guessed.

Nova almost choked. "Spot on it seems. Tell me what would literal royalty be doing out here so far from home?" the man insisted. Nova just looked apprehensively, like a deer caught in headlights, scared and panicked.

"Look, I really do mean you no harm, you need to trust me. Here if you think I'm going to make a move on you then use this," the man handed Nova a large kitchen knife, placing the knife-edge at his own throat.

Nova stared at him wide-eyed, did this man have any concern for himself?

With a heavy sigh, Nova relinquished the weapon, "It's rude to ask a person's story without introducing yourself first." Nova said.

"Ah forgive me, I am Randolf Wulf, a huntsman. And you are?" he introduced himself before gesturing to the boy.

"Nova Alexandrite Flareheart," Nova said stiffly.

"And pray tell young Flareheart, why are you so far from home?" The man asked his voice gentle and soothing.

Nova sighed heavily, seeing no other option that to trust this man, he recounted the tale of their personal hell.

"Well you've certainly seen your fair share, what do you intend to do now?" Randolf asked the young boy. Nova pondered for a moment, in all honesty? He had no idea. With nowhere to go, no real plan ahead he was at a loss.

Randolf saw him deep in thought and laughed.

"My boy, it should be a no brainer," he said.

Nova turned to him quizzically. "Huh?"

"Stay, with me, you and your sister are welcome to stay here, I am no friend of the White Fang and no one knows I live here, we're isolated in the middle of the forest, what more do you need?" Randolf smiled warmly.

Nova was dumbstruck, "Are you serious? We aren't a burden to you? I mean, what could you hope to gain?".

Randolf just patted his shoulder, "Kid, not all adults are selfish and greedy. You have nowhere to go, it wouldn't sit right with me to let two kids starve in the wilderness alone, besides if my sister were around she'd probably kill me if I turned you away. Of course you wouldn't be completely staying for free, you'll have to help out with odd jobs around the house. On top of that I'll be training you to be a huntsman."

Nove was once more flabbergasted, "What?!"

"You heard me, I've been meaning to get a disciple, what say you Nova Flareheart, are you willing to learn under Randolf Wulf?" the older man outstretched his hand in a shake.

Nova hesitated for a moment, trying to discern the truth in the man's words. There was no hidden motive, he was genuinely offering to help, and given the state he was in, the state his sister would be in, he had no reason to refuse.

"I accept." Nova said firmly grasping his hand.

* * *

**-One week into training-**

"Tell me, Nova, what drives you?" Wulf asked as he leaned against a tree, watching the young boy swing around a katana in a clearing.

"My sister, my family, for revenge on the ones who have wronged me, but I will not let revenge cloud my judgment," he repeated as if those words were his personal mantra.

"Good, what will you do to achieve your goal?" Wulf asked folding his arms.

With an envigored strike, "Anything necessary, if I must kill someone, I will, if I must make the world my enemy, I will. Nothing will stop me," he said breathing raggedly.

"Good, AGAIN!" Wulf instructed.

**-Two years later-**

"This kid of yours is a real piece of work…" Qrow said as he leaned back in his wooden chair, staring out at Nova training with a scythe in the field.

"He's not mine," Wulf said joining him on the porch of the wooden house.

"Whose are they then?" Qrow said referring to young Luna who was carrying a large stack of logs like it was paper.

"That's a long story…" Wulf said.

"Spare me," Qrow stopped him. "That boy's got a lot of potential, he's a natural with nearly any weapon you give him. That girl is no different, she's so small yet she possesses unnatural strength. Those two are gems." Qrow said looking at his soon to be proteges.

**-Four Years Later-**

"What happened to you?" Wulf asked as Nova and Luna trailed in at a late hour of the night.

"Really big Deathstalker, nothing major," Nova said with a grunt as he shrugged off his backpack.

"Nothing major he says," Wulf shakes his head in dismay. "What happened really?" he asked Luna.

"We got ambushed because Nova's nose is stuffy from a cold. He used his body to protect me, his aura blocked some but because most of it was already being used to adapt to the cold he has, he took a bad hit." She said worriedly pointing to his back.

"Turn around let me see," Wulf instructed.

Nova did as he was told, low and behold on his back was a number of small scratches and gashes, nothing fatal, just might leave scars, the real problem was the x-shaped wound on his left shoulder blade, and what looked to be a stinger puncture mark. Wulf sighed, "Get the needle and thread I'll take care of him." Randolf instructed Luna.

**-Six years later-**

"Hey kids," Wulf called, stumbling through the door of their home.

"Where've you been Master? The food's mostly gotten cold." Luna said disappointed. It was May 15th, Nova's birthday and though he hated to celebrate it, Luna still tried to at least make a decent meal for him.

"I snuck back onto the island a few days ago and did some digging around," Wulf said.

Nova's eyes went wide. "You went back to Menagerie? What did you find?!"

"Not much, the place was mostly cleaned out. People 'round the place kept it mostly preserved as a relic of remembrance or some crap. Thankfully no one found the real basement." He said heaving an object wrapped in burlap onto the table.

"Your dad hid this thing pretty well. I think he meant for you to have this eventually though I'm not sure if he meant for it to be like this." Wulf opened up the wrapping to reveal three large white metal ingots.

"Is that?" Nova said amazed as he drew his hand toward the metal, a resounding satisfying clang was heard when he came into contact with it, a gentle warmth radiated.

"Incindium, the last of it's kind. There should be more than enough here to forge a weapon for you and your sister." Wulf said.

"Does this mean…?" Nova asked hopefully.

"Hmph, believe what you will," Wulf said heading upstairs to rest. "Oh, and kid?" he said before he left.

"Yeah?" Nova turned quizzically.

"Happy birthday." He left.

Nova beamed, sure he was stoic and hard on the outside but that was mainly to show his sister that he was a reliable and strong individual. In truth, young Nova was just like the rest of us, and for his stoic father figure to wish him Happy Birthday was something that made him warm and happy. Perhaps birthdays weren't so bad after all.

**-Two years ago-**

"Hey Luna where's Master?" Nova said coming downstairs into the creaky kitchen. The place was eerily quiet, save for the dripping sink and whistling wind outside. The autumn chill rolling in and the vibrant green forest was beginning to wither a little. Despite it being a relatively tropical climate, they were far enough from the equator to receive winter chills.

"Not sure…. Hey there's a note," she replied finding a torn paper on the dining room table. Scrawled on the torn note was the handwriting of their master.

_I'm leaving on a journey alone. Some news came in regarding The White Fang and given the gravity of the information, I may be gone for some time. The food supplies in the fridge may not last you that long, but it should hold out until the coming September. Once it runs out, I recommend you leave this house, venture back into Mistral and attend Haven Academy, the headmaster is to expect you. There you two will learn to become Huntsmen. I know you may have your issues with going back into the city that cast you out, but I've prepared some cover for you. Your time at the academy will serve you well, especially you Nova. Do not look for me, you will not find me. Take care of yourselves, I'd hate to see anything happen to you._

_Sincerely your Teacher, Randolf Wulf._

"That shitty old man!" Nova cursed crumpling the paper. Luna looked on in worry.

"What does this mean Nova?" she held her arms around her.

"It means we hold out as long as we can until we're forced to go…" Nova said reluctantly. "Damn shitty old man, he couldn't have picked a better time to…" Nova cursed again.

* * *

**-Present-**

"And that's how I ended up here more or less," Nova said reclining on his bed, the rest of team ASHNRWBY staring at him.

Yang was the first to break the silence. "So that time you spent on the streets… you said that Luna, even though she was young, never cried or made a fuss. Don't you think it's a little odd?"

Ruby smacked her sister over the head, "Yang that was rude!".

"No, she has a point, Ruby, I thought it was weird, we were out there alone, by ourselves yet we knew how to handle every situation. Thinking back now, I honestly don't know how I had the strength to keep going. It might have something to do with this." He said rolling up his sleeve to display the flame on his shoulder.

"This is the symbol of the Aspect, well one of them. Persons with this gift are generally born with a mark depicting what element or category of power they fall under. Mine is a flame, depicting my control overheat. Luna has one on her back depicting a dotted semicircle, kinda looks like a swirling galaxy." Nova said.

Luna blushed hard, "You idiot, don't just go about telling everyone!" she huffed.

"Daww, it's cute, don't worry Luna," Weiss smiled and pinched the small girl's cheeks.

"How does a birthmark help you stay cool? " Blake asked.

"Honestly? I'm not 100% sure but, from what Master told me, we retain the survival instincts of our ancestors, previous wielders of the gift in our bloodline. Some mystic mumbo jumbo if you ask me." Nova folded his arms and leaned back again.

"Sounds pretty cool, but when are you gonna show us how you shoot fire?" Ruby said with gleaming eyes.

Nova laughed and ruffled her hair, "We can go now if you all like?" he asked everyone. There was a resounding simultaneous "hell yes!"

* * *

**-Inside the training arena-**

"You think Glynda will mind if we use this place?" Nitro asked rubbing his chin, the arena was currently closed off for the day as it was getting pretty late and most students were supposed to be in their dorms.

"What she doesn't know won't kill her," Hex said as she traced the area for security cameras and remotely replaced their video feed with a constant loop of an empty room. "There, we're all set!" she sent a thumbs up to Nova who stood with his sister and team RWBY at the center of the arena.

"All right, you guys might wanna take a few steps back. Luna, just in case prepares to protect everyone." Nova said ushering them back.

"Try not to roast us alive please!" the younger sibling yelled from the stands.

"Finally, we get to see what Alex- er Nova is capable of. It's gonna be hard not calling him Alexandrite unconsciously." Yang said sheepishly as she sat next to her sister. Ruby stared increasingly curious as Nova closed his eyes.

He outstretched his arms and breathed in deeply, the skin on his forearms up to his fingertips, transformed into bright orange and red scales. An intense heat began surrounding him warming up the chilly arena. The heat was most intense around him but diluted the further it was from the centre. Within an instant, Nova opened his palms and a spiral of fore enveloped them, blasting outward at the wall, the intense heat charring it. It was no ordinary fire, it felt more intense, more dangerous and wilder compared to the fire of last night, Ruby note.

Nova's fire was like a living creature, dancing and flickering into what appeared to be a dragon, every time he blasted it out. Team SHNRWBY stared in awe as the flames wrapped around Nova's left hand, condensing into a concentrated ball of pure inferno, it looked like a mini sun. Nova then brought the sphere crashing down onto the ground causing an eruptive explosion that rattled the room. He took up a stance and felt his jeans stiffen and restrict his movement, this never happened before… _God I wish I was wearing a skirt, they're so much freer to move in… wait why am I thinking that? I've never worn a skirt… maybe I should…_

"OI! ALERT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD WHILE YOU'RE AT IT! We told you not to go overboard!" Luna yelled, shocking team everyone. The normally sweet and shy child was like an angry blue leprechaun.

"Sorry!" Nova called back. Toning his fire down, he drew Asura. The katana-scythe was much different that before, as everyone noticed. The once plain black scabbard and golden dragon was now a fiery, dark orange, and the dragon was bright gold with a red gem for an eye. The blade itself seemed less unstable and reliant on the forced vibration from the mechanisms and now seemed to resonate on its own frequency. The blade itself looked sleeker, sharper and more deadly than before. Once in scythe form, Nova looked like an actual reaper, an imposing figure that gave even Yang chills.

He swung the mighty scythe and as he did, flames erupted from the blade, covering it in a second layer of destruction.

"So cool…." Ruby gazed on in awe, captivated by the sheer violent beauty of a weapon before her, and the one wielding it wasn't that bad looking either.

Nova folded and sheathed Asura, simmering down his flames, the scales disappearing from his arms.

"Dude, with that level of firepower, I don't think any Grimm could stand up to you." Yang clapped him on the back.

Nova let out a hefty cough before straightening up as the bombshell blonde nearly sent him crumpling to the floor.

"It drains a lot of my aura to manipulate the fire, it's not very practical unless I'm going all in no defence." He said struggling to stand straight, leaning on his sister for support.

"The best defence is a good offence I always say," Nitro joked.

"So… If Nova's powers are so cool, what about Luna?" Weiss asked as all eyes in the room turned to the small girl.

"W-Well my powers aren't as flashy as my brother's but I can do this," She said as she proceeded to drag two loose tiles from opposite ends instantly together without crashing them, it happened in an instant almost as if the two tiles were together, to begin with. She snapped her fingers and just as quickly as they came, they returned to their original positions, she then proceeded to fix the entire arena back to its original state, as if no one was ever here.

"WHAT ARE YOU A GOD?!" Nitro exclaimed, even though they were teammates, he rarely saw her use her power, much less to this extent.

"Yeah what was that insane power?" Blake asked incredulously.

The younger dragon rubbed her arms, "It's really complicated…" she said nervously.

"Try me." Weiss insisted.

"Well…" Luna took a deep breath. "I can control the space between objects, the forces acting on them and their vector directions."

"The what now?" Ruby asked looking confused.

"Umm… essentially, think of it like there's an invisible string tying all the objects in the room to one another, and there are multiple strings going in multiple directions. I can pull on those strings to force two objects to come together or extend the strings to separate them. I can pull on the string and change the direction and I can also change how much impact something has." She explained.

"I still don't get it…" Ruby said dizzily.

"I want to call you a dunce but, I don't get it either," Weiss said also dizzy.

"Told you she was some funny type of genius," Nova said as he ruffled his sister's hair.

"You know, you should try switching up your hairstyles every now and then, a girl's gotta spice things up ever so often," Weiss commented looking over the blue girl.

"Ugh don't I know it? I tried putting mine up in..." Nova instantly turned red, "I mean I pictured Luna in twin tails because it's my job as her brother to make sure she looks presentable… yeah definitely." He lied. "I'm gonna shower…" he said bolting off.

"…. Okay… that wasn't weird at all…" Yang said awkwardly.

"Sir, are you just going to allow this?" Glynda said as she folded her arms. Ozpin sat back in his chair watching a wiretapped video feed of the arena from outside the building.

"Leave them be, they just came back from a tough mission, after all, they deserve a few days rest…besides, in due time they'll be back out into the field." Ozpin said shutting off the feed.

* * *

**That's backstory done, sorta. I did say detailed I didn't say completed. There's still a few bits of backstory that gets revealed at later points, either way I hope y'all enjoyed this entire chapter dedicated to telling the backstory.**

**I must say, the amount of support this fic is getting is rather crazy, it amazes me every time I log in and check the progress on this thing. You guys either suckers for bad writing or crazy, or both. Just bare with me for the next few months or so 'cuz chapters are definitely going to slow down to a crawl. According to my class schedule I only have like one free time slot and that's on Fridays and weekends. I might still try to put out two chapters a week but once assignments start kicking in, this whole fic might go on a temporary stall. Don't worry I THOROUGHLY INTEND TO FINISH THIS THING. Though as of this chapter, we're just about halfway done with pre-written content. **

**TIL NEXT WE MEET! Stay awesome!**


	16. Chapter 16: Slow Dancing with a Dragon

**Chapter 16: Dancing with Fire**

* * *

"So…you mind telling me why we're putting this much effort into my clothes?" Nitro asked rotating to look at himself in the mirror.

"It's a formal dance you nitwit, just because you don't have a date doesn't mean you get to slack off on what you're wearing." Hex nagged him while she fixed his bow tie. Nitro was clad in a traditional black jacketed suit and white undershirt with a bow tie around his neck. His normally wild red hair was slicked back and neatly combed.

"Hey, I do have a date!" he contested angrily, they all had a momentary pause. "What since when?! WHO?!" was Hex's exclamation. He just smirked, "That's a secret... seriously though, I HATE THESE OUTFITS!"

"I feel you man, this thing is stuffy…" Nova said pulling on his cuffs. He wore a white jacketed suit over a red undershirt with black buttons, a black and red tie hanging from his neck. He had matching white slacks and white dress shoes, his hair wasn't styled or neatened it was just a simple adjustment so it didn't stick up in the air all night.

"Do these pants make my butt look big?" he asked his sister to which she just looked at him incredulously, completely thrown off guard by that question.

"Uh… no?" she replied uncertainty, her brother was getting weirder by the day.

"Oh come on you two, it'll be fun." Luna said cheerily as she spun around in her glimmering dark blue dress with black gothic accents, as she spun blue shimmers fizzled lightly due to the dust embedded in her clothing. She had a small cyan blue cocktail hat on her head which sat neatly to the left side, and tall black boots. Her blue hood was replaced with a light blue translucent shawl.

"Well fun or not if these two don't hustle we'll be late, Nova you cowardly lizard, you just HAD to fail at asking Ruby out." Hex huffed, her violet shimmering dress that stretched down to her ankles gleamed in the light. Her purple hair and sleeveless shoulders combined with the lovely topaz necklace made for a striking appearance.

Nova smirked smugly but said nothing. "What's with that look..." Hex said eyeing him curiously.

"Nooothing..."

* * *

**-Earlier with RWBY-**

Ruby sat there in her traditional outfit wondering when to use the shower. They about two hours to get ready for the dance, she'd contemplated just tossing on her outfit and showing up, it's not like she had... Her face slowly morphed from mild neutrality to absolute shock. "FUCK!"

Instantly all members of RWBY had whipped their heads around, Yang almost dropped her dress, Blake fell off her bunk and Weiss had a momentary lapse of brain function. Ruby just swore. "Did she just..." Weiss said pointing shakily at her leader.

Yang was instantly at her side recoiling in fear, "She did... WHO ARE YOU?!" She said pointing at her sister. Blake climbed back onto her bunk and shrank into the corner hissing.

"Guys really? Is it so weird to hear me swear?" Ruby asked raising her eyebrow. Everyone just simultaneously nodded.

Yang carefully approached her sister poking her with a finger at a distance as if she was trying to poke a snake or bee-hive with a stick. Once she was sure it was Ruby she stepped forward, "And what manner of madness has caused such foul language to grace the innocent mouth of my dear sweet sister?" she asked looking cautiously.

Ruby instantly turned red and overheated, "NOTHING!" she said attempting to hide now.

"OH NO THAT'S NOT NOTHING! Are you worried about what you're wearing, how Nova's going to react?" Yang asked eyeing the fleeting form of the red leader who was attempting to hide under her covers.

"EEP!" Ruby squealed in response as Yang grabbed her by the leg and yanked her out so she was out on the floor of their dorm.

"It's rare to see you this nervous Ruby. Why're you so worried? It's not like he's going to hate what you're wearing, pretty sure you could show up dressed as an Ursa and he'd still find you cute." Weiss reasoned as they all pictured Ruby in an Ursa onesie... which was quite adorable.

"Yeah Ruby, it's not like he's your date or anything..." Blake said coming out of the corner.

When the girl didn't respond they all had widened eyes. "No way..." Weiss mouthed.

Ruby nodded slowly, an embarrassed smile gracing her lips, "Maybe..."

"RUBY WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US SOONER?!" Yang screamed frantically causing the girl to flinch.

"That's exactly why... I don't want you to go overboard and make me all fluffy and pretty... normal knees you know?" She said trying to hide her embarrassment

"OH NUH UH! You can't get away from this..." Yang said with an evil glint as all three girls dragged Ruby into the bathroom, the young leader clawing at the ground in a futile attempt to save herself.

* * *

ASHN exited their dorm and made their way to the common room to await their friends. They'd all decided to go to the dance together, except Blake who'd left earlier to go with Sun, and Nitro who apparently went go meet his secret date. Leaving ASH to wait idly while RWY took their dear sweet time to come out.

Nova was particularly nervous, he sat there bouncing his leg and drumming his hands on the arm chair.

"Bro, if you keep shaking your leg like that you might break the floor." Luna said amused, "What's got you so worked up anyway..."

"I think I know..." Hex said, she was about to continue when RWY came onto the scene dressed in their outfits.

Hex had to stop and stare for a moment, placing her hand on her chin scanning her girlfriend's every inch. Yang was wearing a simple, sleeveless white dress that went just above her knees, accompanied by white flats. A purple amethyst hung around her neck matching her eyes, a simple yet elegant outfit that suited her perfectly. When Yang caught sight of Hex's stare she turned red, "Is this weird? I don't normally wear this type of stuff but..." Hex just walked up and planted a firm kiss on her lips catching the blonde by surprise. "You look absolutely stunning..." came Hex's reply.

Yang just let her head rest on Hex's forehead and pecked her in reply, "Thanks... you're not so bad yourself." Yang being the embarrassed one for a change was a welcome surprise to everyone, and the only person who had the power to do that was the techno-wizard.

"Aw look at you two being all cute and coupley," Weiss said smiling like an idiot at the adorable display.

"WEISS!" Luna squealed and tackled her bestie. "You look so pretty... who's the lucky guy?" she asked admiring Weiss' pretty light purple and borderline pink and white dress, that similarly to Yang's, went up to her knees.

"I'm meeting Neptune at the dance," Weiss replied pinching Luna's cheeks. "Where did you get that outfit? It's gorgeous!" Weiss gestured to Luna.

The blue girl twirled, showing off the shimmer effect, "Nova picked it out for me." she said shooting Weiss a dazzling smile. The heiress just gaped, "He's got some style that's for sure... Ruby's a lucky girl." She said cheerily, looking over the boy who was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. She had to admit she was slightly envious of Ruby, Nova was a prime pick, he was tall, handsome, a great leader and a great friend. He's the type of guy she'd long for when she was younger, her ideal prince charming... but getting to know him, she couldn't help but see him as nothing more than perhaps an older brother... even if he was younger than her. Besides, she had more self-respect than to go after Ruby's man, even if they weren't official.

Luna and Hex turned to her curiously, "What do you mean by that?" they asked simultaneously.

Yang smirked, "He didn't tell you? Yeah neither did she...RUBY GET OUT HERE NOW!" she yelled to the girl who was hiding behind the door frame. Ruby made an 'eep' before carefully entering the room.

Nova felt his heart stop when he saw the girl before him, she was wearing a beautiful sleeveless red dress that went down to her knees, it was patterned with black lace and held at her neck by a grey top piece, a black ribbon tied around her waist. The clothing style looked so perfect on her, she was in every essence of the phrase adorably gorgeous.

The moment their eyes met they instantly turned their faces away, overheating from embarrassment. _HOLY SHIT HE'S/SHE'S HOT _was the simultaneous reaction in both of their minds.

Everyone just looked on smugly at the not-couple. Luna elbowed her brother, "This is the part where you tell her how she looks..." she whispered.

Nova composed himself, "Uh right... Ruby you look...wow..." his words were failing him the more he stared at her. She just turned the colour of her dress, "T-Thanks... y-you to..." she stammered out.

They all just groaned at the two dorks being too awkward to do anything. "So... Nova, when were you going to tell us that you asked Ruby out?" Hex asked, a dangerous smile on her face.

"Um... I wasn't?" He said sheepishly.

"CLEARLY!"

"Nova you do know you need to get my approval before you get to date my sister right?" Yang said cracking her knuckles an evil glint in her eye.

"YANG! WE'RE JUST GOING...AS FRIENDS..." Ruby said trying to appease her sister. When she said the word 'friends' Nova felt a throbbing pain in his chest like someone sucker punched him, that word did NOT feel like it applied.

"Y-Yeah a friendly date... as friends..." Nova said joining his 'friend'. Everyone cringed at them, how could they be so dense...

"I swear you two are so thick you make a block of a lead look like a paperweight." Hex shook her head in disdain. They all nodded in agreement while the two leaders just tilted their heads in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Nova asked confused.

* * *

They approached the dance hall just in time to see Blake and Sun show up, she was wearing a long deep purple dress that seemed to mimic her shadowy attribute, she had a black collar on and a teal bow, while Sun was wearing a simple grey jacket over a white undershirt and jeans, he was sporting his signature red gloves. Neptune wasn't too far behind, wearing a traditional black three piece tuxedo with gold accents.

Strolling up beside them was Nitro, linked arm in arm with another red-haired boy, he was wearing a crimson red tux with a white undershirt, his long hair was parted to the right side, on his ears were two gold hoop earrings and on his left eye was a black tattoo like an eyelid. He looked like an emo pirate.

"Yo Sun, they managed to put a shirt on you..." Nova said as they walked up to the duo.

"Unfortunately..." Sun responded while Blake had an evil smile, "She forced me into it..."

They all felt slightly sorry for him, though Blake seemed to have a thorough hold on the monkey. "We'll see you inside, 'kay?" Blake said uncharacteristically cheerily as she dragged her date inside. Weiss took Neptune by the arm and they followed suit, "So... Nitro... you gonna introduce us or..." Nova said politely gesturing to Nitro's date.

"Scarlet David, nice to meet you." Scarlet said politely, shaking Nova's hand. "I'm part of Sun's team, one of his friends."

"How did you two meet?" Hex asked curiously as she hung onto Yang's arm.

Both Nitro and Scarlet turned red at that, "It's... a weird story... involving the showers at the gym..." Scarlet began while Nitro made a desperate attempt to stop him from speaking.

"NO NEED TO CONTINUE! I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW!" Hex amended covering Luna's ears. The blue girl just looked up curiously, oblivious to what was being said.

"Are we going to go inside or what?" Nova input as they all realized they'd been standing outside for some time. "We stick out here any longer and they might as well just move some music out for us."

"Nah they won't kick you guys out," Yang snorted as she pulled Hex inside, apparently there was a small crowd gathering just outside the door.

"And why's that?"

"Cuz we're running it remember?"

* * *

Inside the dance hall was absolutely astounding. Pink ribbons flowed from the center of the ceiling where three large chandeliers stood. The curtains were a light purple and everything was colour coded in either purple, light blue or pink. Needless to say it was clear a certain set of girls had their way with the colour schemes. Not even bothering to hide themselves, Weiss, Yang, and Luna stood proudly admiring their handiwork.

"Well colour me impressed, well-done girls!" Nitro said entering the room. Even Scarlet had to admit he was pleasantly surprised by the decor, it was elegant and light, yet formal, a rare combination to be sure. Students from across the four kingdoms were spread out across the room, the majority of them dancing as couples in the center while the less social or dateless were babysitting the punchbowl and snack bar. It was the typical high school dance scene...except for one team in particular. Nova felt his brain die a little when he saw the state of JNPR.

Nora was normal...as normal as Nora could get, which was strange,... wearing a casual white dress with pink, Ren wearing a standard Beacon style tux. Pyrrha stood wearing a long, elegant red dress that matched her hair, attracting the eyes of most males in the room, and a few females. Nothing out of the ordinary...then there was a blonde, wearing a beautiful white dress with a pink ribbon. The only thing strange was that the dress was on Jaune.

"Jaune, that uhh dress…looks good on you…" Nova said awkwardly. "How…"

"I lost a bet, simple and plain," Jaune said trying to hide his shame, he'd answered without turning around to see who it was because he recognized the voice, but one he did... he just blinked incredulously, "Wait who are you? And how do you know me?" he looked absolutely bewildered. Pyrrha showed up beside her friend looking on at the newcomer rather intensely. Her eyes scanning him thoroughly and Nova felt the sudden urge to hide himself.

"Those eyes... that voice... that aura..." She began piecing it together. "Alexandrite!" She finally exclaimed with a finger in the air.

Jaune felt his eyes bulge out of his head, "WHAT?!"

Nova ran his hand through his hair, "Ehehehe... I decided, after a series of... concerning events... that I no longer need my disguise. Nice to meet you again, you can call me Nova, I'm a dragon." he said looking proud to finally declare it.

"Wait as in living breathing, fire spewing, claw wielding, flying dragon?" Jaune asked looking over Nova for wings. The dragon just chuckled, "I don't have wings but I do have horns and claws, we'll talk later I think Pyrrha wants your attention tonight. And between you and me... try to see what's right in front of you." Nova said with a cryptic tone, he could feel the air between the two, the chemical reaction was finally starting to happen, no longer would Pyrrha be dealing with a one sided love. Jaune just looked bewildered but Pyrrha knew what he was implying. She giggled and dragged him off followed by Nora and Ren.

He had to admit, he was quite happy for them, even if they weren't a couple yet, they surely would be. If only he could say the same for himself... especially after Ruby called him a bestie that one time, and then felt the need to emphasize they were attending as 'just friends'. Were they just friends? He definitely felt a strong connection with her, he knew he had a massive crush, that was a fact, but... was he... in love? He was pulled back from reality when Nitro spoke up.

"Whose idea was the fog machine?" Nitro said munching on what appeared to be three types of food at once. In truth, there was a layer of fog on the floor, it was hardly noticeable when they came in but now that they were well into the area did they see it.

"That would be me!" Yang said as she danced past him, Hex in tow. Nitro and Scarlet let out a simultaneous "Niceeee!" and proceeded to blush profusely when they realized the synchronization. Nova wanted to gag, is this how everyone felt when he was with Ruby?

The purple décor and dim lighting made for an odd yet appealing combination. Nova had to admit, for his first dance, it wasn't what he expected. He stood with Ruby at the punchbowl, unable to actually make conversation. It felt awkward trying to talk to her now that they were on a date, even if they were as friends. He was afraid that the moment he started talking he wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

Everyone had left them to do their own thing, Hex and Yang, Scarlet and Nitro, Weiss and Neptune though it seemed to be more like Luna and Weiss. Hence the not-couple were left alone.

"So…Ruby… How's the party?" Nova asked rubbing his chin. His mismatched eyes staring at the girl before him. _How's the party? Really? That's the best you can come up with? PRINCE OF THE DRAGONS LADIES AND GENTS!_

She dropped her head to the floor, "I-It's nice... Sorry this is awkward. I know you asked me to this but... I got a problem and I'm kinda embarrassed." She confessed her eyes downcast.

"Oh? And what might be said problem that is plaguing my date?" Nova asked curiously, he added a wink for extra effect causing Ruby to blush, _smooth_. He didn't pin her for the dressing up type but he did ping her as a social type.

"Well… I kinda sorta… feel uncomfortable in this place. Like this whole situation, the dress, the music, the people. Don't get me wrong, it's nice but, I'd rather be wearing my combat outfit and swinging Crescent Rose around at a pack of Grimm." she admitted. A sweet girl who's cuteness could make a baby rabbit swoon, was also the deadliest thing under a red hood, and she lived for that life. Fighting is in her blood and that sheer willpower, determination and zeal was seventy percent of why Nova was head over heels for her.

Nova studied her for a bit. "I feel you, but events like this can be considered their own battle, a new experience." He rationalized.

"A battle?" Ruby tilted her head in curiosity.

"Yeah, dealing with crowds like this and managing to keep your cool is a huge battle. It's part of growing as a person." Nova smiled his maturity showing, allowing Ruby to see not just his adorable dorkiness but his calm and collected persona. If she was innocence, purity and compassion, then he was maturity, strength and rationality. He embodied the traits that she didn't possess and together they complimented each other as both friends and leaders, perhaps this is why Ozpin created the joint team leadership.

"Huh…I guess you're right?" Ruby said unsure, still not thoroughly understanding his metaphor.

An awkward silence fell between them. "So…what now?" Ruby asked sheepishly, she didn't exactly know how dates worked.

"W-we could try dancing?" Nova suggested nervously.

"I-I don't know how to dance…" she said embarrassed, out of all the things that Ruby Rose could do, dancing was not one of them.

"Well you _CAN_ take down a Nevermore single-handedly so I'd say this is no problem, oh mighty reaper of Red." Nova bowed and extended his palm to her, he wasn't forcing his suave anymore, it was flowing naturally, he just hoped he didn't take it too far and make a fool of himself.

She giggled and took his hand, bringing herself closer to him, "Well I'll be in your guidance."

The two waltzed onto the dance floor, nervously holding each other's hand. Yang and Hex instantly took note and moved to the DJ. Nova spied Yang whispering something to the DJ and he was about to point it out to Ruby when the song that was previously a funky pop vibe changed to a slow dance.

"Oh shit…." Nova cursed under his breath.

"What?" Ruby raised an eyebrow until she realized everyone around them were couples slow dancing. "Oh crap…" She began to sweat nervously feeling out of place, her face was red and her first instinct was to bury it in Nova's chest but that would just make things even worse.

Nova felt her freeze in his grasp, he squeezed her hand and pulled her to face him, the action startled her and she unconsciously held his shoulder for balance. "Follow my lead," he said quietly. She just nodded.

Nervously he placed his right hand on her hip and his left holding hers, slowly but surely the two began a simple three step dance. Granted Ruby stepped on his feet a few times before they got the hang of it but once they did, it was as if the world was lost to them except for each other. Music drowned out and the crowd disappeared, they only saw each other's eyes, red and black staring at silver. Ruby felt herself melting into him, as she instinctively closed the gap between the two, her head now resting on his chest, his arms snaked around her waist holding her. The two would have continued like that forever until a loud cheer erupted from the crowd. Instantly the two's eyes shot wide and they looked around to see the music had long stopped and they were the only ones on the floor.

Blushing madly from all the attention they broke off quickly and headed away from all the people, Ruby grabbed him by the hand and activated her semblance, ducking and dodging through the crowd until they made it onto the balcony outside, devoid of other people.

They stood, leaning over the balcony rails, both out of breath and flustered. The crisp night air blew around them causing them both to shiver slightly. The last legs of the summer wind now long gone as Fall rolled around. An awkward silence fell between the two as they stared at the star-littered sky, unable to face each other.

"So…. That uh…happened…" Nova said finally breaking the silence.

"Y-yeah…" Ruby responded nervously. "So… that was my first-time dancing…"

"Really? You were such a natural," Nova said with a laugh.

"Pfft, don't gimme that, I saw you wince a few times when I stepped on your toes. Sorry about that." She said sheepishly.

"AH well, can't blame a guy for trying to cheer you up. I wonder what Luna is doing, haven't seen her since the dance started." Nova asked looking around a little worried. He knew his sister can probably take care of herself but he couldn't help but feel worried.

"Ah don't worry, she was hanging out with Weiss and Pyrrha at the punch bowl." Ruby assured.

Nova breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad she's having fun at least, you know, I haven't seen her this happy since we were kids."

Ruby saw the forlorn look in his eyes. "After hearing your story, I'd say you did the best you could for her." she placed hand on his forearm comfortingly.

Nova looked at her nervously before breathing a sigh, "It's just that, since we left our home all those years ago, we haven't had a time where we could honestly just sit down and breathe. Free of responsibilities or dangers, this is the first time she's ever had a solid break." He admitted.

Ruby smiled warmly, moving closer to him she leaned over the rails, stretching her arms out. "I'm glad for her, but you know who else needed a break?"

"Who?" Nova turned his head to her to find she was mere inches from his face.

"You, silly! Ever since you came here you've been so isolated and broody. You're serious in class and at lunch you barely interact with people other than me, and your team. You're all objectives first no time to stop and smell the flowers. It's as if you're pressed for time, running from something. The only times I've gotten you to properly let loose are when you're training under that tree, or that one time we hung out" Ruby said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You need to relax sometimes. You would think after nearly dying in a frozen wasteland at the hand of Vale's most wanted terrorist you'd learn to breathe. You're with us now... with me... you don't have to be so afraid anymore. Just relax a bit and let us help." She hugged him out of nowhere. This startled the young boy, but he awkwardly returned the hug.

He almost teared up, his emotions spilling from his eyes, the amount of emotion being conveyed in the simple act was incredible. In all his time here, Ruby had given him more care than anyone ever had before, she had somehow managed to worm her way into his heart without him realizing, and now she held it firmly, he knew for sure now... if anyone else tried to take her from him, if she were to somehow disappear from his life, he'd break down. She was just that important of a figure... it wasn't just a major crush... he felt it, in his soul, in his heart... he was in love. He wanted to hold her like that forever, that feeling of her in his arms was just...right. He would've probably confessed right there had Ruby not suddenly garner a stern look.

"What is it?" Nova asked instantly alert now.

"I saw someone, I think, a figure, dashing across the rooftops above us." Ruby said hushed.

Instantly Nova used his senses trying to pick up on anything. Sure enough, lingering on the wind was a faint smell, he wanted to chalk it up to someone in the ballroom but they smelled like fire, like charcoal and hatred.

"Someone was indeed here, and they're not friendly. Ruby we need to…" Nova was about to suggest they call up their weapons when two lockers came propelling toward them.

"Huh? When did you…" He turned to see Ruby holding both their scrolls.

"While you were sniffing the air like a weird dog," she waved his scroll in his face. "Pickpocketing, little skill I picked up from Hex." Ruby smiled.

Nova just shook his head, "I really need to start paying attention to what she teaches you."

Ruby lead by Nova swiftly moved through the rooftops following Nova nose. The scent grew stronger as they made their way up the elevator of the CCT, but the scent became mingled with the rusty smell of blood.

"Be on your toes, the minute we exit this elevator, we could be facing the enemy." Nova said his eyes narrowed.

"What's wrong, are they up there?" Ruby asked prepping Crescent Rose.

"Maybe, but I'm getting a strong smell of blood." Nova drew Asura in its scythe form.

"Why would someone want to infiltrate the CCT Tower?" Ruby pondered, her face scrunched up attempting to read possible scenarios. Nova's eyes stood trained on the elevator door awaiting its opening, "Why would _anyone_ want to raid the central communications hub of the four kingdoms? Information." he said, not looking at her.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Nova recoiled at the sight before him, several corpses of soldiers were scattered about the floor. The monitors and computers turned and strewn in various locations, burn marks along the walls.

"This is awful... Are these Atlas soldiers?" Ruby said almost feeling nauseous at the sight of this many dead bodies. Nova glanced downward, indeed they bore the Atlas symbol, one had to wonder why they were here.

Nova's face was grim, he looked more serious than anytime before, "Awful... but impressive. Whoever managed to take out this many Atlesian soldiers has to be skilled. This was done by no amateur."

"Thank you... I do take pride in my work..." A flirtatious feminine voice said. Both teens whipped their heads around to see a feminine figure, wearing a mask and hood not unlike how Nova once dressed, stood at the center of the room.

"You know, students shouldn't be up here," she spoke again, her voice was modulated and mechanical. She turned to the two and drew what appeared to be a bow made of glass and shot at them.

"Who are you and why did you kill these people." Nova asked anger dripping from his voice as he and Ruby narrowly dodged the arrow shots, instead of embedding themselves into the ground they shattered and disappeared.

"Oooh, scary, you know it's past your bed time so why don't you take a nap?" She erupted a line of fire toward them from out of nowhere. This caught Nova and Ruby off guard, in the heat of the moment Nova used his body to shield Ruby from the flames, subsequently burning off his jacket. The fire that struck him felt violent and angry... but it also felt strained and in pain, as if it didn't _want _to be controlled by the woman. The fire felt...different... not like a semblance, but more like his own power.

When the inferno cleared, the woman was gone, all that remained was the charred floor where she was. Tearing off his burnt jacket, he cursed vehemently.

"What was that?!" Ruby screamed, "Nova are you okay?" she instantly began looking over him for signs of burn but not a single mark was seen on his skin. Nova looked up realizing her face was mere centimetres from his own. She could see every inch of his face, the fangs, the scales, his startlingly silver hair, but now was not the time to admire it.

"I'm fine Ruby, I'm fireproof, too bad my clothes weren't," he gestured to his scorched suit.

"Fine, but that still doesn't make what you did okay. You could have seriously gotten hurt!" she helped him up.

"I'd rather it be me than you," he said with a slight laugh. She hit him over the head, "Well I don't want to see you get hurt either... what would I do if..." she trailed off, eyeing his birthmark.

"OW! Well if I didn't get hurt then, I definitely felt that!" he rubbed his sore head.

Ruby could finally see it on his shoulder, it sort of looked like burning flame. She would've reached out to trace it had she not been interrupted by the loud stomping of boots.

"HEY! YOU OVER THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" A loud male voice erupted from the doorway. Nova instantly moved to draw Asura while Ruby stared down the one and only General Ironwood accompanied by a squadron of soldiers.

Once Nova saw who it was he instantly felt his blood drain, "SHIT!".

Unbeknownst to the trio, Cinder Fall, the very woman who was in the room, was observing from the outside. Spotting the trademark silver hair and fire resistance, the mark on his shoulder, she broke into a devilish grin. "Well this just makes things more interesting…" she smiled to herself.

* * *

"James, what brings you in... Oh..." Ozpin faltered when he saw Ruby followed by Nova.

"I found these two snooping around the CCT Tower, lots of dead guards, I'd arrest them here and now but they insisted they speak to you, that you'd explain everything." Ironwood said with his arms folded, glaring daggers at the two.

"What happened." It wasn't said as a question, more of an order, directed at the two leaders by Ozpin.

Ruby and Nova looked at each other momentarily before finally releasing a sigh of relief, "We were at the dance when Ruby spotted someone lurking on the rooftops, we took action and followed them to the tower. If we had been a little faster we may have been able to stop them..." Nova explained, the two then gave an account of what happened.

* * *

"Are you sure that's what you saw?" Ozpin asked, his hands clasped around his chin as he sat in his office, Ruby and Nova, followed by Ironwood stood in his office as they explained everything.

"Yes sir, she was definitely female, her voice was altered using some sort of modulator, but for a fact, she had glass weapons and wielded fire." Ruby accounted.

"Embedding dust into clothing is not an uncommon thing, are you positive she 'shot' fire at you?" Ozpin asked again.

"Three hundred percent sir, afterall, it burned right through my clothes." Nova said, as if his lack of shirt wasn't glaringly obvious.

"Ozpin, how can we trust these two teenagers? For all we know they committed the crime and-," Ironwood began but he was silenced by Ozpin raising his hand.

"General, these two teenagers happen to be some of my best huntsmen, they also happen to be team leaders. I trust them both to tell the truth, besides would you still doubt them if I told you that was Qrow's niece and Flint's son?" Ozpin leaned back in his chair looking at Ironwood. The reaction on the general's face was priceless.

He stood mouth agape, "Flint's son? I thought they…" Nova and Ozpin both shot an intense glare at Ironwood stopping him from saying anything else. Ruby could do nothing but stand there feeling as though she were the only one left out of the loop.

"I believe that will be all, thank you for coming young lady, and do not take this personally but from here forward this matter strictly concerns Mr. Flareheart and the rest of us in the room. Classified information as you put it," Ironwood said attempting dismissing Ruby but she stood her ground, not even making an attempt to move.

"I'm already quite aware of the circumstances here General" she said sharply as she shot Ironwood a cold look that made him feel guilty.

"Nova was it?" he asked turning to the dragon, "You are Flint Flareheart's son correct? Your father was one of my close friends, though I was never allowed in Menagerie due to…. Political… reasons. He was a good man," Ironwood said folding his arms gauging the boy.

Nova felt a vein throb and his eye twitch out of irritation, "Don't talk about him as if he were dead, he's not. They never found a body!" Nova said his anger flaring, and Ironwood felt the room temperature rise. Needless to say he felt a certain level of fear with respect to the young Dragon, causing him to unconsciously take a step backward. This action made Nova smirk, he wasn't sure why... but he didn't like the general... not that he was a bad person but... he just didn't seem like the type to be rational.

"Are you two quite done? Firstly, General, I'd like to be kept informed on any news regarding our intruder." Ozpin was about to usher the young leaders outside when Ruby said something through her silence.

"I remember now, the enemy said something about them having a base… somewhere to the southeast." Ruby spoke up earning curious looks from Ozpin and Glynda. "I thought you said they didn't…" Goodwitch started but was interrupted by Ozpin. "Did they now…"

"Well this is great, we know where they are so all we need to do now is send in a full assault team and-" Ironwood started saying excitedly.

"Always flaunting your military strength, must you turn everything into a contest of measuring di-"

"Glynda!" Ozpin interrupted her before she could finish.

She pushed up her glasses, "Well he does…"

"I agree with her, General, if this really does go beyond Beacon, beyond Vale, and this is all part of some master plan then we must exercise caution!" Ozpin said turning around to face the General.

Ironwood looked rather angry, his face contorting in mild rage, "I've served you faithfully for years! If you mean to tell me your plan now is to hold the defences and..."

"IT IS NOT!" Ozpin rebutted with fury, standing up in his chair. The two teens observed the exchange rather curiously, so there was some uneasy blood between them. "Tell me general... when you prepare to go to war... what do you send in first, the flag bearer... or the scouts..."

"All right... I trust your judgement Oz, but know that my troops are ready to deploy at any time." Ironwood relented.

Nova felt a little unease by having the General know his identity, one more variable unaccounted for but at this point did it really matter?

"Mr. Flareheart, Miss Rose, you are dismissed, I will inform you of what we decide should it concern you. Your assistance in the matter was greatly appreciated." Ozpin sent them off.

Nova and Ruby gave each other raised eyebrows as they awkwardly left the room, they held back from speaking their minds lest they say something inappropriate to the room.

"What was that all about?" Nova asked his fellow leader as they rode the elevator down. "The person we fought didn't say anything about a base…"

"Just throwing Ironwood off, giving them a chance to discuss some things…" Ruby said twirling her thumbs.

"You really are something else…" Nova said pinching the bridge of his nose.

* * *

**This chapter felt kinda weak, but I sat down for a while trying to figure out how I wanted to proceed with this. I ended up with this being the end result. :/**


	17. Chapter 17: Drunk Lizard and Tipsy Rose

**Just a heads up this chapter does contain alcohol use and drunk characters so even though this is a T-rated fic, this chapter might warrant an M just for that. **

**FYI: I DO NOT CONDONE UNDERAGE DRINKING. STAY AWAY FROM THAT (for legal reasons)**

**Chapter 17: Ever seen a drunk dragon?**

* * *

It's been a few days since the dance, Nova spent his time working the forge, crafting an intricately designed object using extremely expensive materials he'd bought in Vale a few weeks prior. He was only now given the time to actually use them. It took him a while, but he managed to finish it just in time... for today was a very special day for the blue-themed dragon.

Luna, on the other hand, had been training her powers, levitating objects, folding the bedsheets, moving items... anything to help her adjust herself to the strain that her power brought on. It was to prepare so that the next time she fought, she'd be able to do more than just swing her axe a few times.

Hex had her laptop running overtime, working tirelessly to decrypt the encoded call log information that she 'obtained' from the CCT Tower a few weeks prior. The system was rigged to send her a message the moment it was done, and as per Ozpin's request, sent to him as well. If the information everyone got was backed up by the clues in the messages, they'd be able to speed up the tracking process of their enemy. In the meantime Ozpin and Randolf would be constantly monitoring communication traffic by the CCT Tower itself, the intruder incident just gave them the excuse they needed to wiretap the entire system.

Team ASHNRWBY sat around their usual seats at the cafeteria, everything was normal, well almost everything. Since the joining of the teams, there were no secrets between each groups, both dorms were open and they did almost everything together.

"Yo, what's up guys!" Jaune said as he, accompanied by his team, pulled up alongside ASHNRWBY and parked their trays. Nora particularly eyed the two dragons curiously.

"Who's the new guys? What happened to Alexandrite and Sapphire?" Nora pointed out, jabbing her fork in the direction of Nova and Luna who just stared blindingly dumbfounded at Nora, until they realized they weren't wearing their costumes anymore so it was expected they weren't recognized.

Yang started laughing, "Dude, look at them carefully." she held her hands over the leader's mouth and nose to help the hammer wielder get a better visual.

Nora peered closely at the two, squinting her eyes, Nova and Luna felt like they were being eyed by a machine, scanning every detail they had, outside...and inside.

"I don't get it." She said after a few seconds of intense analysis.

Weiss sighed in disappointment while Ren just shook his head in disbelief. "Nora, that's Alexandrite and Sapphire. Don't you remember they introduced themselves at the dance?" he asked. staring blankly, it was a wonder how he picked up on it even though the pair didn't interact with them.

Nora proceeded to blink several times and do a double take. "WHAT?!"

"Yeesh keep it down, you wanna alert the whole school?" Nova said sarcastically.

"B-But you look so…different. Not that's it's bad, it's quite good, I mean you look good…" she said embarrassed that she hadn't recognized them.

Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Thanks?"

"So Alexandrite, why's your hair all you know, white." she gestured with her fork, again, as if the instrument of food consumption had become a glorified pointer.

"It's not Alexandrite, my real name is Nova Alexandrite Flareheart. Sapphire over here is Luna Sapphire Flareheart. This is our natural hair colour. A lot of things happened, and we decided it best if we came clean and revealed ourselves to everyone. As you can see, we are…well we're Faunus." He explained.

"OHHH THAT'S WHY YOU HAD MASKS, TO HIDE THE FANGS AND THE SCALEY THINGS." she said in realization. She leaned in super close to Luna, "Can I touch it?" she asked.

"Uhhh, sure?" Luna hesitantly replied. Within mere milliseconds, Luna was glomped by the orange-haired girl. Luna could only squeal in discomfort as she was squished and hugged to death, "SHE'S EVEN CUTER LIKE THIS!"

"I KNOW RIGHT?!" Weiss squealed with a sudden change in demeanor, she also joined Nora in the intense squishing session.

"Heelllp... meee…." Luna squeezed out weakly as she was being drowned by the pile of two girls, her hand sticking out as if to grab onto some invisible rope.

"Sorry sis, you're on your own." Nova snickered, folding his arms and looking on at the scene, "Consider it your birthday hug?" he rationalized.

Every spoon at the table dropped in a resounded clang. "WHAT?!" was the simultaneous exclamation.

"Oh I forgot to mention? It's Luna's 15th Birthday today." Nova reclined.

"I remember you mentioning this a while back, but with all the life and death, terrorists and giant robots, I guess it slipped our minds." Yang pointed out bluntly. All of ASHNRWBY's heads turned to the sky as they remembered the events that felt like just yesterday.

"Life and death?" Jaune asked confused.

"Don't worry about it," Hex said as she patted his shoulder, he just sat there with a bewildered expression trying to figure out what happened in the last few weeks. They wanted to explain to JNPR all the events that happened, how Nova almost died, but Ozpin did inform them that it was classified, and they were bound to uphold the secrecy.

"So...how were you going to celebrate?" Pyrrha directed the question at the siblings.

"This is the first time we've actually been given the opportunity _to _celebrate... I... have no idea..." He rubbed his head sheepishly, "Luna what do you wanna do? It's _your _birthday after all..."

Luna managed to wiggle herself out of Weiss and Nora and stood up with a finger on her chin, "I've never really put any thought into it... usually around this time we're either running for our lives and/or trying not to get ourselves killed..."

"Again… what are you talking about?" Jaune looked at her concerned. "Again….don't ask." Nitro smiled scarily causing Jaune to back off the normally friendly red-headed boy could be quite scary when he tried.

"Don't worry about that, I have the perfect idea." Yang fist pumped.

* * *

**-Junior's Club-**

"This is what you had in mind, a night club?" Weiss folded her arms. "You want to spend a fifteen-year-old's birthday... here... of all the places? Why not a fancy restaurant or something?"

"Because, the owner here now owes me two favours. We get the place to ourselves!" the blonde fist pumped triumphantly

The three teams sat around a large joint table in the club, the place was empty as it was a Tuesday after all. The white dance floor and strobe lights made for a lively atmosphere combined with the pop music. Luna had never been in a nightclub before... well she'd never been to any social location other than school so, this was a wondrous new experience. She had to wonder if every nightclub greeted their customers with armed gunmen at the door, or if that was just a Yang thing.

"Wait isn't this where we came for information that one time?" Nitro pointed out, finally recognizing the place.

"Yeah, the owner still owes me a drink, HEY JUNIOR!" Yang yelled out to the man in a bartender outfit, who flinched at the sound of the voice.

"Blondie! Are you here as a customer or to blow up the place...again?" he asked nervously, moving to meet her from behind the counter.

"Customer. Come on Junior, you still owe me a drink." She poked his chest causing the short man to grunt in displeasure. "It's mini-blue's birthday so we're celebrating, don't skimp on the good stuff." She said pointing to Luna who sat in her dark blue dress looking up curiously at the man.

"Uhh… isn't she…." He started but Yang grabbed him by the collar, "Everyone here is over eighteen." She said with a dangerous smile. **(A/N: Where I'm from, legal drinking age is 18 so we're rolling with that)**

"Everyone?" He asked again nervously. She glanced down at the oblivious Luna before looking back, "Everyone."

In the reality of it all Vale's drinking policy wasn't as strict as Atlas, according to societal laws, they didn't condone drinking before the age of eighteen but if you were training as a huntsman then it was overlooked as if there was an unspoken loophole in which huntsmen and huntresses who were old enough to fight the dangers of the world, were old enough to handle their liquor.

"Alllll right…" he left signaling his staff. Within minutes trays of various foods and bottles of liquid that neither sibling had ever seen before were placed on the table.

"Wait is this stuff for us?" Jaune asked curiously, he'd never even smelled alcohol let alone go near the stuff.

"So it would seem, though I feel kinda bad…." Ruby started but then a steaming plate of cookies appeared in front of her, "...For absolutely no one!" She finished and she began viciously attacking the plate like a starved zombie seeing fresh meat. Nova just smiled.

Nova would have joined Ruby in the slaughter-fest, as sitting directly on the table before him... was plate piled with thinly cut, gorgeously red tuna slices. His eyes met Blake's, there would definitely be a fight for this... but they needed to refrain. "Before you start eating, I wanna give Luna her present." Nova said digging into his hoodie pocket.

Everyone watched curiously as he drew out a small box, the type one would fit jewelry in. He handed it over to the blue girl to which she lifted the cover and peered inside... the moment she did her eyes went wide like saucers.

"T-This is...holy shit..." She said in surprise, her potty mouth unintentionally breaking through. Yang bounced up and down in anticipation, "Come on girl don't keep us waiting. What is it?!"

Luna slowly drew out the necklace that was inside. It was a beautifully crafted sapphire pendant with titanium and silver dragons wrapped around the marquise cut gemstone, inside was a shine of cyan blue crystalized ice dust, it looked like a dragon's eye.

"That's incredible…. It's absolutely gorgeous… where in the world…" Weiss was in awe, dumbstruck by the fine craftsmanship of the piece, it looked like it was worth several thousand Lien, maybe even ten thousand given the size of the gemstone and the quality of the cut.

"Where in gods name did you find it, its amazing. Nova you have seriously good taste to pick this out." Blake commented, it was such an incredible sight that she even forgot the tuna before her, even Ruby tore herself away from her cookies to inspect the piece of jewelry.

"Forget where, the question is HOW?! This must've cost a fortune, this is real sapphire, polished titanium and silver, this stuff isn't cheap. Where did you get money to buy this?!" Weiss flailed. The fact that the heiress was completely thrown for a loop by this surprised everyone.

"I didn't buy it…. Well I bought the materials but I figured that nothing at the store matched what I was looking for so I bought some crystallized dust and sapphire and worked it in a forge. It's a bit cruder than I wanted but for my first piece of work it's not bad." He admitted.

"Hey Hex?" Yang asked turning to her girlfriend, she just looked at the blonde curiously. "You think a three-way marriage is legal? I wanna include our leader." Hex smacked her girlfriend over the head. "I won't let anyone else have you!" She yelled and pulled Yang into a restraining hug, away from Nova who just looked terrified at the hissing purplette.

"If you can't have him then can I? You don't mind do you Ruby?" Weiss held the girl's hand, pleading into her eyes.

"W-Why would you need my permission?!"

"I must say I'm impressed Nova. The level of technique and skill you used to craft that is incredible." Pyrrha commented smiling her usual motherly smile. "Hey, why don't you get me stuff like that?" Nora asked turning to Ren who just groaned and face planted the table.

Jaune looked bashful, "Way to set the bar high man... I feel bad for not bringing a gift now..."

"Sorry Jaune, but only the best for my sister."

"Jaune it's fine, really. You didn't know about it... and besides... having you guys as friends? Everyone here? That's the best gift I could ever ask for!" She chirped with a smile that could give a dentist a cavity. Everyone clutched their chests from the adorable cuteness.

Nora hugged the girl, "YOU *sniff* ARE SO *sniff* PRECIOUS!" she said in between sobs. Jaune and Ren felt their sweat drop at the scene.

"Since Weiss and Yang are out of the way... do childhood friends get brownie points?" Blake asked scooting closer to the male dragon to which he just shot her a blank look and held her at distance with a finger. "Sorry I don't date felines." he snickered at her reaction.

Ruby looked absolutely panicked, "NO! He's _MY_ BESTIE!" She cried latching onto Nova's arm which both confused the boy and made him happy that she was defending him.

"STOP! No one is marrying my brother without _MY_ consent!" Luna yelled forcing everyone to back off. "_Chill_ out Luna, I'm only kidding." Weiss smirked as she pointed to the shard of ice dust in the sapphire. "Huh? Come on, that was good right?" she looked around to see everyone else just groan at her failed attempt at pun.

"It's only funny when I do it." Yang said smugly to which everyone simultaneously said, "NO IT'S NOT!"

"I just can't believe you made that!" Ruby's eyes sparkled now turning to the dragon. "Tell me… everything!" she and Nova sparked up a long conversation about gemstone forging and the benefits of dust infusions while the rest of the gang partied it up. Bottles were popped open and soon enough everyone was either buzzed or fully drunk in the case of Yang. Ruby's only reason for remaining sober was that she was too nervous to actually pour one out for herself, and she was too afraid to ask.

* * *

It was probably only an hour or two when everyone was now fully out of it... except Luna and Jaune who either refused or were two scared to touch the stuff. Their friends didn't push them to drink because they respected their decisions. Luna was eagerly chatting away with a hammered Nora and tipsy Weiss while Yang and Hex were dancing with each other. Nitro was eating all the food on the table and Ren looked like he was sober, except that he was more spaced out than usual. Pyrrha stood up talking to Ruby who was humouring the drunk girl.

"Aand like... I couldn't tell him how I felt you knowww? But it worked out!" she said placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She was apparently telling Ruby about her grievances when confessing her feelings to Jaune, which reminded Ruby of her current situation with Nova. The dragon in question was drunkenly playing with his new scales, calling his claws out and retracting them, grinning like an idiot. Ruby spotted the action and giggled, even drunk, he was adorable. Then she saw Yang whisper something to him, before he got up and walked over to her.

"Heeyyyy Reddd." He slurred, clearly drunk. "I wassssss dared by Yang toooo sayyy hi." He stared at her as he held her shoulder at arms length.

"W-w-wah?" She was flustered.

"Hi." He said with a droopy smile that had her reeling in laughter.

"Hey don't make fun of meeeeeeee." He slurred again. Pyrrha took that as her moment to leave, not before winking at Ruby.

"Yang what's this about?" Ruby asked her sister. Yang stumbled up to her, barely coherent, with a red face.

"Dragon- *hiccup* boy needs to *hic* grow a spine…" she stumbled away again for some reason trying to chase Nora.

"What was that about?" She asked Nova who just laughed like a madman and pulled Ruby into a hug. "You're so much fun you know that? Ruby we should really like hang out, like not like before. I wanna hang out as in ah waz dah word…" he began speaking but slowed down to think.

"Like, chilling? Friends? Daring adventures?" Ruby added trying to get him to figure out his own thoughts.

"D, Da, Dah, DATE! Yeah a date!" Nova said still clearly too drunk to fully comprehend himself, having all his inhibitions removed via alcohol he was saying what he really wanted.

"Are you asking me out?!" Ruby asked incredulously.

"YESHHHHHHHHHHH! But not like for the dance... like real date." He slurred.

"I I…" She started to answer but Nova had already waltzed away.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS! HERE'S TO YOU!" He raised his bottle up in the air.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNA!" A resounding roar from the members of the party and a round of applause.

The little girl just blushed and muttered a thanks.

"Here Ruby you should have some of thishhh!" Yang thrust a mug of weird red looking liquid into the young leader's hand.

"Is this alcohol?" She said as she sniffed the strange concoction. It didn't smell like alcohol, rather something she had never smelt before, like a mix of fruits and a scent that sent a sharp kick in the back of her head. She definitely wanted to try this... whatever it was...

"It'shh fine, live a lil!" Yang emphasized as she wobbled. Ruby was hesitant, having never drank before, she didn't like the way it made people incoherent but at the same time it looked fun.

_Well bottoms up._ She thought before downing the entire mug in one fell swoop. This was followed by a resounding "WOOOH!" from Yang, Weiss and Hex.

"I expected you to sip that not down it all! Way to go girl!" Hex commented. Instantly Ruby felt her head get fuzzy and light, her body was slowly becoming numb and she could feel heat rising in her cheeks. It was definitely a new experience for her/

"Heyyy thissh stuff ishnt sho bad… NOVA!" She instantly started slurring which surprised her to the point she started laughing at herself.

The young dragon turned his head. "WAH?!" He said also still tipsy himself.

"DANCSH WIFF ME!" she giggled as she pulled him onto the dance floor.

"Ruby are you drunk?" He asked emphasizing the 'k' sound.

"PFFT nooooo…." She said waving her hand. "DOnnnnnt worry, mee too.. to? ..Two hahaha," He said making a peace sign. The two waltzed to electro music.

"Those two are adorable, when are they going to realize they're made for each other?" Pyrrha said as she leaned back against Jaune, her arms around his chest and his around her shoulders. "It took us a while didn't it?" Jaune laughed.

"ITSHH BEEN KILLING ME!" Yang exclaimed pointing at the two, gesturing at them to the rest of the gang. "Nova hashhh my approvaall, he jussttt needsht to grow a pair."

"Agreed, he really needs to step up his game." Hex said sipping on regular water. She was trying to sober up, apparently she got a notification from her laptop saying it'd just finished decoding the information she'd received back when she visited the CCT Tower with Weiss. It took way longer than expected to decode the information, but now that she had... seeing it now... she'd just have to forward it to Ozpin. Her team didn't need to concern themselves with it right now. That was tomorrow's problem.

"Heeyy how come your not drunk, you've had the same as me." Blake pointed out, slurring a bit as her ears flopped up and down.

"I was quite gone, but I do need to maintain some composure. Besides, who's gonna make sure she's alright?" She gestured to Yang. "Speaking of couples, Nitro, what's your deal with Scarlet?"

Nitro almost spat his drink, "T-There's no deal... we went to the dance together... that's. it. He's cute but the whole emo pirate thing is just not taking to me."

"Well, there are plenty of fish in the _sea_..."

"Really? Even you're doing it now? Yang's getting to you...

"The first time I met Nitro, he tried to make a move on my brother, it was weird seeing this happen. Scarred my innocent young mind," Luna said pretending to faint as she recalled the memory. "It didn't help that Nova isn't completely straight either, pretty sure if Nitro wasn't like a brother to us, those two might have ended up as a thing." she finished.

"WAIT NOVA IS BI?!" This time it was Yang's turn to look stunned.

"Yup," Hex said popping the 'p' sound.

"Oh the possibilities..." Nora said drooling at her own imagination and for some reason, Ren felt a very cold chill run up his spine.

* * *

"Yah know dragon boy, you've got some really sweet moves," Ruby said, acting flirty in her drunken state.

"Whazzat mean?" Nova asked tilting his head. Ruby just reached up and ruffled his hair.

"You fight like a master at armssssss, and you dance like a god." She twirled around him.

He laughed, "Only matched by your gracefulness."

"Shuddup, you're too cute for your own good." She retorted causing him to blush.

The two danced the night away and sadly wouldn't remember half of it when they woke up.

* * *

"Ugh anyone get the plates of the truck that hit me?" Yang said as she groggily sat up in bed. Her yellow mane was sticking up from bed head and she smelled strongly of booze. Weiss was very much awake, looking down sternly at her sleeping friends.

"Come back to sleep, it's too early," a feminine voice arose from next to Yang, she instantly turned red to see Hex curled up next to her in Yang's bed.

"Holy shit I was busy…" Yang muttered before collapsing back next to her girlfriend, leaving the unspoken implications of her sentence hanging in the air.

Weiss rolled her eyes and proceeded to open the windows, golden rays of sunshine pierced through the atmosphere of the room causing everyone to just groan and roll over in their beds.

"Fuck off, it's too bright outside…." Blake clamoured out of the bed to draw the curtains closed.

"Who the fuck…." Luna mumbled, laden with a potty mouth from her rude awakening.

"Seriously has no one noticed that our leader is missing?" Weiss asked, apparently the only coherent one awake.

"She's in the bunk…" Yang lazily pointed to Ruby's bed.

"No….that's Luna…" Weiss stated plainly. Yang looked up to see, low and behold, Luna Flareheart curled up happily in Ruby's bed.

"Then where the hell is Ruby…" Blake asked.

* * *

Team RWBY made their way to the shared kitchen to find, resting on the couches in the common room, were Ruby and Nova, peacefully sleeping, wrapped up in each other's arms.

"Nora… psst hey Nora!" Yang whisper yelled as the orange haired teen walked into the common room.

"Why are we whispering?!" Nora yelled whispered back. Yang just pointed to the two on the couch.

"OOOOH" Nora proceeds to pull a camera from the Nora dimension and snap a picture.

"Nice!" she said a little too loud.

They all clamoured up when they heard the subtle ruffling of clothing. "Ah shit they're awake..." Yang hissed in a whisper.

Nova honestly had never felt this bad ever, his stomach hurt, his head hurt and there was a mysterious weight on top of him.

"Ughhh, fuck I'm never doing that again…" Nova cursed, with extreme effort he opened his eyes and attempted to get up. Yet the mysterious weight held him back down.

"Five more minutes please…." The weight murmured. Nova's eyes lazily drifted downward to see that Ruby Rose had somehow managed to fall asleep on top of him... again.

_If this becomes a habit, I wouldn't really mind…_ he thought. He was about to poke her cheek/pet her head until she awoke but a loud AHEM! Was heard.

His head whipped up fast enough to give him vertigo. "YANG!" he exclaimed, at this point he felt too groggy to even try to justify his situation. Nova poked Ruby's cheek repeatedly. "Yo, Red, it happened again."

"Hmmm…. Ugh… huh?" she raised her hair sleepily, her hair now sticking up and her eyelids droopy.

"Morning Nova…NOVA?!" She instantly bolted up.

"Looks like you two fell asleep on the couch after last night." Blake said as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I don't really remember much…" Ruby said sheepishly.

"Yeah that's because you drank like a pirate!" Nora said fist pumping.

"Uhhhuh…." Ruby rubbed her arm.

"You probably don't remember dancing the entire night together then?" Weiss asked with a sly smirk.

"WHAT?!" Ruby and Nova turned red and looked at each other back and forth. They were both too tired to move yet the mere thought that they'd shared a few moments together that they didn't even remember made them flustered. Weiss had to wonder just how dense were they to each other's feelings?

"Yeah you were stuck to each other like glue, couldn't pry you apart at all." Yang said getting into the taunting, she pulled out a picture on her scroll of the two leaders dancing on the club floor, Ruby's head resting on Nova's chest and his head on hers. Both teens wished to crawl in a hole and disappear, they couldn't muster the willpower to even look at each other now. Weiss just rolled her eyes, "Really you two look so happy like that... and you're gonna tell me you _don't _like each other?"

"I... Uh... we...don't.." they simultaneously began sputtering, unsure of how to proceed with this interrogation.

"FUCKIN' HOOK UP ALREADY!" came the outcry of, not Yang, not Nora, nor Blake, but Luna. All eyes in the room locked on to the blue girl who just stood there smiling awkwardly. "Whoops… too loud…ehehe…" she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Did anyone know she could curse?" Weiss asked perplexed.

"She has outburst sometimes," Nova said shrugging his shoulders, leaving the rest of his friends to wonder just what terrifying secrets was the small blue girl holding.

"Rrriighhht…. Well I'm gonna take a shower…" Yang said completely dumbstruck. The other members of RWBY followed suit leaving Luna, Ruby, Nova and Nora alone in the room.

"Hey didn't Nova ask you out last night?" Nora pointed at Ruby, recalling her observations between the two.

"Uhh…. Did I?" Nova blushed, he tried and failed at failing to remember.

"Yeah…" Luna said smiling devilishly. She folded her arms and looked accusingly at her brother.

"What was your answer?" Nova asked not looking at her.

"Um…" Ruby started but they were interrupted when everyone got a simultaneous beep from their scrolls.

"Hold that thought, looks like Ozpin wants to see us…" Luna said.

"Yeah grab everyone," He nodded to Ruby.

"Huh I didn't get…" Nora said but everyone was already gone, "a message…"

"Sorry Nora, team ASHNRWBY only!" Nova said with a salute out of the doorway

* * *

**Short chapter I know... but this was mostly just filler before unveil the next arc, the next big turning point in the fic.**

**Special mention to KawaiiMomoko-chan for all the constant positivity. It really means alot to actually 'hear' someone enjoying my work. (^_^ )**

**That extends to everyone else who's enjoying this fic. Even if you aren't saying it, just reading and enjoying it is enough. Just seeing the readers and new people following/favouriting, y'all are amazing. The positive feedback makes me unbelievably happy 3**


	18. Chapter 18: Mount Glenn

**Chapter 18: This Town Could Really Use A Remodelling**

* * *

**-Ozpin's office-**

The members of ASHNRWBY aligned themselves in front of Ozpin, they had to come up the elevator in batches, perhaps in hindsight getting everyone together before coming was a bad idea.

"What's the deal Oz, we've only been out of mission for a week and you're already calling on us? What's up with that?" Nova said folding his arms. He was rather annoyed, all he wanted was to go to class like a normal fire breathing prince of dragons, but everything seemed to want to stop him. Seriously, could he just go, one full month, without some incident dragging him and his friends into mortal danger.

"Trust me I don't like this any more than you do but it's important." Ozpin said with his arms folded across his chin in his usual pose.

"Oz, I appreciate the help you gave us last time, but I figured we'd upheld our end of the bargain, my team and I aren't here to fight your battles." Nova retorted. He was grateful to Ozpin for allowing them to stay, but becoming the headmaster's pet wasn't on his agenda. He needed to establish their standing before the authority got carried away.

"I understand that, but coincidentally your interests and mine overlap." Ozpin countered with a smile. He'd been expecting the rebuttal from the young dragon, the leader's dislike for authoritative figures...despite being one himself... was all too predictable.

"It has to do with Onyx." Randolf said as he and Qrow stepped out of the elevator, both clad in their signature looks, except Wulf wasn't wearing his white fur coat, but a long silver tailcoat with an armoured guard around his right arm. "Sorry we're late, someone here refused to move off the couch." He pointed at Qrow who just took a swig from his flask and chuckled, "Mornin' kids," Qrow said groggily. His hair stood up in ends and it looked like he slept in those clothes.

"What about Onyx?" Nova and Luna both asked simultaneously, trying to get back to the matter at hand. All traces of joking had left their faces.

"While I was out in the field digging up clues, I found some rather interesting information, coupled with the information Miss Magenta sent us... we've managed to pinpoint the location of our enemy." Wulf said folding his arms. All eyes in the room turned to Hex. "It seems Onyx himself is holed up not too far from here. We were a bit skeptical about the information since there was no way to tell our 'informant' was telling the truth... but when we saw that all the decoded call logs from the CCT Tower were routed all to one specific location, it fit. Heavy White Fang activity around the outskirts, shipments of cargo and unknown crates being delivered to one place… Mount Glenn." Randolf pushed up his glasses.

Nova shot Hex a look that said, 'Why didn't you alert me first?' to which she just responded, "Sorry cap'n, you were rather... out of it... and it was high priority information..."

Ozpin raised his eyebrow at the interaction, "Out of it?"

Nova instantly turned red, along with everyone else in the room, "T-That's not important right now... what's important is the current situation."

"Yeah old man, what do you want from us?" Yang asked gesturing to everyone, this mission again, sounded like it was required for professional huntsmen, and she'd rather not see her friends in a similar state to what Nova was in the last time they went out.

"Well firecracker, we need your joint team to run a covert op' at Mount Glenn, we can't send soldiers because they're too conspicuous. In terms of available professional huntsmen... there are none we trust to handle this information." Qrow said after taking another drink from his flask.

"Can you not drink right now? This is serious!" Wulf berates his friend but Qrow just waves him off.

"Okay... so will you be accompanying us again?" Luna asked looking hopeful that she'd get to spend another field mission with her beloved uncle. The older man just chuckled and tussled her hair, "Sorry blue, I've got my own solo mission to run."

"If you're not going with us then who will?" Ruby voiced in looking to Ozpin.

"Well, it is that time of the semester where student teams will be shadowing professional huntsmen in their line of work, it is a form of apprenticeship of sorts. No doubt questions will be asked as to why team ASHNRWBY are the only ones not following suit. In accordance, you will be shadowing Dr. Oobleck and a specialist from Atlas," Ozpin informed the team.

"Specialist from Atlas? Who in the world?" Weiss asked.

"I believe you are very familiar... That being said, I expect you to act professionally on the field. I feel the need to say this, given the err...relationship between your leaders..." Ozpin said coughing into his hand. Everyone just stared at two snickering behind their hands.

This caused Nova and Ruby to blush madly, "AH SIR NO! WE AREN'T LIKE THAT!" they both tried to defend simultaneously.

"Oh, well I do apologize, I thought you were given, how close you two seem," Ozpin admitted.

"See! Even Ozpin thinks you two should hook up," Hex giggled, jabbing her elbow into Nitro's side causing the boy to flinch away.

"What was that?" Nova asked feigning to ignorance as he looked on at his friends.

"Nothin' cap!" Hex snickered. Yang just high fived her girlfriend.

Nova didn't like the idea of putting his friends' lives in danger for their sake... Nitro, Hex, RWBY, they have nothing to gain from this yet they're being forced to fight.

"Nova, I know what I signed up for when I wanted to be a huntress. We made our choice long ago, when we decided to become your friends. We're with you 'til the end, this is our fight now to." she said as if reading his mind. He just blinked in surprise, "But Ruby..."

"No buts! We will not be accepting any posteriors here! We're all a team, we fight _together_." She said emphasizing the word with a fist triumphant fist to the sky. Nova just smiled warmly, "Well... not like I could stop you anyway."

Randolf elbowed Qrow, "Seems our young protege and your niece are..."

"Would make a good couple? In love with each other? I've known since our first mission, I'm not even a Faunus and I can smell the pheromones these two are giving off. The only ones who can't see it are themselves." Qrow snorted, he was trying to keep his voice low so they didn't hear him. Ozpin watched the two leaders interact curiously, he had to wonder if being a dragon made the individual's skull thicker than it needed to be.

"Alright, when do we start?" The dragon leader relented, turning back to the headmaster.

"Today actually, you are to pack up and head straight to Mt. Glenn, you will receive contact and rendezvous as you see fit, Dr. Oobleck and Winter Schnee will be accompanying you as I mentioned previously," Ozpin said as he laid out the information.

"MY SISTER IS COMING?!" Weiss said a little too loudly, sending a buzz through everyone's ear. The two dragons and the cat in the room flinched from the sudden increase in volume.

"Ah yes, I do believe I forgot to mention it. Ms Schnee was recommended directly by the good general." Ozpin admitted. This left Weiss stunned.

"Well this is going to be interesting…" Nova thought.

* * *

**-RWBY Dorm-**

"I can't believe we're being sent out on a mission barely two weeks after we just got back!" Weiss fumed as she face planted onto her bed. "And to make matters worse... my sister is going to be here..." her voice was muffled by her pillow.

The rest of RWBY, and AS followed in. "Got something against your sister Weiss?" Luna asked sitting on the bed with her petting her back. Weiss instantly shot up, "Against her?! NO! It's just that... she's always so busy, and I never really see her... and she has all these expectations..."

"Oh so Ice Princess has a sister complex... that actually explains a lot..." Nova said smirking at the red heiress. "N-No! I just... greatly admire her." She refuted.

"Well I know what'll cheer you guys up... well... more or less just me and Ruby." Yang said zipping in. They all turned to see her holding a small brown cylinder. "MAIL FROM DAD!"

Ruby squealed with delight, "OOOH SOMETHING FROM HOME! OPEN IT! OPEN ITTT!"

Everyone leaned in curiously as Yang opened the brown cylinder and emptied its contents. They weren't really sure _what _they were expecting but it certainly wasn't a black roll of... fluff? And it was moving?

"What is..." Nova started but stopped himself when the roll on the floor let out an 'ARF!'. They all watched incredulously as it unfurled into what appeared to be a black, grey and white coated corgi.

"ZWEI!" Ruby squealed picking up the dog.

"He sent a dog?!" Blake asked looking rather, annoyed.

"Oh he does stuff like this all the time!" Yang said as if this was completely normal.

"Your father... or your dog?" Nova asked curiously, eyeing the puppy who just looked at him absolutely enamoured. Instantly Zwei jumped off of Ruby and landed on Nova and began licking him profusely. "AW! HE LIKES YOU!" Ruby squealed watching Nova struggle under the raw power of the boot sized hairball. "Dog...saliva... too... powerful..." He choked out before fake dying.

"Oh look it came with a letter..." Yang said as she unfurled a piece of paper that floated out of the cylinder. "

"Dear girls, I've got to leave the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei to you. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both- Taiyang" the blonde said before holding out the cylinder and shaking it. Out popped an absolute mountain of canned dog food that realistically looked impossible to fit inside.

"What is he supposed to do with all that?" Weiss asked curiously, just as a can opener fell onto the pile, like the last drop of a pipe. "Oh..."

"So... we have a dog now?" Luna asked getting up and carefully approaching the corgi. The dog curiously looked at her before waddling up and licking her hands. The blue girl just gushed with joy and petted him on the head.

"You mean to tell me this mangy... drooling... mutt... Is going to wiv wif us foweva? Who's a good boy! It's you! Yes it's you!" Everyone just looked appalled at Weiss' sudden change in demeanor with her speech devolving into baby speak. She did have a weakness for the small and cute after all.

"Do whatever, just keep him AWAY from my stuff...and me." Blake said shrinking away into her bunk... in the corner... hissing.

Nova was confused for a moment before it clicked, "Oh right. Cats and Dogs... that's actually hilarious." He said before snickering.

"What're we supposed to do with him? We can't just leave him here while we're gone for a week..." Weiss pointed out.

"We don't really have a choice... it's not like we can take him with us. Come on we need to head to the amphitheatre for our briefing with the rest of the school. Zwei will be here when we get back!" Yang said beckoning everyone to follow her out.

Ruby lingered back and so did Nova as a result. She eyed the dog carefully. "Ruby... don't you dare..."

She just shot him a shit eating grin. "I have an idea..."

"No you don't. Zwei will be here... please do not do what I think you're going to do..."

"Try and stop me!"

* * *

**-Airship Landing Zone-**

Team ASHNRWBY were all lined up with their bags prepped, standing in formation at the airship dock, awaiting their guides. "So... how long are they going to make us..." Nitro left the rest of the sentence hanging since everyone understood the unspoken words.

"AHA! The infamous joint team ASHNRWBY, I hope you're all prepared?" Dr. Oobleck's voice pierced the air as the blur of green whizzed past them, spinning everyone in the process. They all just stood dizzy and wobbly, "We're all...here and...accounted for..." Ruby said raising her index finger to the air, though her voice was shaking from dizziness.

"EXCELLENT! Now you won't be needing those bags people, since you've opted to shadow a huntsman on what's essentially a reconnaissance mission, we will NOT be establishing a single base of operations, rather we will be traversing the hazardous wasteland and making camp at any suitable location we may happen upon. I've taken the liberty of packing all our essentials in the air ship." The green haired doctor spoke rather quickly... too quickly, one had to wonder if he was in need of decaf.

"Professor Oobleck is correct. Those bags won't be quite necessary. I've ensured we have ample means to proceed..." A mature feminine voice said. They all turned around to see an woman who looked like an older version of Weiss step forward. She was wearing a standard white Atlas military uniform and had her hair tied in a neat bun, a single strang falling onto her face. Her eyes were the same piercing blue and like all Schnees, had sparkling white hair.

"SISTER!" Weiss exclaimed rather loudly, bolting herself at attention.

"Greetings to you to Weiss. Is this the team you've told me so much about? And the leaders?" She eyed Nova and Ruby carefully. The two leaders stood at attention as well, out of pure instinct, and stiffly nodded. "They don't look like much... strangely these two have hair like the Schnees..." She gestured to Nova and Luna who quirked their eyebrows, unsure how to respond to the specialist.

"COME QUICKLY CHILDREN! According to my schedule we are... three minutes behind schedule!" Oobleck zoomed onto the ship faster than Ruby's semblance. Winter followed suit.

"Come on guys... this won't be so bad... we're going to save the world with Winter Schnee and...doctor Oobleck... yeah now that I say it out loud it sounds ridiculous..." Ruby said leaning onto her knees.

"It'll be fine, we have the esteemed Winter Schnee on board with us." Nova said as he patted his crush's shoulder.

* * *

The flight to Mt. Glenn was rather interesting. While seemingly not out of the ordinary, Weiss spent the entire ride glued to her older sister's side. Nova had to admit, he had met the elder Schnee briefly before but this was their first real interaction. Supposedly the only person who was allowed bags was Hex, and that was due to the mass of equipment she had to carry around for recon. Nova on the other hand was still showing strange behaviours, though they were few and far between, like him wanting to carry three different soaps and shampoos on the trip and frequently asking himself if he needed makeup… which he never used.

"Tell me, team leaders," Winter said garnering the attention of Ruby and Nova. Both teams sat around a rather large conference table in the airship. "What are your plans of strategy, remember this is a recon mission, observe and report, engagement with the enemy is to be kept minimal if not completely avoided." Winter eyed the two young leaders.

Nova could feel her thoughts, she assessed them as being inexperienced and too young to understand the true extent of the battlefield. Dr. Oobleck on the other hand took a swig from his thermos and leaned in, pushing up his glasses, "Yes do pray tell Mr. Flareheart, team RWBY I am familiar with, your team on the other hand is quite the mystery... and now that you're all a joint team... I'm even more intrigued."

"First of all, Hex came equipped with untraceable radio receivers, sonar mapping and signal scramblers, essentially on the communications grid we are ghosted. Luna and I are fully equipped for stealth operations, we were trained as assassins before we became huntsmen in training. We are fully capable of tactical espionage." He leaned back into his chair looking Winter directly in the eye, Ruby just observed the two nervously as she could feel the tension between them.  
"Nitro isn't built for getting in and getting out unseen, he is reliable but not very stealthy. He can create a solid diversion and enough chaos to be a failsafe should things go wrong." Nova finished gesturing to the red headed teen.

"My tech is fool proof and reliable in case you were wondering, made 'em myself." Hex said proudly displaying her various gadgets.

Nitro flexed his gauntlets, "I might not be the quietest person here, but I can sure as hell cause damage." He said with a smile and a fist pump.

"Do we fit your needs Misss Specialist?" Nova gave her a solid glare, as if challenging her. Winter just chuckled, a rare occurrence to any Schnee, Weiss was especially flabbergasted. They made her sister... _THE _Winter Schnee... laugh. That was it for her, she'd thoroughly lost as a sister.

"Impressive, I'll take your word for it. Ozpin told me you were good, he showed me your records. I have to admit, four successful field missions, no casualties, no failures or severe injuries and you even stuck to time limits." Winter said impressed. Weiss just continued to gawk, "Dear sister you should close your mouth... you'll catch flies." Winter said causing everyone to snicker at the heiress' expense.

"WHA?! B-BUT YOU…YOU NEVER COMPLIMENT ANYONE!" Weiss pointed accusingly while Yang just snickered.

"Looks like someone's jealous," the blonde said smugly.

"Shut up…" Weiss sulked. Nova felt bad for his friend, she did seem to be trying her best to impress her sister but all attempts were in vain. He was just thankful his sibling was kind and caring.

"While I do appreciate the praise, Miss Schnee, you are wrong in one department," he said folding his arms. Winter raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You said no severe injuries, but we did have near fatal ones," Nova said pointing to his eye, where the three clawed marks ran down.

"Ah yes the Phantom, I've heard the rumours but this is the first time I've met someone with actual proof." She said intrigued, her hand on her chin looking thoughtful. "Tell me, is there any truth to the rumors?"

"Tall, ghostly, fades in and out of the shadows like it was never there, similar to a Geist, long three clawed hands and a scream that sounds like hell itself? Yeah those are all true. What they don't tell you is its face looks like a human skull with a tooth missing on its left upper jaw. The mask is strange as it can actually move… I saw it briefly before it took my eye but I can't forget it." Nova said bitterly.

"I knew all those years without your eye was rough on you..." Ruby said reaching up to touch his face. He leaned into her hand, to which Winter noted with scrutiny.

"Phantoms aside, I would hope you all remain strictly professional throughout this mission." Winter said glaring at Hex who was currently hugging Yang from behind.

The two in question instantly broke off embarrassed, "One hundred percent! you can count on it!" Yang said with a fist pump, referring to herself and Hex. Winter just rolled her eyes.

* * *

On the ground things were a bit different than what team RWBY had expected, ASHN already knew the state of the land, having done detailed research on Vale prior to their arrival. The broken buildings that perpetuated the never-ending grey landscape of what was once a thriving city gave off an eerie and unsettling image. Broken houses, collapsed stores and various other relics of a time when the city was once booming with life. The mere thought that people lived here sent a creeping uneasiness through everyone's minds. Such were the destructive capabilities of the Grimm.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you may still be students but as of this moment onward, this is your second mission as huntsmen, and err huntresses." Oobleck started, his coffee ever present in his hands.

"Correct, from this point you are to listen to the two of us and do precisely as we say. Am I clear?" Winter said folding her arms and looking on at the young students sternly.

"Crystal clear, cap'n cold!" Nitro said, though, the last part a little softer so Winter didn't hear over the roar of the bullhead engine.

Hex and Yang just snickered while Nova rolled his eyes, "Would it kill you two to at least behave somewhat professional?".

"Sorry fearless leader, it's in our nature to be like this." Yang said as she fist bumped her girlfriend. Winter was about to berate them for getting sidetracked when Ruby's backpack rustled.

Blake, Nova and Luna instantly whipped their heads in the direction of Ruby. Their noses perked picking up a VERY familiar smell. Nova had completely forgotten Ruby packed the local canine unit.

"Ruby Rose…. You didn't…." Luna said a little disappointed.

"Young lady, that bag is awfully big, didn't I specifically instruct you leave all your major bags on the bullhead and walk with only what is necessary?" Oobleck asked angrily.

"Well you didn't tell us to listen to you yet so…I didn't." Ruby said trying to hide her guilt.

"She's not wrong…" Oobleck muttered to himself.

"Ruby you should leave that behind it will just slow you down," Winter instructed but the young leader refused. "What could you possibly have in that bag that…" Winter started but was interrupted when Zwei's head popped out it.

"Get back in the bag!" Ruby hush whispered.

"Young lady we are on a highly dangerous mission to explore enemy territory and you brought… a DOG?!" Oobleck asked rather loudly. This made Ruby rub her arm in shame and everyone flinch expecting her to get reprimanded.

"GENIUS!" Oobleck exclaimed as he zipped forward and picked up the corgi. "SERIOUSLY?!" Everyone said in surprise at the huntsman's actions.

"Canines are most notably known for their excellent hearing and sense of smell, GENIUS!" he reiterated.

Ruby was a little disoriented for a few moments but instantly recovered, giving herself a thumbs up, "That's right I'm a genius!". ASHNWBY just simultaneously face palmed.

"As you all know the south east area has been marked as a severe hotspot for activity. There are several speculations as to why this is but the primary cause is most likely, Grimm." Oobleck started speaking rapidly.

"Uhh… what?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Well there is a Grimm, approximately a hundred yards from where we are." Winter noted.

"Couldn't we have started with that?" Nitro asked scratching his head, while the rest of the team readied their weapons.

"Wait, stay your weapons. There are a number of reasons why a Grimm would congregate in a specific area. Most of it is due to the negative emotions, emotions which our hidden adversaries are most likely harbouring." Oobleck stated, pushing up his glasses.

"So… what do we do?" Yang asked now even more confused.

"We wait, and observe it. Track it. It could lead us to its pack and in turn our prey" Winter concluded, reading the situation.

"Precisely." Oobleck responded.

"So… how long will this take?" Hex piped in.

"No one knows, it could be hours, days, weeks? Lone Grim have been known to stay isolated from their pack for uncertain amounts of time…. And there's the whole pack" Oobleck looked on.

"HUH?!" Nova exclaimed, now quite alarmed.

"Aaand now they've spotted us." Oobleck noted.

"WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE! Prepare to engage!" Winter yelled organizing the group.

Team RWBY accompanied by Oobleck took down half the pack while ASHN and Winter took the other half.

Three beowolves jumped for Ruby but she quickly ducked under using her semblance and carved them a new one. Weiss made beowolf popsicles while Yang and Nova made smores.

Nitro, Hex and Blake barely did anything as after a beowolf pounced and dirtied Luna's favourite cloak, she unleashed her battle axe and quite literally pummelled and lacerated every single one of the Grimm. The scene was so horrendous even Winter got chills looking at the mass murdering little girl.

"…. Well done everyone, we have a small ways before we get to the first checkpoint so saddle up and move out." Oobleck instructed trying to keep a straight face while looking at the blood covered blue dragon.

"Did he just say… saddle up?" Yang asked.

"Indeed I did Ms. Xialong." He responded making everyone just shrug, Zwei on the other hand happily hopped onto the doctor's backpack and hitched a ride the entire way.

During the scouting and scanning, Oobleck took each member of team ASHNRWBY separately and asked them a single question. Winter took on ASHN while Oobleck split off with RWBY.

* * *

**-With RWBY-**

"Tell me, Ms. Xiaolong, why did you choose to become a huntress?" he asked almost out of the blue as they scouted around the various ruins of the concrete jungle, narrowly ducking under steel beams and breaking through thin debris walls.

The blonde brawler turned around confused, "Uh… so I could fight monsters and…."

"No! That is what you do! I want to know your reasoning, why you chose this path." Oobleck stated.

"Oh… uh, well if I'm being honest, I'm a thrill seeker. I want to travel the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I possibly can…. And if I help people along the way then that's great." She responded finally with a smile.

"I see, marvellous. And you Ms. Schnee, what say you? Why did you choose to become a huntress?" the professor continued. "A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself shouldn't need the extra work. So why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"

"Just as you said, I'm a Schnee. I have a level of honour to uphold. When I found out I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question as to what I would do with my life." Weiss responded, rather stiffly.

"Interesting, and now you Blake, you seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose" He continued his line of questioning.

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption… I can't just stand by and do nothing, someone has to stop it." The girl in black responded.

"Very well… how?" Oobleck asked, to which the girl just looked down.

"I…" she as at a loss for words unsure of how to respond to him.

* * *

**-With team ASHN-**

"You all know me, at least somewhat remotely, yet I know nothing of you." Winter began trying to make conversation, to which Nitro snorted.

"The great Winter Schnee suddenly wants to 'get to know us'. Alright, I'll bite, whatcha wanna know?" Nitro quirked his eyebrow turning to their senior officer.

"Nitro, at ease. She is simply carrying out her job in the field, as an officer she is to be respected." Nova said sternly to which Nitro begrudgingly nodded, Winter took note of the level of authority the dragon leader commanded. The Zephyrs and the Schnees had a bitter history.

"Ahem, yes, I wish to know what drives you to be huntsmen. What made you choose the path you now walk?" She asked Nitro first.

"That's an interesting question. Well, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I'm a Zephyr. As in Zephyr Security. My family wanted at least one of their kids to be a huntsman and it just so happened that I didn't want to be part of the family business. Exploring the world is a dream of mine and I intend to do it on my own terms." He said.

"I thought your name sounded familiar, but I did not wish to draw rash conclusions. I find it quite admirable you chose the path you did, and I certainly hope that the bad history between our families does not cloud the mission." Winter said staring Nitro in the eye.

The tall boy nodded, "I don't know the details of what happened in the past, nor do I care to continue that string of hatred. We are just two soldiers on the field fighting for the same cause."

Winter was very impressed by his maturity, and willingness to look past bad history, a trait many of our world leaders could do with. "Good, now Miss Magenta," she said turning to the purple haired girl.

"I was adopted by Nitro's parents. They picked me up off the streets, and while they were wonderful people, their line of work just wasn't for me. When Nitro decided he was leaving to be a huntsman, I saw it as my opportunity as well, and we left." Hex said without a hint of regret in her voice.

"Quite interesting…" Winter pondered on the girl's words. "But why do_ you _want to be a huntress?"

Hex sighed before speaking, "I was an orphan, a street rat. I made money by working for gangs. There were tons of kids just like me, all doing the same thing just to survive. All of their parents were gone because of the same reason." She paused letting it sink into Winter's mind what she was saying. "They were all orphaned because of Grimm. If I can make a difference in this world, by protecting people from the Grimm, then maybe there will be kids who get to live happy lives because their parents didn't die by the hands of a Beowolf or an Ursa." She concluded.

"That's... very noble of you." Winter said in awe. Hex just brushed it off, "Thanks."

In reality, Hex and Nitro's reasonings were only half truths. The secret family business of the Zephyrs was undercover infiltration and espionage. Becoming huntsmen was just a means of training Hex and Nitro into becoming capable of toppling crime syndicates, but all that changed when the Nova and Luna fell into their lives... and their world became a lot wider... and dangerous.

"And now you Luna, what is your reasoning?" Winter turned to the small girl in blue.

"M-me?" Luna stammered out, she had never given her goals much thought, she took this path because she followed her older brother, because this was what she was trained to do. It was all she knew.

"I believe you are familiar with our past," she said gesturing to Nova, "As I'm sure Ozpin has already briefed you on our circumstances." Luna spoke with seriousness, unlike her original nervousness. "I chose this path because I follow my brother, but more importantly, to take revenge on the man that ruined our lives." she said with conviction.

Winter was taken aback by the sheer venom dripping from the smaller girl's voice, the words of revenge were uttered out as if just saying them held power.

"…. Ahem yes, a solid cause indeed." Winter said as she hurriedly tried to wrap up their excursion.

"Aren't you going to ask me now?" Nova quirked his eyebrow looking at the elder Schnee.

Winter folded her arms, "Unless there's something different, I believe your motive lies in the same boat as your sister correct?"

Nova felt a little embarrassed, "That's correct... but more importantly I have a new reason now."

Winter was interested, "Do tell."

"To rescue my parents."

* * *

"Team ASHNRWBY you set up camp in that building. Your leaders and I will be doing reconnaissance." Dr. Oobleck instructed, tossing the camp equipment to the WBYSHN.

"Aye, Professor…" Nova responded scratching his head and looking to Ruby for clarity but she to was confused.

"I will remain with the team to ensure nothing happens," Winter said as she accompanied the rest of the party into the nearby building.

Ruby and Nova followed Oobleck through the abandoned concrete jungle. Nova couldn't help but note the cryptic yet strangely appealing aesthetic the environment had. The ruined buildings and empty lots gave off an unsettling feeling, as though it were more than a simple attack that forced people to abandon this place, it was a tragedy. Suddenly Oobleck signaled for a halt and directed his finger toward the distance.

"Ruby, Nova, tell me, what do you see." The caffeinated scientist asked.

Ruby peered into the distance with a pair of binoculars and gasped. A herd of Grimm, monstrous in size, large tusks protruding from their faces, a long trunk hanging down like an elephant.

"What are those? Grimm?" Ruby asked, attempting to hand the Binoculars over to Nova, but he declined. After receiving the nanomachine mutations, his eyesight was much akin to that of a real dragon, sharp and precise.

"Goliaths. Am I correct Professor?" Nova folded his arms and observed.

"Quite correct Mr. Flareheart. Grimm that size have lived for hundreds maybe thousands of years. They possess near-human levels of intelligence, perhaps the older ones even more. And it's Doctor." Oobleck corrected.

"So we kill it." Ruby said cocking her Crescent Rose.

"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do little than to irritate those beasts," Oobleck stated lowering her weapon.

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked confused now,

"Leave them be, they aren't bothering anyone and even if we were to engage we would all most certainly die. Choose your fights wisely Ms. Rose" Oobleck said starting to sound like Ozpin.

"The main reason for this reconnaissance was to confirm somethings." Oobleck pushed up his glasses.

"Huh?" Nova hummed in curiousity.

"Ruby Rose, tell me, why is it you chose to become a huntress?" Oobleck asked the young leader.

"Well… When I was a kid, my mom used to read stories to me about heroes who upheld justice and protected the weak from the Grimm. I wanted to be like that, but mostly I wanted to help build a world of peace." Ruby said after much thought.

"Admirable goal, I respect that. Do know that what you are stating is difficult and you need to be willing to work toward it, no matter the cost." The older man said. "Mr. Flareheart, what possessed you to become a Huntsman?"

Nova inhaled long and deep. "That is a rather weighted question Doctor. One which I believed I answered to Miss Schnee" He said folding his arms.

"Yes I am quite aware, but something tells me that's not the whole truth. So I want to hear it from you, directly. why?"

"I didn't choose to be a huntsman, and I can say the same for Luna when I say, neither of us chose to become huntsmen. We took this path because we had no better option. We chose the path of survival, the path that would help us achieve our goals, at least my goals. My dear sister is dragged with me but that's just how things go for us. We were thrown into a mess against our wills and we sought to make the best of our situation. This may sound selfish but it is the truth." Nova said leaning against the cold concrete of a building.

Ruby stared at him, sympathy in her eyes. She never realized that becoming a huntsman was never a choice that he made, it was the only choice he was given, and if risking one's life daily was the best option available, then she didn't want to consider his alternatives.

"Quite int-" Oobleck started but Nova interrupted.

"However," The young leader said, "After meeting Hex, Nitro, my friends here at Beacon and most importantly… Ruby," he turned to the girl who blushed at the special mention.

"I realized that, being a huntsman didn't need to mean that I was limited to just surviving all the time. Being a huntsman could be whatever I want it to be, so to me, it means that I can make the world a better place for not just myself, but for my sister, my friends and those I have grown to care for. The relationships I've made, I want to see them flourish in a bright future. I want to make that future possible, that is why I REMAIN a huntsman." Nova finished.

Ruby looked on sparkles in her eyes, filled to the brim with a newfound admiration for her fellow leader.

"Very impressive Mr. Flareheart. I didn't think there were any students your age who possessed this level of maturity. One thing I am quite curious about, if you will permit me to ask." Oobleck leaned into the boy's personal space.

Nova backed off unconsciously, "Uh Sure…"

"Why is your team named ASHN, when your names go as NLHN(Nylon)?" Oobleck asked curiously. They were given the option to rename their team by Ozpin, since their real names were out in the open now.

"Um… well when we entered Beacon, we chose our own middle names as our aliases. So while the name isn't using our first names it is still viable. It does have a deeper meaning if that's what you're asking." Nova raised an eyebrow at Oobleck who just nodded for him to continue.

"All the members of team ASHN have once tasted the good life, had it turn into nothingness before them. All of us have experienced something in our lives that burnt all we knew to the ground, but we kept going. Each one of us, made the choice to get back up and push forward, but no matter where we go or what we do, the ashes of our past will follow us, the mistakes we made and the hardships we faced are layered into our beings, like a second skin. We wear our past as a reminder of what we work to prevent. We are ashen." Nova finally said.

"That was… incredible." Ruby said in awe. His reasoning was heroic, it sounded like the manifesto out of a book.

"Outstanding Mr. Flareheart. I believe in the future you will both be a fine huntsman." Oobleck smiled, for once.

* * *

**This arc is going to be rather long, at least longer than last time. Some more backstory and exposition to come. Stay awesome everyone 3**


	19. Chapter 19: Down The Rabbit Hole

**Chapter 19: That's A Pretty Big Hole**

* * *

Back at the campsite, the rest of the team members were sitting around talking at a makeshift campfire. Weiss desperately attempting to woo her sister with tails of her exploits while Hex and Yang were sitting next to each other in a desperate attempt to keep the PDAs to a minimum.

"Hey fearless leaders, anything interesting happen while you were out?" Nitro asked as the two entered the area, Oobleck left the team alone while he studied their maps pinpointing locations of interest.

"A herd of Goliath class Grimm several clicks southeast. They aren't posing a threat to our operation nor are we going to engage them unless necessary." Nova said rather stiffly, his combat senses were still on a high. Every inch of this city smelled like death and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he wasn't on the move.

"That's not what I meant cap'n. Ease up a little will yah?" Nitro responded rolling his eyes.

"Not what you meant…. Huh?... Oh… OH!... NO!" Nova responded pinching the bridge of his nose, leaving a confused Ruby.

"Professor Oobleck was with us the whole time so it's not like anything would happen…." He muttered quietly hoping no one heard but Yang grew a smirk.

"So, what you're saying is you WANTED something to happen?" She wiggled her eyebrows causing Hex to snicker.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked still confused.

"How you Nova wanted you two to start dating." Luna broke in from the back, the small girl hung out her cloak and let her shining silver hair loose, the streaks of neon blue almost glowing in the firelight.

"LUNA NOT YOU TO?!" The two leaders started sputtering causing everyone in the room to groan at their denial. Their consistent refusal to admit their feelings for each other was getting old, if they didn't change things up soon, Luna was pretty sure she'd just kidnap them and lock them in a room alone.

"So… anyone got any stories to try and pass the time? It's still twilight and I believe Winter wants us on watch rotations so…." Nitro started opening up the floor, Ruby and Nova sat down near the fire next to each other but a healthy distance apart.

"What kinda stores?" Yang asked suddenly interested.

"OH! I Got one," Weiss piped up causing everyone's gaze to turn to her.

"Where did you come from I thought you were with your sister?" Blake asked raising an eyebrow.

"Winter called me a boob and left to speak to Oobleck about watch rotations." Weiss shrugged. Yang snickered at the mention of the word boob causing Hex to smack her over the head for her childish behaviour.

"What's the story?" Luna asked very interestedly, she looked up to Weiss and Ruby as older sisters even though she and Ruby were the same age.

"The first day I met Ruby, we were on the bullhead to Beacon. She literally exploded." Weiss laughed remembering. "HEY! That wasn't my fault, you were the one that shoved fire dust in my face!" the leader yelled.

"You inhaled fire dust?" Nova asked raising an eyebrow, turning his gaze to the girl sitting on his right.

"Yeah…. I sneezed pretty hard and nearly blew us off the ship." Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly.

"And let's not forget at the entrance exam you literally dropped in on me. Then had me drop from a giant nevermore…" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You rode a nevermore…. And jumped off…" Luna asked in wonder.

"Yeah well… I also ripped its head off." Ruby smiled as if that sentence was the cheeriest thing in the world.

"SO COOL!" Luna marvelled, imagining Ruby and Weiss as some sort of superhero team jumping off the bird.

Weiss ruffles the younger girl's hair. "What about you guys, anything interesting?"

"That's all there is?" the purplette asked the heiress. "You aren't very good at telling stories."

Weiss just turned up her nose, "If you think you're any better why not tell one yourself?"

"I got one," Nova said raising his hand. "You have a lot…" Nitro adds as if trying to recall some imaginary list.

"Yeah well, we've been through a lot. When Luna and I first started off Haven academy and got paired up with team THRN, Nitro used to give me a lot of shit. I didn't start off as the person you guys know today, I was pretty awkward at well…everything." Nova rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah! This guy, you think he's clumsy now? He used to be so much worse, often bumping into walls, tripping over tables, stumbling in the cafeteria. Honestly we thought he was doomed to drag us down." Nitro said with a sigh.

"He was bad at everything… except combat." Hex said swallowing some water.

"Kinda like Ruby?" Weiss asked quirking her eyebrow and pointing at the reaper.

"HEY!"

"The first mission we go into, he instantly flips a switch in his brain and slaughters a pack of beowolves in seconds. Honestly, it was crazy how coordinated he and his sister were." Hex confirmed, causing Nova to fluster in embarrassment.

"Yeah well, a few missions in, closer to the end of the second semester, we got sent on a mission deep into the forests of Mistral." Nova started his tale, Hex and Nitro's face went dark, all traces of smiling gone, their eyes shadowed over realizing the story he was telling, they kept quiet. RWBY seemed to notice the shift in mood and alerted.

"It was just like any other field mission, kill a pack of Beowolves at a nearby village and hunt possible Ursa and Nevermore sightings. Straightforward and simple, but what was supposed to be a routine mission turned sour pretty fast." Nova clasped his hands around his mouth in a thinking fashion, much like Ozpin.

"We eradicated Beowolves and tore a few Ursa a new one, on our way out however, things turned for the worst." He continued, Ruby, clenching her fists in anticipation as Yang, Weiss and Blake leaned in closer.

"We felt something…. Watching us, since the beginning of the mission. At first Thorian and Rogue, our old teammates tried to brush our worries off as mere paranoia. We were fools to believe in them." Nova cursed as everyone had a sudden realization as to where this was going.

"They came from the trees, swift and coordinated. An ambush of White Fang assassins, a lot of them." Nova said, Blake, tensed at the mention of her old organization. "We had no idea how they found us, the battle was intense. Amidst the confusion, Thorian and Rogue turned on us... we were betrayed." Nova felt his own anger releasing heat and Ruby who was leaning next to him placed hand on his shoulders while a simultaneous gasp of surprise erupted around the campfire.

"They were working with the White Fang the entire time, we never suspected them because they weren't Faunus. But, Onyx, resorted to some… unscrupulous methods. The moment we thought we could trust them, the moment Luna and I let our guards down, was the moment of our sold us out and threw Hex and Nitro into the mess with us. We fought tooth and nail to make it out of there alive, in the end those two escaped and we were left out in the wilderness, with no supplies or way of contacting Haven. At this stage we weren't sure we could even trust the headmaster Lionheart." Nova rubbed his arm raw and Ruby just squeezed his hand.

"That's why you were afraid of revealing your secrets, that's why you wore those disguises…." Weiss clasped her hand over her mouth in shock. The sympathy in her eyes, she felt for her friends, from her observation of the SDC business partners, she had seen her fair share of traitors... but for people you trusted as close friends to turn on you... that must've been extremely painful.

"That's not everything that happened that day…" Nitro added, Hex held onto Yang tightly, a scared look in her eyes, alarming her girlfriend.

"What else… what could cause…" Yang tried asking but the words died in her mouth as Hex looked into her eyes, the trauma evident on her face.

"That day, we were lost in the forest, no food, no water and no way of contacting help. We assumed Haven would send a search party eventually as the mission was supposed to take two days but we finished in one. If they found us gone more than two days we would get help but first we needed to find some way to survive. Nitro's left arm was broken from the fight and Hex was badly wounded, she got stabbed in her right side." The ASHN leader regaled.

Yang winced and turned to Hex, who lifted her shirt to reveal the stitched scar on her right, just under her rib cage, above her waistline. "It was pretty deep at the time... though thinking back now I feel like I was just too tired from the fighting to handle myself." she scooted closer to her girlfriend. Yang's face instantly softened and pulled her so that the purplette's head was resting on her shoulder, the blonde's left arm wrapped around the other's shoulder. "Luna used her powers to slow down the blood vectors to keep me from bleeding out while Nova and Nitro applied first aid. The downside is that she had to slow down over twelve different blood directions and continuously do it during the stitching which lasted a while. The result was both of us being nigh incapacitated." Hex clung onto Yang's arm as if it was the only thing that was keeping her stable.

Blake and Weiss held their breaths, their gasps stifled in their throats as the gravity of that situation was dawning on them. Three out of four members on the team incapacitated and lost in a forest full of Grimm with no supplies.

"We had to trek for miles in the jungle, Hex could barely walk and I had to carry Luna on my back. Camping in the night was dangerous me and Nitro had to keep constant watch. Unlike here at Vale, where Grimm are active during all hours, the more dangerous Grimm in Mistral were nocturnal. We ate tree bark and fruits if we could find them. Animals weren't scarce but none of us were in any condition to blindly poke around the unknown forest." Nova shuddered remembering the taste of the awful food.

"The worst part was on the last day." Nitro said darkly. He had been unconsciously clutching right arm the entire time, as if it was still broken... the pain forever burned into his memory.

"What happened? Did something else go wrong?" Blake asked extremely intrigued to find out how they survived.

"We got picked up on the morning of the fourth day. But, on the night of the third… hell unearthed itself. We thought it was weird, that there were minimal Grimm attacks over the course of our stay, even more, strange that a fight in a forest full of Grimm hadn't attracted any. We were too tired to look past it as we were just trying to survive. The reason there were so little Grimm was because we... attracted something... Mistral's deadliest hunter." Nova passed his hand through his hair and wiped his face.

"The night was near pitch black, being in the woods, rain was pounding on our heads, disrupting our senses. We never saw it coming until it was too late. Like a black shadow in the night, barely visible if not for it's Grimm mask and glowing red eyes. It was near intangible like a wisp but large as an Ursa. It walked around on two legs but it would float through the air to move quickly, its arms were elongated, its fingers were long sharp claws, like talons." Nova felt his blood run cold recalling the memory, Ruby could see him visibly shaken, his face a deathly pale and his pupils had contracted in fear.

"The Phantom..." Weiss mouthed, to which Nova nodded in confirmation.

"It attacked us out of nowhere. Dashing through the thick vegetation, using the cover of darkness and the storm to hide itself. It was smart and efficient. Nitro and Hex suffered severe lacerations, in a near-instant as if it were toying with them. Refusing to deliver the killing blow allowing its victims to suffer first... I guess we had to be grateful it was a sadist because that bought us time. The cuts burned and carried tremendous pain, unlike anything I had ever felt before." Nova looked at Luna who was now shaking and clenching her cloak with white knuckles. Weiss and Blake instantly rushed over and hugged the girl who looked as though she were losing her wits in a panic attack.

"We would have died back then if Nova hadn't used every last ounce of his strength to fend it off." Hex said calming down a little.

"It was the first time I had properly lost control of my powers, seeing them hurt threw me off. I fought for maybe minutes...hours...I'm not sure...but, that thing feared my fire. It was terrified of my heat. It would have taken my head had it not gotten scared and tried to deliver an early killing blow. I barely managed to dodge but we traded an eye for an arm." Nova touched his scar.

"So that's how you lost your eye…" Blake said in wonder and horror.

"Yeah the scars healed and I got my eye back but the feeling of complete helplessness is there… looking back I feel like I should have died back then, in nature only the strong survive, and why we lived is beyond me…" Nova finished.

"Don't sell yourself short, you gave it your all, we survived because of you, we owe you our lives. If it weren't for you we'd be lost on our own, probably dead. That's why we swore to you that day, we'd follow you to the ends of the world and back." Hex smiled, her expression returning to normal.

"He didn't finish the story." Nitro said in a monotone voice.

"Huh?" Nova asked confused thinking he was done, he slowly realized what his friend meant and visibly shuddered.

"You forgot to tell them what happened after." Luna looked at him directly. All eyes turned to her. "After the fight, my brother was beaten pretty bad, none of us were in any shape to fight. Yet, the sounds of battle and the smell of blood, the fact that the Phantom was injured... drew in nearly every Grimm in a mile radius." Luna said darkly.

"Holy shit... could it get any worse?" Yang gawked in horror.

"Luna don't… it's…" Nova tried to say realizing where she was going with this. The young girl shot them a look that said enough.

"Me and Nova, on our last legs of strength turned on the Grimm. It was… a pathetic sight to see. Our arms no longer had the strength to wield our weapons, Hex and Nitro were going to die if we didn't do something. I… swung my axe on my last bit of strength and was about to collapse from exhaustion. They were on me in an instant like hyenas on a corpse." The younger girl held her arms around her.

"I took one two many hits and my aura dropped out... Their claws never reached me however…" She said solemnly.

"What… how…" Weiss asked concerned and confused.

"The reason my brother can't tell you the rest of the story is because, he jumped into the pack himself, no aura, no strength and I was pretty sure the shade of purple on his right shoulder wasn't normal. He took the blows for me, the beasts tore at his skin like it was paper… his entire back was going to be shredded…. There was so much blood…" Luna felt herself getting sick, looking down at her hands as if they were still stained.

"After that I lost my control for the first time, I'm not sure what happened but I passed out. I woke up and all the Grimm were dead, smashed and warped in unnatural positions. Hex said she saw the whole thing, my eyes and hair turned bright blue and the Grimm around us started to convulse and warp almost inside out. Nova almost died that day, if only…." Luna almost broke down into tears.

"You fought for us, if not for you, we'd be dead," Nova said adamantly trying to cheer her up.

Ruby's brows furrowed in concern, "Wait... If the Grimm tore up your back... how come you don't have more scars?.. I mean... there are some but not that many... NOT THAT IT's A BAD THING!" she directed her question at Nova

Everyone eyed her curiously, "So you know what he looks like shirtless~" Yang said wiggling her eyebrows. Ruby turned crimson but she didn't bother to answer since literally everyone saw him shirtless at one point. This caused Yang to pout at the lack of reaction.

"The damage was skin deep, apparently my generated head was keeping them from getting close enough to really hurt me... so most of the scars healed, save for a few scratches."

"You all have been through so much…. I feel bad for even thinking my life was rough…" Blake said guiltily.

"We all had our own hardships Blake, some just had to see the ugly side of the world too quickly." Nitro added.

* * *

"My history just goes as far as all rebel stories go…" Blake began, the rest of the team pleasantly surprised the normally reserved girl chose to open up.

"When I was a kid, after the fall of the Royal Family. My parents who, at the time, were the heads of the White Fang, before things got violent, decided to step down from their positions to lead our people." Blake recalled. Nova flinched at the mention of his family history.

"I… called them out for their choice. I called them cowards, spineless people who would leave the good fight to hold themselves up for a quieter life. I was young and foolish and I didn't understand their reasons. Looking back now I realize how wrong I was. It was in the White Fang I met Adam again. He was everything I wanted to be… strong, fearless, cunning and willing to do whatever it took to bring our people to glory." Blake spoke highly of Adam as if there wasn't the underlying darkness they all knew. "We all know how he...really is..."

"Blake, you met Adam, but...have you ever met Onyx?" Nova asked interested in her backstory.

"No, I never met the High Commander. Adam was the only leader I needed... that was until I started questioning our methods. Things truly turned for me when I witnessed our brothers and sisters murdering innocent humans. I wanted nothing more than to rid myself of this organization, so… in my panic, I ran. And here I am." Blake finished her tale.

"Blake, I want you to know that your parents were not at fault for what happened, at least I have no reason to suspect them. Onyx is the only real villain here..." Nova conferred to the girl in black. Her friends all gave her an accepting smile. A non-verbal agreement that the past was behind them. The future was what mattered.

Blake nodded a silent thanks, a stillness fell over the team for a few minutes before Winter returned.

"Alright everyone, it's dark out and that means heavy Grimm activity. Ruby, you're on first watch, followed by Nova, then Weiss, Nitro, Yang, Hex, Luna and Blake." she said tearing them out of their mulling.

* * *

**-Three hours later-**

Ruby sat atop the concrete watch point, Crescent Rose in hand, humming quietly to herself as she kept her eyes peeled on the ever constant state of the city. _East sidewalk, check. North building check. Grey lamp post, Check three times... ugh I would kill for a Grimm right now... _she thought drumming her fingers along the handle of her scythe. _Wouldn't it have made sense to put us on double shifts? With a partner? I could sit and watch the stars with Nova..._she sighed dreamily thinking about spending alone time with her bestie/crush.

"Arf arf!" came the slightly loud barks of Zwei, tearing her from her fantasies and dragging her to reality. "Quiet down Zwei you don't wanna alert the bad guys!" the girl in red shout whispered.

The dog whimpered and spun himself around in a circle looking at the floor. Ruby deadpanned, "Zwei, this is a wasteland, you could literally go do your business anywhere…". The dog just barked again causing Ruby to sigh.

"Ugh fine come on," she said as she lead Zwei away from the team so he could 'mark his territory'.

"Honestly Zwei you are such a-" She hushed herself instantly when she detected the sound of unfamiliar footsteps.

She ducked around the nearest corner and drew Crescent Rose. Zwei scampered into the nearby bushes.

Peering around the corner she spotted two White Fang members. _Found yah! _Being the genius leader she was, instead of alerting her team, her first instinct was to tail them, unfortunately she was not the stealthiest of individuals and was eventually spotted.

"YOU THERE! Who are you and what are you doing here?" One of the men shouted.

"Uhh… would you believe me if I told you I was here to help you out?" Ruby asked tilting her head.

"Oh, really? well then welcome- AH YOU'RE SCREWING WITH ME AREN'T YOU!" The man realized enraged. Ruby just stuck her tongue out in a mocking fashion.

They shot at her but Ruby was too quick. In near an instant she knocked out the guys by dashing into the air and slamming her scythe down onto them. She would have celebrated her small victory had, when she attempted to touch the floor, it was no longer there. The roadway beneath her feet had cracked and shattered dropping her into the deep chasms below. Comically blinking in confusion she let out a panicked squeal as she plummeted into the abyss below.

* * *

Nova awoke beside his team. ASHNRWBY had spread out their sleeping bags in formation around the campfire, each of them quietly snoring away except for the empty cot of one Ruby Rose. _She must still be on lookout, didn't want to wake me, I'll go check on her _Nova thought as he pulled his favourite fiery orange and black hoodie over him, and strapping Asura to his side. As he made his away across the broken building to the designated lookout point, he could feel something was off.

It was quiet… too quiet…

He raised his head and took a sniff of the air, trying to use his dragon sensitive nose to find trouble. His nose picked up...nothing.

That was a problem, no Grimm, no human, no Faunus, not even Zwei and especially not Ruby. Everyone in ASHNRWBY had a distinct smell, Luna smelled like rain and spring, Yang smelled like gunpowder and sunlight, Nitro smelled like greased steel and jet fuel, Hex smelled like melted solder, Weiss smelled like a freezer, Blake was like old paper and cat and Ruby smelled like roses and what he could only describe as happiness. Yet, in the wind there was no trace of Roses and happiness, only nothingness.

This worried him to no end, and upon checking the lookout spot, he was greeted by his fears, nothing. Without a moment's hesitation he rushed back and roused the others.

"MMmm urgh, is it my shift time?" Nitro grumbled. The others groaned and followed suit.

"Everyone wake up, we have a problem." He said now waking Oobleck and Winter.

"Wha?" came the near unintelligible reply of one Weiss Schnee.

"Ruby's missing." He stated flatly, instantly alerting everyone.

"WHAT?!" came the resounding reply, they all sat up alert and on edge.

"You heard me, I woke up for my shift and Ruby wasn't in her spot. I thought maybe she just went to check something out but the problem is, neither she nor Zwei are around. I can't pick up their scent." He confessed.

"ARF! ARF!" came the alarmed barks of a small corgi.

"Zwei! Where's Ruby, boy?" Nova asked desperately, leaning down to meet the dog at eye level.

"Arf!" it barked once then turned around and started running off. "He wants us to follow, let's go!" Nova led them off after the managed to rouse Winter and Doctor Oobleck.

Zwei lead the team through the concrete jungle. Nova had a horrible feeling creeping through his subconscious, it felt like someone force fed him a rock and now it just sits in his stomach, Ruby was in deep trouble.

Zwei suddenly came to a halt at the edge of what appeared to be a massive crater.

"Don't tell me…" Weiss started.

"Yup," Luna responded with a resounding pop of the p.

"She's…" came Yang.

"Down there…" Nitro said shaking his head.

"We need to get down there and find her... provided she's not..." Oobleck pointed out emotionlessly.

Everyone shot him a dirty look, "She's NOT dead..." Yang glowered causing Oobleck to visibly flinch. "My apologies Miss Xialong. Your sister is very much alive." He amended.

"What's down there?" Nova asked.

Winter let out a sigh, "When this city fell, the residents took up home in the massive underground caves, they made a liveable village up until…"

"Until there was a tragic mining incident and they unleashed a massive amount of underground Grimm. I was hoping to avoid there…" Oobleck started then he got to thinking. "Wait, we spent our time looking for our enemies when they were quite literally under our noses." He concluded.

"Huh?!" Came the resounding confusion.

"Well we could find no trace of our enemies above ground, Ruby suddenly goes missing hence…"

"They must be hold up in the old caverns. Grrreat…" Nova finished, grimacing horribly.

"What's his deal?" Weiss asked noticing Nova's unnerved look.

Luna sighed, "My brother is terrified of the underground. More precisely, he's claustrophobic but the underground scares him shitless."

"Language missy," Winter scolded causing the younger girl to just roll her eyes.

"Well… there's only one way we're getting Ruby back," Swallowing the lump in his throat, Nova turned to the team as they looked...first, in confusion...then in horror as he took a backward dive into the hole.

"He's gone mad..." Winter said mortified at what she just saw.

"Well they did say love makes you do stupid things," Yang shrugged, earning a punch in the shoulder from Hex before the rest of them followed suit.

* * *

**The fun's just beginning... This chapter was pretty easy to edit so it came out faster than I expected. If I miss any spelling corrections, please forgive me, I need to change my glasses and it's pretty hard to focus on this many words on a page (You can only imagine what I'm like trying to study course material).**

**I wish I could heart react the reviews like I can do with comments on facebook but you'll just have to settle with an imaginary heart**

**Glad to see you're still with me Ethos The ET (^-^) **

**Absolutely love you all 3**


	20. Chapter 20: Trains, Robots and Pain

**Chapter 20: Who Ordered the Extra Large Mech?**

* * *

**-Earlier with Ruby-**

"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Ruby's screams of terror echoed throughout the chasm like an air horn at a funeral, waking up everyone and everything within the cavern. Her descent was eventually slowed whens he began using the recoil from Crescent Rose to offset some of the down acceleration due to gravity. She landed harshly in a heap of rubble, her head took some damage on impact and her left shoulder was throbbing in pain. She was barely able to register her surroundings before the sound of several guns clicking as their barrels were aimed down at her.

She guessed there were at least nine of them, "Pfft only this many guys? You might wanna call for backup!" She chirped as she reached for Crescent Rose only for her hand to meet empty air. Blinking in surprise she glanced around to see a smug-looking Neopolitan twirling the deadly scythe like a toy. "HEY GIVE THAT BACK!" She yelled and made a move to launch herself at Neo only for her to wince sharply in pain as her right leg was hurt, multiple guns, accompanied by angry-looking White Fang soldiers stopped her from pushing forward.

"We might've gotten off on the wrong foot just now... Can we talk about this like self-respecting people?" She said sheepishly, an embarrassed smile gracing her face. Their response was just an angry grunt and began prodding her with the gun forcing her to stand. "I'll take that as a no..."

* * *

The underground base was enormous, to say the least. Multiple buildings and construction going on, perhaps hundreds of White Fang soldiers roaming in packs, adhering to several tasks. The massive size of the underground cavity made one question the logistics of the concrete and steel mass that sat just a few feet above the thin shell that was the surface.

Roman Torchwick sat reading what appeared to be construction plans laid out on a table. "Curse this cubicle, we have all the space in the world but I have to work under these conditions!" he yelled gesturing to the small shack-like area situated in a remote corner of the vast expanse of city.

"Honestly, these Faunus aren't worth the time. Good thing the pay for this job is good…" he muttered as Neopolitan swung in through the door, her umbrella in tow.

"Ah Neo, what brings you in?" he asked.

The mute girl gestured her umbrella the door, forcing Roman to look up from his work. He met her displeased gaze and followed it to see a few soldiers lined up just outside.

"Ah Boss, we found this intruder crashing through the ceiling a few minutes ago, we tied her up but we don't know what to do with her." One of the white fang members surrounding a bound, gagged and quite unconscious Ruby. Roman flinched visibly at the sight of the familiar red reaper, an existence he was hoping he wouldn't have to see again.

"This… is bad… where there is Red, there is the posse. Throw her in the holding cells, we are terrorists but I'd rather not kill a kid. Her friends will come looking for her so bolster security stat." Roman instructed

* * *

It was a few minutes before Ruby awoke, in pain and nauseous. Her aura had protected her fall mostly but she suffered a minor concussion. She was depleted on reserves hence why her head still hurt like crazy, upon attempting to move she found her left shoulder was sprained.  
"Great… just great." She said out loud wincing in pain as she tried to sit up in her jail cell. A dim light cascading through the grates casting a shadow on the back wall of her blue barred prison.

"You shouldn't move too much, you took quite a nasty fall, plus Roman's men weren't exactly gentle when they tossed you in here," came a mature womanly voice.

"Who's there?" Ruby croaked out peering through the poorly lit area. The silhouette of a relatively tall woman with wild-looking hair came from the shadows and approached the cage.

Ruby instantly backed away like a scared animal and the woman just chuckled in amusement, she was expecting that type of reaction.

"Now now, don't be afraid, I'm not like those savages. I'm a doctor, you can call me Ellie." She said coming into the light. Her hair was a wild mix of blue and orange in alternating streaks, she had two, what appeared to be, wolf-like ears popping out of the top of her head. She wore a long white lab coat over a black undershirt and pants. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of ocean blue and Ruby felt as though she had seen this person before.

"How do I know I can trust you," Ruby spoke hesitantly.

The woman leaned toward the cage and looked her in the eyes, "The White Fang ruined my life many years ago… I'm only working for them now because I have no other choice. It's either I work for them or they kill my husband." She said, the anger trembling her voice.

Ruby could see in her eyes that she meant no harm, the hatred for her superiors was clear as day. The woman herself gave off a soothing feeling, as if she was the embodiment of kindness.

"Tell me, what is a cute young lady such as yourself doing out here?" she asked concerned.

"My friends and I are here on a mission from Beacon Academy. We were sent along with two professional huntsmen for a recon operation, but... this might be more than just observing now. They should come looking for me soon." Ruby said, the doctor nodded but her face was riddled with concern.

"This place is heavily fortified there's no way they can…" Ellie started but the look in Ruby's eyes shut her up. The sheer unwavering confidence they held was absurd.

"Don't underestimate my friends, they're a lot stronger than you think." Ruby smiled proudly, though she still hurt when she did.

The woman just chuckled, "Alright then, I'll see if I can help you outta here," she said analysing the lock on the cage. It was no mere deadbolt, it was keypad encrypted. Normally that would be a problem for most... but for Ellie it just made it easier to crack it open.

"Are you sure you should be helping me out like this? What if they find out?" Ruby asked concerned

"I'm glad for your concern my child but you needn't worry. They can't fault me for helping you and I'm too valuable to them to let go. You're fine." she said as she helped Ruby out of the cage. "Besides, a few of the people here aren't all bad... like that Neopolitan girl, she's mute but she is such a helpful child, bringing me snacks and helping me out occasionally."

Ruby just looked up at her curiously, the only Neo she knew was Roman's ice-cream haired partner. She couldn't possibly be talking about the same person right? Then again... how many Neopolitans working for Roman Torchwick were there?

Once she cracked the cage and helped Ruby out, Ellie took a proper gauge at the young lass before her. "You remind me of my daughter, she'd be about your age right now." she said looking over the reaper.

"You have a daughter?" Ruby asked surprised at the unexpected revelation.

"Oh yes, and a son, though he'd be a year older than you now. I haven't seen them in well over nine years, since I was captured." she replied solemnly, the look of sadness donning her features and Ruby couldn't help but want to hug the older woman.

"They're…" she was interrupted when a massive tremor shook the cave and the sounds of gunshots and explosions could be heard.

"Looks like my friends are here!" Ruby said enthusiastically as she jumped only for her to yelp in pain.

"Don't be so hasty child, here let me." Ellie said kneeling down and holding onto Ruby's shoulder and leg.

"What are you…" Ruby started but stopped when a warm aquamarine glow enveloped her, soothing her pain and healing her external and internal injuries. It took a few seconds but once done Ellie looked rather exhausted.

"That's my semblance, I can use my aura to detect internal injuries and completely heal them almost instantly... once it's not fatal. It also works on diseases to, though using it drains me greatly." she explained through ragged breaths, having to focus on multiple types of wounds located on multiple parts of the body was especially taxing.

"Go on now, your weapons are stowed in the trailer behind me, I snagged them off the guards before, saying I needed to research them." she gestured to a metal crate similar to one used for shipping.

Ruby nodded, "Thank you... you said you're being held here... you should come with me." Ruby said taking the woman by the hand. Ellie smiled and patted Ruby's hand. "I've been working to delay the progress of the work here for a long time... maybe you kids can tear this place a new one and get me out..."

"That's great-" Ruby was cut off by Ellie holding up her hand, "But... first I need to take care of something... I'll find you when this is over... so go help your friends." She smiled cheerily, knowing fully well this was a long shot in the dark... but if she could make it look like she was taken/killed and slip out with this girl and her friends, her husband would be safe and she could be free of this place.

Ruby nodded in understanding, "...Okay... just promise me you'll find us..."

"I'll look for the explosions." She chuckled in response. Ruby waved a goodbye before disappearing in a flurry of rose petals.

* * *

**-With Team ASHNWBY-**

Everyone landed through the same hole Ruby did, except with a bit more grace. Nova could see around him the sheer size of the cavern, the numerous buildings and White Fang outposts, if Ruby was somewhere in here then it sure as hell would take time to find her.

"We need to remain as covert as possible, try not to draw too much attention to ourselves. There's no telling how many enemies are between us and Ruby, so for maximum efficiency we'll split into team," Winter said garnering everyone's attention. It was strange, there were no guards investigating the giant hole suggesting that either Ruby had managed to hide herself or something was amiss.

"Nova, Weiss and Blake, you three start covering the higher ground since you have the best mobility out of us. Hex, Yang and I will do radar sweeps and scout the eastern area. Dr. Oobleck you will stay here with Luna and Nitro and hang around the crater and see if Ruby makes an appearance." Winter commanded, Zwei barked in protest, "And you to Zwei, you stay here with them!"

Everyone nodded and wordless moved to their positions, no one dared argue because they were just focused on getting their friend back. Figuring out whatever the hell was going on here came secondary at this point.

* * *

Five minutes passed, then ten, and promptly on the twelfth minute did Nitro finally snap. "This is the most boring post in existence!" he said with a twitching eye.

"Calm down meathead, be glad we haven't encountered anyone yet…" Luna berated but was interrupted by the sound of tapping shoes and metal against stone from the darkness, her eyes went wide and everyone went on guard, even Zwei hopped down from his perch on Oobleck's backpack, ready to attack.

"Well, well, well. Nice to see Red's party decided to drop by, it would have been even nicer had you decided not to show up in the first place but when life gives you lemons…" Roman said appearing from seemingly nowhere.

"Red? What have you done with Ruby?!" Luna seethed. Zwei let out a shrill bark and began growling at Roman who visibly flinched.

"Has the fuzzball had its shots?" He asked pointing at Zwei. "As for Red...she's taking a nap in one of our holding cells, don't worry, she's more or less alive, after all I did need a contingency plan." He said twirling his cane and aiming it at the girl in blue.

"So you're Roman Torchwick, the infamous criminal mastermind." Oobleck said pushing up his glasses.

"Ah so you've heard of me...should I know you?" Roman raised his eyebrow, well as much as one could garner from the hat on his head.

"Who I am is unimportant. What is important however, is why you've decided to work with the White Fang." Oobleck inquired, he was determined to play both objective and rescuer simultaneously.

"Why else does anyone do anything dangerous?" Roman asked while flicking his hair. They all just stared back blankly causing him to groan in exasperation. "MONEY! The green! Mula, the meat and potatoes... argh forget it, I'm wasting my time. You either surrender or get bagged, your choice." He held his cane up like a gun, ready to fire.

"Well, considering there are three..." *BARK* "... Four of us and one of you I'd say you're in no position for non-compliance." Nitro said flexing his armoured fists.

"And, I'd say your counting skills need work." Roman smirked, snapping his fingers, as he did a mass of soldiers came out of the shadows encircling the trio.

"You bastard, how long have you been…" Luna spat.

"Since you entered, Red fell for the same trap, it's like you people have zero common sense. I was just waiting for the moment your posse decided to split. Three I can handle, but even with a squadron, taking on a specialist and that firebreather puts my odds at a low." He said grinning. "I'll need you to come quietly or we put a bullet or three in your brains."

Luna bit her lip and weighed her options. There were at least twelve guards, she could remotely disarm three of them with her powers but that'd leave her drained, Nitro could take down a few but he won't be fast enough to get all of them, and Oobleck isn't exactly equipped to deal with combat. She heaved a heavy sigh and dropped Galaxia, causing Nitro's eyes to widen.

"Luna what are you…" he asked in panic but she shot him a glare.

"We're outnumbered and outgunned, we either die here or we don't, do as I say and drop your weapon." Luna commanded, she held a surprising amount of authority when her brother wasn't around, as if she was a completely different person. They all complied and began dropping their weapons, even Zwei shrinked back.

As soon as Roman lowered his cane and stepped forward to receive his new captives, a flurry of rose petals sped past the group knocking down all the White Fang members. Luna and Nitro saw this as their chance and re-equipped their weapons and layered the assault on the troops. Ruby veered to a halt when she almost crashed into Dr. Oobleck.

"Nice to see you again Miss Rose" he pointed out stiffly, Ruby just rubbed the back of her head.

"Ehehe… good to be back?" She said embarrassed. Luna tackled her with a hug, practically squeezing the life out of her.

"RUBY! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Luna asked checking the taller girl for any signs of damage Zwei jumped into Ruby's awaiting arms and began licking her. Ruby tussled the dragon's hair and smiled, "I'm fine, I got help from a friend..."

"A friend?" Nitro asked curiously.

"Don't think on it now. What's going on, where's our team?" Ruby looked around for them but came up with nothing.

"My brother and the rest of the guys went off to look for you, seems we'll be busy for a while until they regroup." Luna said readying Galaxia in its battle axe form. Hoards of White Fang soldiers came spewing out of the wood works.

Roman got up off the floor, dusting himself.

"Red, you are really starting to irritate me…" He said angrily as he launched his attack.

Ruby parried his cane and swung Crescent Rose in a vertical arc aimed at his head but Torchwick easily sidestepped. The two exchanged back and forth with neither giving an edge, surprisingly for a criminal mastermind, Torchwick was a good fighter.

"Neo..." Torchwick said talking into an earpiece attached just under his hat. "Call in our plan B. We might as well put Adam's pets to work."

* * *

**-With Winter, Yang and Hex-**

"Hex, you find anything?" Yang radioed to her girlfriend over the comms. The three had scoped out the eastern wing only to meet with next to nothing, just shipments and shipments of crates and supplies for god knows what.

"It's all quiet on my end, what about you Winter?" Hex relayed, she scanned the area with her infrared goggles trying to detect enemy threats.

"Same here… wait..." Winter responded glazing over the area before her. The shipment containers lay lined and neatly packed forming a narrow corridor to what appeared to be two large solid metal gates. Yellow and black caution stripes lined the outside of the tall structure, as if it were some sort of loading dock.

"Hex scan my area, two hundred meters from your position, north east. Big painted gate." Winter relayed and Hex complied and turned her equipment on the large doors.

Strangely upon scanning the gate, there was a mass of red behind it, as if there was… "WINTER GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Hex yelled in panic.

"Why what's behind that…" Winter stopped mid sentence when a loud alarm blared, red lights flashing as the gate cranked open. A tremor shook the entire cavern as if whatever was behind that gate was massive.

A great Atlesian paladin nearly three times bigger than the one team RWBY fought, thundered out. Its metallic appendages extending far beyond that of its regular version, the cockpit was no longer the standard glass window but a more armoured chest piece with small, near untargetable optical sensors. It looked like its main purpose was to lift heavy objects and fend off larger Grimm yet still pack enough firing power to level a small town.

"That's Atlas tech…but modified.." Winter gaped at the sheer size. How did they manage to acquire this? Whoever upgraded it must have been a genius, they seemed to have _ironed _out all the flaws in the mech.

"Nice timing, Roman signalled me to power up this thing, so glad you saved me the trouble of actually looking for you!" A shrill female voice boomed from inside the paladin, it sounded familiar to Hex.

"Hey doesn't that sound like that one chick from our first operation?" Hex radioed over.

"You know this person?" Winter asked confused as she stared down the titan sized machine, her body like a toy soldier in the wake of the motorized chunk of metal.

Yang and Hex followed in, coming out of their positions and moving swiftly to stand by Winter, who was getting into battle stance, fully prepared to tangle with whatever that thing was.

"Oh hi girls, long time no see!" The voice cheered and Hex felt her eye twitch at the memory of one _very _annoying blonde.

"What's your name again? Ball? Bowl? Bee? OH IT WAS BITCH!" Hex taunted, her face turned up in mild irritation.

Yang high fived her girlfriend and Winter imagined that whoever was inside was fuming. It almost looked like the machine had a stroke given how violently the arms began trembling.

"IT'S BELL FYI! AND YOU JUST MADE YOUR FIRST MISTAKE!" She roared, the rage thick in her voice. Without so much as a warning the paladin launched a robotic arm at them. The three dodged instantaneously and began combat.

"Doesn't this feel like déjà vu?" Hex as she gracefully evaded the arm swipe as if the machine was moving in slow motion. In reality it was very slow.

"Feels like just a few weeks ago we were fighting one of these...oh wait we were." Yang pointed out as she ducked under the mech and shot a few blasts of Ember Celia at it only for the shells to harmlessly bounce off.

"Focus girls, this thing is different from what I've seen," Winter called as she thrust her sabre at the mech only for it to bounce her right back, the shields flickering on it.

"You like that? Amped up dust shields, it could probably tank a goliath class Grimm... and a nuke or three" Bell said from inside the Paladin, Winter didn't know why, but she somehow felt the girl's smug look through the armoured machine.

"We don't have a lot of time on our hands, if what she said is right then the enemy definitely knows there's more of us, we need to warn the others..." Winter said trying to figure out how to take this thing down while simultaneously calling for backup.

* * *

**-On the opposite side of the cavern-**

Nova, Weiss and Blake were perched on the various roof tops of the abandoned buildings scouting for any signs of Ruby. Nova scanned the dimly light grey cityscape only to come up dry.

"Nova, what do your dragon eyes see?" Weiss called over the comms, not knowing the wrath she'd incur with that wording.

"They're taking the Ruby to Izengrad" Nova joked in response, he laughed at his reference.

"What? You've found Ruby?!" Weiss asked in confusion only for Blake to groan over the radio.

"He's referencing Lord of the Bracelets, I swear he's worse than Yang sometimes... Now is not the time to be a nerd!" Blake yelled in anger, though she herself found it funny.

"Well you set yourself up for that one, but seriously though, nothing I can tell. My sense of smell is clogged down here, too much dust, gunpowder and rock to discern anything. Most of the activity is just White Fang transporting crates through the various alleys to ah…" He paused as his eyes drifted toward a large metal machine on railroad.

"What's up?" Weiss asked confused at his sudden pause.

"Is that a train?!" Nova finally said causing the others to become confused.

"There's a train down here, the White Fang look like they're loading stuff onto it? Crates of something, and dust fuses?" Nova described the scene before him. A long train with multiple cars attached, being loaded with god knows what. "We really need to find Ruby and fast, I don't know what they're planning but it can't possibly be good." He said.

"Yeah we need to-" Blake was interrupted when the entire cavern shook violently causing her to almost fall off her perch.

"What the hell?!" she radioed over. Loud alarms blared, flashing in the distance, a glaring yellow light. "That's where Winter and the others are!"

"We need to get to them quickly!" Weiss exclaimed.

"But the train?" Blake asked concerned for the mission.

"Fuck the train our friends might be in danger!" Nova yelled so harshly Blake shook a little.

"Not that I don't care about our friends but I thought you were an objectives first type of leader?" Weiss asked as she regrouped, Blake falling in behind her. She held a lot of respect for the ASHN leader as he seemed very reliable and professional, especially from what she witnessed.

"My achievements say that, but my personal reports say otherwise, the mission can bite my ass for all I care, my friends come first." Nova said taking Asura out in its sniper form. If he was being honest with himself, he had no idea how his record looked as good as it did. Sure it wasn't spotless but he was a leader who moved at his own pace, how exactly did he become one of Haven's top first years was beyond him.

* * *

**-Back at the hole-**

Ruby was engaged with Roman in heated combat, her speed and his matched even and that puzzled her beyond all reason. The fight would have been over quickly had it not been a one on one, due to an intervention by a third party.

Luna, Nitro and Professor Oobleck had their hands full dealing with their own enemies, apparently when Roman called for backup, he didn't mean regular White Fang soldiers.

While Oobleck fended off White Fang troops, Luna was currently fighting none other than Dune, the four mechanical arm wielding mountain of a man they'd met previously. His brown button-down trench coat fitting around his arms like it was custom made, you had to wonder who tailored it. Unfortunately, Luna had no breathing room to muse over this as the rapid-fire barrage of fists came crashing into her proximity, she spun Galaxia in its staff form to deflect and parry the blows while rearing the axe head to counter-attack... her damage however was minuscule.

"The fuck is this guy made of?!" Luna practically screamed in frustration as Galaxia harmlessly bounced off Dune's shoulder, a shock reverberating through the weapon causing a chilling vibration that numbed her arms.

"Special metal alloy dearie, you should really get with the timesss!" The overly cheerful high pitched voice of Lyme came through from across her left, corrosive slime spreading around his sword as he chuckled madly, prepared to blindside the unsuspecting Luna. The laughter was stopped when a fist came crashing into the floor where he stood, unfortunately, it didn't connect.

The toxic green-haired drag queen, gracefully backflipped out of the way.

"Do you really have time to be gauging others? Or have your forgotten I'm your opponent!" Nitro seethed. He really hated this guy, after what he did to Ruby and Hex, those burns never healed right.

Lyme just laughed again, "Oh pleasssse, your too young to handle thissss," he said gesturing to his figure, his snake tongue flicking out at every pronunciation of the 's'. Nitro just spat on the ground, "Call me when you're a not gross and evil."

"Oh, darn, and here I thought you were cute." Lyme said almost as if he was truly disappointed.

Nitro launched his rocket-propelled fist directly at him but he easily evaded the brawler's sonic speed movements, as though he were reading his every motion. Lyme again backflipped but this time swept his blade in a horizontal pattern launching a wave of corrosive venom at the boy. His first instinct was to block it but the logical part of his brain remembered that coming into contact with that stuff was a death warrant, thus, at the last second, mere millimeters before it collided with him, he used his semblance on the soles of his feet, reducing their friction to a near zero. A genius idea no doubt, but all it really looked like from an outside perspective was him slipping on nothing causing the attack to miss.

"Not bad kid, ssseemsss you're pretty lucky," Lyme said with a giddy look on his features as if he were making fun of him. Lyme sailed gracefully through the air, aiming to land on one of the metal shipping crates. Nitro had another stroke of genius as his brain worked overtime, coming up with a brilliant method of defeating his foe.

Lying flat on his back, smirked, "It's not luck," just as Lyme landed onto the nearby shipment crate, he slipped, horrendously. His shoes weren't designed to fight on slippery environments and Nitro had just controlled his semblance to reduce the friction on the crate.

A resounding snap was heard when his feet came into contact with the metal, an uncharacteristically comical slip followed by a sickeningly loud crack of bone.

"ARGH! FUCK!" The drag screamed out in pain as he clutched his legs, face bright red with pain while his ankles were black and blue and clearly swollen.

"That's what you get for fighting in heels." Nitro said getting himself up off the floor with a smug look.

"YOU BASSSTARD!" He screamed again, clearly having both ankles broken was a much more painful experience than he'd have expected. Lyme's only option now was to stall for time until his aura healed him.

"Pleassse wait! You wouldn't hurt a lady would you?" He pleaded hoping to buy into his chivalry, only to receive a swift punch to the face knocking him out, and a few teeth as well.

"I don't care what you identify as." The red-haired teen cracked his knuckles, "Gender equality bitch," he said finishing, he was careful not to use too much force to avoid killing. Right now the snake's aura was focused on healing the wounds that it wouldn't do anything to protect him, the only reason the legs were broken was because he was so disoriented and confused by the slip that his brain had aura still focused on priming his semblance.

* * *

Luna was a little pressed in the fight. She was barely holding on by deflecting the attacks from Dune. If she had to compare, it was like someone decided to attach four tanks to a rotating machine and use them to beat someone as a blunt instrument. She wished more than anything to have her brother swoop in and blast this guy to smithereens but that wasn't happening, at least not anytime soon.

Dune let out a mad grunt as he changed his style from a direct barrage to rotating his body left and right, disorienting Luna. She tried desperately to parry the differing angles but she only had one staff and he had four arms. Barely managing to parry the two low blows that she was blindsided from above by his upper two arms, the sheer force of impact sent her crashing into one of the nearby metal crates, thankfully her aura and semblance lessened the impact. She may be small but her semblance also made her a tank. Dune let out a disgruntled noise as though he were disappointed she was alive.

She bit down on her thumb as she raised herself out of the wreckage. _How the hell do I get out of this? My attacks do nothing to him, I might be physically resistant but he still hits like a truck._ _Think... what would Nova do?_

She didn't have much time to ponder as she was again rushed by the mountain-sized man. Blow by blow she was taking damage, she would avoid half the attacks only to get smacked by the other two fists, it was a one on one but she was outnumbered. A swift punch to the gut had her coughing out blood, her aura was depleting fast as the amount of punches being set out at once barely left room to even breathe. A normal person would have already been dead had it not been for her semblance's ability to dramatically bolster defence. It didn't stop her aura from completely breaking soon after.

Through the barrage of fists, the pain gradually turned numb, black and blue bruises were beginning to form on her body and she could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness. A single sound kept her awake though, oh how she wanted to rest. A distinct creak, like metal struggling to keep up with its work. The mere thought roused her consciousness as an idea formed.

_This is a longshot, Oum help me._ She thought as she purposely took on four punches at once, using Galaxia to block two in place. Her arms were struggling to keep up with the sheer force he was applying. She glanced at the arm joints on him, and sure enough her hunch was right. While the metal was strong it wasn't perfect, consistent use for this long was burning through the mechanisms, all it needed was a little push.

She closed her eyes and felt the machine joints operate around his arms, finding the right flow of motion she reversed it while reflecting the change on the other arms. She jumped back letting Dune surge forward, her arms, and legs ached to stand but she did anyway. Plastered on her face was what one would refer to as a shit-eating grin.

Dune grunted in confusion unsure as to why she was smiling. Deciding not to think, as he usually did, he lunged his fists forward only for them to not?

"Hey dimwit, you ever hear about Newton's third law of motion?" Luna said the grin still on her face.

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So what happens when I reverse those the flow of motion being propelled toward me?" She rhetorically asked.

Sure enough, instead of moving forward, Dune's fists ricocheted back toward him, the metal morphing inward and groaning as the force of the impact instead went back to him rather than to her. Instead of an opposite force being sent outward, the four mechanical arms blew off as phantom impacts made dents in his abdomen, breaking his aura and possibly all of his ribs in the process. The massive man was slumped down in a crater of his own creation, his coat torn off from the impact and Luna could see the armed mechanism on his back. The four arms were connected by what looked to be steam and hydraulic shafts. The most interesting thing however was that his back was encased in a hard shell, like an exoskeleton, resembling that of a Rhinoceros beetle. _So he WAS a Faunus... makes more sense now as to why he's in Adam's circle._

"Checkmate," she finished, her right eye swollen over, blood leaking from her mouth, she clutched her sides and tried to limp back to her friends, caring to step over the half corpse she just created. The only reason she didn't use this strategy earlier was due to the fact that metal was still holding, had she reversed them earlier, all he would have suffered was a minor feeling of vertigo as the force was just absorbed back into the metal. Using her powers left her drained and exhausted so she would have just been a sitting duck. She had to focus on letting her aura slowly heal her as it had been broken earlier. Whatever little that had regenerated anyway.

She stumbled her way back to the hole they came in to find a knocked out Lyme and a bunch of what she hoped were passed out White Fang soldiers, she hoped the red spots on the floor were a result of her blurry vision and mild concussion. Nitro instantly rushed to support the collapsing girl.

"Dear god, what the fuck happened to you?!" Nitro asked concerned, trying to assess the damage only to come up with it being, 'extensive'.

"That four armed monster was like getting tossed into a rodeo naked against a nuclear bull. But he's in a worse shape than I am right now." She chuckled only to clutch her sides in pain.

"I should hope so, Nova is going to kill me for letting you get hurt," Nitro conveyed trying to cheer her up.

"I'm a big girl now, he will understand that sometimes I gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do." She said triumphantly.

"Where's Ruby and Oobleck?" she asked looking around confused, spotting Oobleck and Zwei on a pile of downed soldiers lying flat on his back groaning from exhaustion with Zwei resting atop him.

"Well that answers one question but what about…" at that moment Ruby came spiraling through the air like a missile with Roman in hot pursuit.

The red reaper ducked and dodged several cane bullets but the fight was just dragging on and it felt like he was just trying to stall for time but she couldn't figure out why.… then it hit her... literally, a giant robot came crashing through the area at breakneck speeds, turning over cargo crates and smashing through old buildings.

"Ah, it seems my backup is here," Roman said as he zipped passed Ruby and used his cane to swing onto the large mech.

"Hey sis long time no see," Yang said as she, Winter and Hex came barrelling in behind it layering the machine with shots only for the bullets to bounce right off the shields.

Oobleck and Zwei got up from their resting position and fell in line with the students. SHNRY and Winter with Oobleck were standing, squaring off against the mech.

"Damn Luna you look like shit," Yang said looking at the smaller blue girl, who in question gave her a lopsided grin. "You should see the other guy." She responded to which Yang gave her a thumbs up.

"Dune lost to you? I knew that dimwit couldn't handle himself, that's why Edan sent Lyme in with him," Bell said from inside the mech looking around for the drag queen, and groaned when she saw a knocked out green man.

"Of course, he failed. Looks like I have to do everything myself. Adam is going to be so pissed when he finds out," She spat.

"You won't be telling him because you're going to be in jail, give it up Roman," Ruby yelled up at him. He laughed maniacally, placing his hand over his head and tilting it back.

"Oh dear, Red you seem to misunderstand, I've already won," he said, snapping his fingers. As if it was all planned out, area lit up, the dark shadowy cavern was now alive with spotlights and the team could see clearly to the east, a train preparing to leave.

"What's on that train Roman, what're you up to?!" Winter yelled, as Nova, Blake and Weiss swung in and came up beside them. The first thing the dragon leader spotted was Ruby, which gave him an immense feeling of relief. The feeling was short lived when he noticed the massive mech squaring off against his friends.

"Of course you brought a giant robot. This is Remnant, where every other day we have rampaging war machines, great vacation destination." Nova said lining up beside his friends, his hands waving in exaggeration. He turned to Ruby, "Are you alright? I was... we were scared shitless when I... we couldn't find you..." he said amending his speech.

Ruby blushed faintly at his concern, "I'm alright... but we can save the pleasantries for later. We have to deal with him."

"Ah Red's not-boyfriend. Nice of you to finally drop in, you saved me the trouble tracking you down. I gotta say, you'll love what's on the train it's quite the _explosive_ surprise," Roman said pointing his cane at them.

* * *

**THERE'S JUST SO MUCH GOING ON AT ONCE. WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS ELLIE (As if you probably didn't figure it out) AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO OUR HEROES? Will Nova finally stop being a dense brick? Will Nitro ever find a boyfriend? Will they all explode? Find out next time on Dragon's Rise Z...**

**In all seriousness, I'm mad hyped for the next few chapters, this is arguably my favourite portion of anything I've written so far and you'll eventually find out why.**

**Stay awesome everyone (^_^)**


	21. Chapter 21: Unstoppable Train

**Chapter 21: Who Let The Brakes Out?!**

* * *

"Ruby what's going on what is that thing?!" Blake asked confused gesturing toward the near fifty-foot tall paladin.

"We don't have a lot of time guys. I don't know what's on that train but it's not good." Yang said tapping her wrist's imaginary watch.

"Tsk tsk, ignoring your elders, didn't they teach you manners at Beacon?" Roman mocked. In truth he didn't particularly want to kill them, they were kids and even criminals have _some_ morals. He couldn't say the same for his 'associate' piloting the mech however, she was one of Adam's lackeys who got roped in with his crew as part of the job.

Nova felt his eye twitch, he personally hated adults who flaunted their authority around like it gave them the right to do whatever they pleased. He knew Roman was just trying to piss them off but it was damn well working.

"Guys get to the train," Nova said aiming Asura at the bowler hatted man sitting atop the mech.

"What about you?!" Ruby yelled concern evident in her voice.

"It seems someone has to teach this old man a lesson," Nova spoke, anger trembling in his voice.

Winter wasn't sure when she started following orders instead of giving them, it was like this kid commanded an authority far superior to her and she subconsciously felt it. If she hadn't mentally shook herself in that moment, she'd have followed him unquestioningly. Dr. Oobleck must've been feeling the same hence why he wasn't issuing orders as a professor.

She looked back and forth and had to rally her thoughts before she spoke, "Dr. Oobleck, get them onto the train, I'll stay with him." Winter finally reaffirming she was the more experienced huntress here. Oobleck also seemed to snap out of it as he pushed up his glasses, "Affirmative, come now we must not hesitate!" He said walking off.

"I'm staying to!" Luna said, her voice cracking slightly from the pain. Nova looked her over and his eyes went wide, finally seeing the sorry state she was in.

"Holy shit, you look like you got hit by a nuclear bus. I'd ask what happened but I'm just going to assume whoever did that is rotting in the grave... if not just point me in the direction and I'll make sure they are." He seethed cursing the person who hurt his precious little sister. "You are in no condition to be fighting a mech right now, you're best bet is to stay with them." Nova said turning back to face his enemy.

"But!"

"No buts! Dr Oobleck, take her and get out of here!" He yelled and the professor complied, carefully picking up the blue girl and placing her on his back.

"Ruby!" Nova yelled back, causing the red hooded girl to look at him. "Take care of her please," he said, his voice cracking from worry. She silently nodded and led off the charge.

"Oh no you don't!" Bell yelled from inside the mech as she attempted to knock them back.

"Like hell you are, GET GOING NOW!" Nova yelled as he let out a barrage of anti-tank rounds, his semi-auto sniper wasn't built for large ammunition and he was pretty sure he just ruined the barrel. The bullets didn't damage the mech, but the force of impact knocked the metallic appendage aside.

As he watched team SHNRWBY disappear, his worries increased the more he thought about the magnitude of Luna's injuries. Aura usually healed a lot by now, but her bruises didn't look any better, but he'd have to just hope to Oum she would be okay.

* * *

"Now then," he turned back to Torchwick and Bell, "Where were we?".

"Two on two? Seems fair," Roman commented looking at his nails and then back at them.

"Winter?" Nova said alerting the specialist. "Could you shut him up please?"

"With pleasure," the elder Schnee said, with an almost blinding speed she knocked Roman off the mech before he could react.

"Good now that just leaves the two of us," Nova turned to face down the mech, cracking his neck and stretching himself.

"Hmph, I don't know, it seems like it's just me!" Bell yelled lunging the machine forward, the smooth sounds of mechanical joints rotating effortlessly as the great mech thrust its arms forward. Nova easily sidestepped it without moving from his position, narrowly avoiding the lunge by a fraction of a hair. Normally this wouldn't be possible for a human, or a Faunus, he however, was no ordinary Faunus.

The nanomachines flowing through his blood not only stabilized his powers, but they enhanced his already sharp senses. It was like taking a sword that could cut really well, and making it even sharper.

The machine swung multiple times each faster than the last but Nova dodged all of them as if he could see in slow motion.  
Bell made a sound like 'tch', "Alright then pretty boy, see if you can dodge this!"

She retracted the robot's arms and took a stance like a mobile artillery. Sure enough, two large Gatling guns popped out from the shoulders and began spraying Nova in a shower of bullet. The sheer force of the torrential rain of gunfire desecrated the concrete ground, causing a mix of smoke and dust to cover the area where Nova stood.

Combat experience told her to run a thermal scan of the smoke, to ensure he was dead. Pulling up the infrared display, she analysed the area of focus. She expected the blue colour of a corpse lying on the floor but what she got was fully orange and red body that seemed to be radiating heat, standing perfectly upright.

"Phew, so you really do have guns on that thing," Nova said as the smoke cleared, he dusted the stone off his clothes.

"I-Impossible, how…" Bell stated in alarmed confusion. She wanted to believe her sensors were wrong and her ears were playing tricks on her but no, there he was standing perfectly fine, not even a scratch on him.

"The funny thing about nanomachines, they don't tell you just how much aura your defence gets, plus that and my semblance." He said brushing himself off.

"How?! Even with absurd amounts of aura, I just shot yah full of like, three hundred bullets!" She exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah that's the thing, my aura probably tanked the first fifty? Powerful stuff those bullets, but by that time I had already adapted bullet proof skin from my semblance. They don't even faze me," to prove his point he pulled out his own sniper and, grinning like an absolute madman, shot himself in the head, the bullet just harmless bounced off.

Bell just looked at him incredulously, her face breaking out into the type of smile you get when you're faced with the impossible. "Yer a damned monster," she said her voice shaking.

"No, I'm a dragon," He responded, before flashing Asura back into its scythe form and smashing directly into the mech. Unfortunately, it did almost no damage, even with his enhanced physical strength.

"Your attacks only tickle this thing; it was redesigned by the greatest engineer Remnant has ever seen!" Bell cackled madly, trying to regain her control over the situation. They were practically at a stalemate no matter how one looked at it. Nova was bulletproof and the mech didn't carry enough variety to face him, but it was also too tough to damage.

"Well, if that's the case then I hope you don't mind me testing its limits." Nova said before launching a barrage of attacks onto the mech, each bouncing harmlessly off the shield. Bell cackled again, "See I told you it was useless…" she started only for her eyes to bulge when she monitored the shield gauges.

Nova's attacks were rapidly increasing in speed, until he became a white and red blur striking the machine from all sides like some kind of viscous tornado. The shield was crumbling, though not that fast.

"This is exhausting... looks like I'll have to take a different approach," Nova said stepping down and wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Hey is the inside of that machine thermally insulated?" he asked, to which Bell just looked confused, he could've sworn the machine tilted in bewilderment.

"Yeah why…" she responded hesitantly; the battle had become more of Nova testing his abilities on a training dummy.

"No reason," he said cheerfully. Bell brushed it off and tried attacking again, this time aiming the arms in cross to limit his escape routes but to little avail. He just blocked one arm with Asura easily and kicked aside the other.

He ducked and ran at the mid-section of the machine, targeting where the shield battery was most likely located, he then did what Bell honestly didn't expect. He conjured up a massive flame, the skin on his hands turning to red-orange scales as the air around it combusted. The strangest thing was that the heat was so intense it was causing the metal crates several meters away to start groaning and expanding. He aimed the flame at the mech and channelled its intensity. The shield desperately tried to protect but the sheer power of the flame was melting it. A dust shield, a non-physical attribute was being melted by a flame that looked like it was conjured by hell itself.

"What the fuck?!" Bell screamed as the Atlesian Paladin was also being affected by the heat. The armour plating was built to withstand up to three thousand degrees, but it was being melted. As soon as the shield was depleted and the limbs of the machine were glued to the floor from heat, rooting the mech to the floor.

Nova's barrage of fire eventually stopped. He instantly collapsed with his hands on his knees, gasping for air. His aura was depleted completely now, he hadn't controlled the amount of energy he put into his power and it ate away at his aura like a small battery.

"Note… to... self…" he said in between gasps, "Control it before it burns through my aura."

"What in the name of Remnant was that?!" Bell said deciding to abandon the mech by popping out of the cockpit. She was genuinely confused, and quite scared. The control of fire was a lot like Cinder's, but much, much more intense. If Cinder was a raging wildfire then this guy was a burning firestorm with the heat of the sun. The fact that there were two infernal monsters running around Remnant scared her senseless.

"Your boss aint the only one with the power to control fire," Nova said finally gaining his breath back, he reared Asura and pointed it in its ninjato form at Bell.

The blonde chuckled awkwardly, she didn't know whether this guy was a monster or a demon. Still... she had to try and reason her way out of this situation.

"What's a devil like you doing fighting for the humans? Is your loyalty to Ozpin so high that you would turn against your own kind?" Bell spat on the floor hoping to psyche him out and look for an opening. She wasn't usually one to play the 'race' card but... when in doubt...

He was a bit confused as to why she was using his race as a topic. When she straightened herself, his confusion dissipated when he saw a pair of bright purple monarch butterfly wings unfurl from behind her. She was indeed a Faunus.

Her words fully registered to him now..."Loyalty? To Ozpin? Pfft HAHAHA!" Nova began manically laughing.

Bell looked at him confused, "Am I missing something here?" she asked. She was trying to get him to lower his guard so she could fly off, if she did now then he'd just catch up to her or shoot her down with a fireball.

"Clearly you never got the memo. You guys turned on me first, or have you forgotten who your Prince in waiting is…" he said darkly.

"Turned on yah? Some Prince yah are... those piss poor excuses for parents of yers sold us out! Or have YAH forgotten why the high commander had to do what he did?"

Nova just rolled his eyes, it was as if they were all being brainwashed, fed lies by that lump of faecal matter that they call a High Commander. "Did you find that out yourself? With hard evidence? Or was that information passed down by your precious leader?"

Bell felt herself falter in response... He was right. She'd never seen any hard evidence before, no concrete proof to justify their attacks on the Dragon family. She'd just been following orders...but her High Commander would never lie to her... right? If what Nova was saying was the truth... then their entire organization was built on a lie... Yet how could she just believe what he was saying?

"Just an FYI, I hold no loyalty to Ozpin, nor do I feel any love for the humans. My own kind abandoned me when they turned their guns on my family. Humans are no better, they're racist, self-centred, closed-minded people that scorn those that are different from them. My 'relationship' with Ozpin only goes as far as the fact that I just attend his school." Nova outstretched his arms while speaking.

"Honestly the whole reason I took this mission was because I was informed that Onyx would be here, all I got were his lackeys and disappointment. I _am_ grateful to Oz for not kicking me and my friends to the curb when we entered and I do still feel indebted to him. At the end of the day however, if I had to make the choice between him and my friends, I wouldn't hesitate to turn my blade on him." Nova concluded, expressing the ideas he had that no one else seemed to be aware of.

Bell was stunned, "So yah aint loyal to the humans and yah aint loyal to your own people, what are yah loyal to then?"

"I'm loyal to my sister, to the friends I hold close like family. I do not hate our people for what they did to us, nor do I hate the humans for treating us like garbage. In my eyes both sides are in the wrong." He said, the aura he was emitting manifested something metaphysical behind him. A bright red and orange flame, he was an intimidating figure.

"B-But if yah had to choose... if that girl... Red... if she ever turned on yah. What then?" She stammered out through her fear. Nova visibly flinched and Bell felt herself gain confidence. "I saw how yah looked at her. You're in love. If yah turn yer blade on Ozpin and she turns hers on yah... what happens then?"

Nova hesitated, his aura wavering. It took him a few moments but he bit his lip and steeled himself again, "She would never turn on me. I... we've been through too much together... besides... I trust Ozpin. Even if one day our agendas conflict and I become his enemy, then it would be for good reason. I don't claim to know what the future will bring me but I'll just cross those bridges when I get there."

He inhaled sharply and steadied his uneasiness, "Why am I even explaining myself to you? You're just stalling for time..." He began raising the air temperate around them, causing Bell to visibly sweat from both fear and heat.

She was honestly too scared to even attempt to attack him now, Nova took advantage of that and took her out with a swift punch to the gut. He dusted himself off again, he really disliked getting his clothes dirty. Spinning Asura around before sheathing it, he glanced around just in time to see Winter return empty handed.

He gave her a raised eyebrow, "Where's Roman?".

She slumped her shoulders and sighed, "He ambushed me with a hoard of soldiers before disappearing, I have no idea where he ran off to."

"Well never mind him, we need to get to the others," Nova said stretching out his legs.

"How do you propose we do that? They're on a moving train that took off several minutes ago…" she said as if the idea was silly. Nova's brows furrowed for a moment a pout forming on his lips and Winter had to do a double take to ensure she was looking at the face of a boy, his features were still manly but there was a subtle… femininity behind them that only began showing itself now. What changed? All he did was use his new amplified powers…

Nova glanced around until his eyes landed on something, "Winter, you know what's something I learned from Uncle Qrow?" he began sauntering up to a rather large minecart and he posed with his hands on his hips, head tilted to the left and his hips to the right. Winter paled.

"It's how to improvise," he pulled the Elder Schnee onto the minecart and shoved it onto the track, before she could ask how they were expected to move, he hooked Asura to the back of the cart and began using it as a medium to channel his fire like a rocket booster.

* * *

**-With team SHNRWBY Minutes before they left-**

"Are you sure they'll be alright?" Blake asked worriedly, glancing back only to see blurs of light and flashes. She had a soft spot for the older dragon, not only did he know of her Faunus heritage from the start but he chose to keep quiet about it. He was someone she could relate to, on the run from the White Fang.

"If there's anything I know from my years with Nova, it's that he is ridiculously strong and a survivor. He'll come back to us, plus Winter's with him," Nitro said running behind them as they made their way over to the train.

Luna looked down from her perch on the back of Dr. Oobleck, Ruby who was leading the charge, was solemn.

"Ruby," Luna croaked out raising the red-hooded girl's attention, "My brother will be fine, really, have faith in him," she smiled a lopsided grin.

Ruby looked deep into those cyan blue eyes and saw the unwavering resolve and she understood. Nova would be okay, but the mission needed to come first. "ARF!" Zwei barked attempting to console his owner.

As the team neared the train, a certain multi-colour haired individual spotted them. Ellie had seen the havoc that these kids had caused, this base was done for, and these kids were her ticket out of here.

She had no idea where her husband was, if he was even on this facility in the first place, the train wasn't prepped to leave for another ten minutes so she had time.

A terrible idea wormed its way through her mind and not for the first time in her life did she curse her genius. If she made it look like she was dead, then they wouldn't look for her, nor would they dispose of her husband.

Acting quickly, she tore off her lab coat and any identifiable clothing, tied her hair in as neat of a bun as possible and pulled one of her beanies over it, she kept a few around in case of the cold.

Analysing her office for supplies, the small room was not much different from your average doctor's office, except instead of medical books, she also had numerous circuit boards and project plans. Eyeing the scalpel mixed in with her medical supplies she breathed a heavy sigh.

_This is going to sting…_ she thought as she used the tool to tear a deep gash on her arm, dripping large amounts of blood onto the lab coat in various splotches. Next, she took hauled one of the soldier corpses she had stored for experimentation, Oum knows why they let her keep them around. Carefully, she selected one that most accurately resembled her features, wrapped it up in the coat and set the corpse on fire.

The scent of burning flesh was horrid, her wolfish sense of smell didn't aid her case either. She let the corpse burn and tore down the cabinets and files that lined the wall, setting them ablaze as well, successfully creating the illusion that she had burnt to death. She eyed Ruby and the others from a distance until they entered the car, and like a ninja, she slipped in behind them and stowed away in the train car.

* * *

The teens split off with Dr. Oobleck keeping watch over Luna, her condition was too delicate for extreme movement. He was no medical doctor but even he could tell she suffered some severe internal damaging, and her aura was not healing her. He sat her down and tried his best to keep her stable while the rest of them broke off, taking out multiple White Fang members at a time.

"Any idea where this train is going?" Yang asked as she looked around for some indicator.

Oobleck placed his hand on his chin, "When this city was developed, the railroad was built to connect it to Vale for supplies... but since the collapse, the tunnels have been sealed off for years! But... there isn't anywhere else it could possibly be going."

"So, their plan is to ram a train into a solid wall of rock?" Nitro asked curiously.

"Perhaps... but they aren't stupid... to break that wall they'd need some highly dangerous explosives..."

"Uh guys?" Weiss turned their attentions to her as they stood around one of the train cars. "What's that?" she pointed to a strange device that had a red beeping light with blue and red wires.

"That would be a bomb Ms. Schnee," Dr. Oobleck said calmly.

"Ah a bomb… A BOMB?!" She yelled incredulously.

"You don't think…" Hex started.

"There's one on every train car is there?" Yang finished.

"Only one way to find out," Ruby said ominously. "If there are bombs then this train isn't a supply train or a reinforcement train…"

"It's like an explosive battering ram…" Luna coughed out, to which all members of the team shot her a concerned look, Ruby reaching down and checking on her injuries.

"You sit this one out okay, you did well, you've earned some rest." She ruffled the blue girl's hair. Luna felt like a younger sister to Ruby even though they were barely the same age, the height difference was probably the biggest factor.

SHRWBY were on the top of the train, gauging the exact length and how many cars they had to deal with, while simultaneously fending off multiple White Fang soldiers that came after them. Hex knocking away her seventh enemy spoke up above the loud air flow, "How many of these guys are there?!"

Yang glanced forward toward the seemingly never-ending train, "Bout a few," she shouted chuckling, earning a smack from her girlfriend. Hex gave all of them short range communication devices, one of the many gadgets she had stored, "We should split up and cover more ground, I'll take these first two cars, Yang, Blake you should handle the rest." Hex gestured at the respective cars earning a nod from them.

"I'll head for the front, I'm the fastest so in case I need to make a quick move I can," Ruby said disappearing into a flurry of petals.

"Right I guess that leaves me and Weiss to take the back cars and protect Dr. Oobleck and Luna?" Nitro asked, Hex nodded in response. They dispersed once more.

* * *

As Yang was about to check her first car, a solid pain shot through her back as she was flung forward, not far enough due to the momentum of the train and the resistive wind. "What the fuck?!" She lifted her head to see a short girl wearing what Yang could only describe as an ice-cream themed outfit.

"You're Roman's sidekick, right?" Yang asked raising her fists, prepping Ember Celia. The girl said nothing, simply sporting a smug smile, spinning a pink, frilly parasol behind her as though it were her weapon.

"Not much of a talker huh," Yang said, Neo's response was a swift kick, faster than Yang could register, sending her flying into the open hatch within the train car. "Holy shit for a munchkin you sure do move fast," Yang grumbled getting up to see the girl floating down.

"No chance we can settle this peacefully huh?" Yang asked. The girl simply smiled again and walked up sizing herself to Yang, she stood nearly two heads shorter. Yang moved to attack, throwing out her first only for her to fly backward from the force of the girl's umbrella.

Yang was furious now as she let out a series of blows only for them to all be deflected or parried by the extremely flexible girl. Yang threw out some shots only for Neo to dodge them by backflipping and coming to a neat seated position atop a wooden crate, with her legs folded. The smug aura was driving Yang crazy.

The girl tapped out a series of letters on her scroll and showed it to Yang, 'I'm Neopolitan and Yes, Roman is my boss, so why don't you just take a load off blondie, you can't beat me,'. This sentence infuriated Yang even further, the blonde striking out multiple times, her hair glowing yellow and her eyes turning red.

Neo used this to her advantage and easily tripped the angry blonde and knocked her out cold. She was about to deliver the final blow with a sword hidden in the sheathe of her parasol when a figure appeared out of nowhere. She had black hair and wore a Grim mask, accompanied by dark red and black shirt. She wore a dark skirt and thigh high boots, strapped to her waist was an extremely thick sheathe, larger than the one Nova used for Asura, multiple coloured blades on a rotating rack were laden inside. She sheathed her sword and drew it back out with a red Blade, aiming it at Neo. The ice-cream haired girl's eyes grew wide with fear, as if recognizing the individual, she disappeared in a flash of light in a last-ditch effort to escape whoever it was.

* * *

Yang groggily woke up from her unconscious state, her aura healing whatever injuries she sustained during the fight. Peering through her half-opened lids, she could barely make out the red and black figure, walking away and then disappearing into nothingness. Barely registering what was going on she bolted upright, remembering Neo. Strangely enough the heterochromatic girl was gone, she surmised it had something to do with that figure from earlier, either way she had a mission to get to.

Pulling up her communicator she relayed a message, "Any luck on your end guys? My cars gotta bomb in it," She said as she spied one lying neatly in a tucked away crate.

"YANG! THANK GOD!" Hex radioed back, the worry so evident in her voice. "You dumbass, do you have any idea how long we've been trying to reach you?! I thought something happened…" Hex's voice said across the line, cracked and shaky. Yang cringed at this, she felt really bad for making her girlfriend worry so much, "I'm alright babe, I just encountered one of Roman's cronies, she was really tough and I got knocked out for a bit."

"WAIT?! ARE YOU OKAY?!" This time it was Ruby who yelled through the frequency. "Yeah, I'm fine, when I came to someone had saved me… it looked like… mom…" Yang responded the word 'mom' was like venom on her tongue when referring to the one who birthed her. In her eyes, the only person who truly deserved that title was Summer.

"As in…" Ruby continued hoping that by some miracle of the world she meant their real mother. "Sorry sis, not Summer." She said as if the mere mention of the name brought on sadness. The young leader simply sighed, knowing fully well what she originally meant, still she had hope. "Alright, what are going to do about these bombs?" Ruby returned.

"What?! There's even one in the front of the car?" Weiss radioed over, finally finding an opportunity to intervene, the tension in the comms were high.

"Yeah, I tried to find the conductor but no one's driving this thing, it's on autopilot!" Ruby said frantically.

Weiss cringed, the situation was worse than they thought, "Blake anything on your end?".

Blake pulled up her radio to respond, just as she cut down the last of a hoard of bots, " Yup, I'm counting two."

"Shit, if Dr. Oobleck is right and this thing is running straight into Vale then it's going to breach the walls." Nitro responded. "Hey why don't we disconnect the train cars one by one and see if that helps?"

"It's worth a shot," Ruby confirmed. Without wasting a moment Nitro made his way to the car connectors and unlatched it, hopping off the back car and moving to the 2nd one, as he was about to unlatch it a strange woman came out of it waving frantically.

"WAIT! I'm still on this thing!" She yelled, Nitro, not knowing how to react, simply outstretched his arm from the car where Luna and Oobleck were resting, the lady made a mad dash from the car and leaped just barely enough for Nitro to catch her and pull her inside. She collapsed on the floor of the car exhausted.

"WHAT THE FUCK LADY! I Thought there wasn't anyone on there! How did you hide from our detection, who are you?" he pointed his weapon down at her. She got up from her collapsed position and steadied herself against the wall of the car, Dr. Oobleck stood protectively over Luna, eyeing the newcomer.

"You're one of Ruby's friends, right? Don't worry I'm on your side, just hear me out," She raised her hands in surrender. Nitro eyed her for a second before radioing the young leader, "Ruby I got some lady here saying she knows you."

"Lady? I don't…" she began to say before a loud voice came through the comms. "RUBY?! IS THAT YOU? It's me Ellie," apparently she had somehow pried Nitro's communicator from him. He was comically trying to get it back from her.

Ruby's eyes lit up, "ELLIE! It's good to hear you, I was worried you wouldn't find us…" she tried to make an excuse as to why couldn't find her but the woman just laughed. "It's alright dear, I was watching the entire thing unfold, besides it's not like they would just let me leave anyway."

"How did you get on?! We couldn't find you at all!" Ruby responded.

"Ruby you know this lady?" Nitro finally said after wrestling the communicator from Ellie.

"Yeah she's the one that fixed me up when I fell down here," Ruby explained.

"Ruby we don't have much time. This train is going to crash into Vale perimeter in approximately five minutes!". Everyone on board paled.

"Madam, I believe you mean seven," Oobleck tried to correct her but Ellie laughed, "You forgot to carry the two."

Oobleck placed his hand on his chin for a moment and then slapped himself, " HOW COULD I BE SO FOOLISH!".

"No time for panicking we need to stop this thi-" She was interrupted when a massive explosion shook the cavern behind them. All members of the team filed on top the train to see the two bomb cars that had been detached had exploded. Letting in hordes of underground Grimm. Several packs of Beowolves, bands of Ursai and one massive King Taijutu were barrelling toward them at breakneck speeds, just in front of them was a single minecart?

Ruby rubbed her eyes and all members did a double take. Perhaps the most peculiar sight amidst the army of Grimm was a rocket propelled minecart carrying one Nova and Winter.

"Hi guys!" Ruby waved after recovering from the shock, she let out a sigh of relief upon seeing them.

They didn't see her waving as they were too preoccupied outrunning the Grimm.

"Ugh we have no time for chit chat, we need to stop this train NOW!" Ellie ordered.

"Brakes are a no go, detaching the cars results in more Grimm and risking blowing up Ruby's crush and my sister. WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Weiss screamed as they all reeled back trying to think of a plan, turning to the Professor and the Doctor.  
Ellie and Oobleck looked at each other, "I was hoping you guys had a plan." She said sheepishly.

Everyone felt a sweat drop. "Great so we're all going to explode in a fiery blast of glory and Vale will be overrun by Grimm. This is not how I expected my life to end, I really thought I'd get married and have Hex be my best man," Nitro said sadly.

Hex just smacked him. The feeling of impending doom lurking over their heads as the seconds ticked by.

"I-I have an i-idea…" A small voice said weakly. They all turned to see a bruised and slightly pale Luna struggling out of the hatch onto the roof.

"Miss Flareheart you shouldn't be moving!" Oobleck instructed sternly.

"I-I'm fine, I've had enough rest. I'm going to use my powers to stop the train." Luna said kneeling down and placing her hands atop the train car's roof.

"Are you sure this will work? You're hurt, and your powers use aura, if you use all of it you could die!" Nitro asked extremely concerned, Ruby moved to stop the girl but she used galaxia and pushed her back.

"If I don't do this, even more will die…" she said focusing her power onto the train. Her frame glowed a bright neon blue as she focused on the vectors of the train. She struggled, reversing as many as she could, the train was beginning to lose pace but not nearly enough. She had to try harder.

Ellie felt a deep ache in her heart as she watched the girl begin coughing out blood as she desperately tried to stop the train. Instantly she rushed to her side and began channelling her semblance on the small girl. The extent of her injuries ran deep and in almost an instant her aura was depleted. She recoiled in shock, "Her injuries should be... stable for now but... they're too grave, I just barely managed to keep her together... it's like trying to stitch paper..."

Nitro could take no more, he placed his hand down on the train and used every ounce of his aura to increase the friction coefficients of the wheels. The train began making a heavy screeching sound and the rest of the team had to cover their ears as sparks began flying everywhere from the wheels. The force of the train was too great for two almost aura depleted persons.

They wouldn't make it, the solid wall was fast approaching and they would all die. Luna passed out from exhaustion, blood leaking from her mouth, Nitro to was out for the count. The train had slowed considerably from the breakneck pace it once had, but it was still going to hit.

"Weiss Freeze us NOW!" Ruby said as before Weiss could ask why, she and everyone else were swept up in a wave of rose petals. Realizing just in time, Weiss encased them all in ice as they were flung from the train, crashing into a rocket propelled Nova and Winter.

Winter barely had time to react, using her semblance to secure them onto the cart.

"Brace yourself this is going to hurt!" Nova yelled as they watched the train collide with the wall resulting in a massive explosion, that swept up everyone. The rest was haze and white noise.

* * *

**Our heroes have overcome one hurdle... but the fight's not over yet. With Luna in critical condition and an incapacitated Nitro, how will they fend off the massive Grimm invasion?**

**Seriously though, you have to forgive me if I miss some spelling errors or repeated words, I try to proof read these like 20 times before I upload but my eyesight isn't the best and Word doesn't exactly pick up on everything either.**


	22. Chapter 22: Sealing The Breach

**Well everyone, I'm not sure how I managed to find time to do this today since I literally had class from 8 am to 7pm... five of those hours were all programming classes... that coupled with the back pain from helping my uncle with construction work yesterday... and then I wasted two hours of my life waiting on the bus...**

**You know what? I'm not even gonna question it. I blame it on the red bull I drank for breakfast.**

* * *

**Chapter 22: All's Fair In Love And Grimm Invasions**

* * *

Nova slowly peeled open his eyes, the glaring light shooting pain through his retinas. His sense of vision was blurred and all he could hear around him was, well nothing, except for a distinct high-pitched tone like someone threw a flashbang on him. His senses were cleared when he was pulled up harshly by one Weiss Schnee.

"Get the fuck up you suicidal maniac, that stunt you pulled with the cart sent us crashing through the explosion. If Ruby hadn't pulled us off the train in time, we'd all be dead!" Weiss yelled in his ear.

Nova now fully awake looked around, the wall of Vale city was breached and Grimm were pouring in by the masses. Seems while he was unconscious Ruby and the others managed to hold back the hoard. There was one thing he didn't see, Luna.

"Weiss! Where is my sister?!" Nova looked frantic, his eyes scared and wide.

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Some lady's taking care of her and Nitro, she's a doctor. Right now, you need to focus on clearing those Grimm."

Nova nodded and joined up with the rest of them. Seemingly endless supplies of Grimm were spewing from the breached hole, the nine of them weren't nearly enough to handle all these enemies, given the fact that they not only toppled an underground network but slowed a runaway train, fought a fifty-foot-tall robot and survived an explosion.

Nova tried summoning fire to blast away at the hoard but he couldn't do much more than let out a few bursts. His aura was drained to its limit.

Beowolf after Beowolf came rushing toward the team. Weiss deflected and froze a few while Yang smashed them, shooting off a few bursts from her shot-gauntlets. Ruby hacked and slashed as many as she could but the bodies kept piling and dissipating.

"THEY JUST KEEP COMING!" Blake screamed over the roar of gun fire.

"It's like an onslaught of rats!" Hex squirmed as she threw a few small bombs at a group blasting them sky high. "WHERE THE HELL IS OUR BACKUP?!"

"I radioed for military back up when we came out of it, Atlas soldiers are on their way." Winter said as she cleaved her way through two Ursai.

Nova grimaced, if this was Ironwood's squad, they were talking about then no way in hell were they getting here in time. He needed to regenerate some aura...if he could just muster just enough for a heat wave to drive them back...

When the Ursai finally made it through, taking them down took time causing the rest of the Grimm to breach their line of defence. Ruby's eyes grew wide in horror, the people of Vale were still in panic. A mother and her child cowered in fear as they awaited their impending doom at the hands of a lunging Beowolf, Ruby saw flashbacks of her own mother... she wouldn't make it in time.

She faltered as she realized she wasn't fast enough and closed her eyes in despair expecting a shower of blood... Nothing came however as a hailstorm of bullets showered the unsuspecting hoard of Grim, blasting them into a smoky mess.

Standing at the centre of Vale square was a chocolate and yellow clad girl, sporting a rather large minigun and a bullet belt. Extremely fashionable sunglasses rested on her face, a brown scarf wrapped around her neck accompanied by a black beret, completing the stylish, elegant yet dangerous look. Beacon brought Reinforcements, Coco, Fox, Velvet and Yatsuhashi, team CFVY.

The giant of a man, Yatsuhashi, stood seven feet tall, as he swung his massive sword crashing into packs of Grimm. Velvet herself had a copy of what looked to be Coco's weapon tearing the Grimm down with Fox. Coco spotted the ASHNRWBY leaders letting out sighs of relief and shot them a dazzling smile accompanied by a thumbs up.

"The cavalry has arrived!" she shouted back.

"HI NOVA!" Velvet waved cheerily as she slaughtered seven Beowolves in one clip.

The young dragon awkwardly waved back unsure how she recognized him... Ruby on the other hand looked about ready to tear the rabbit a third ear.

"Ruby are you okay?" Nova asked concerned at his friend who looked just about ready to break someone in half.

Ruby smiled with a terrifying sweetness, "Of course I am!" she said as she gripped a Beowolf by the throat...without looking... and snapped it in half with her bare hands. Nova didn't know why but a cold chill ran down his spine.

"RUBY DUCK!" He yelled as he pushed the red leader to the ground, narrowly saving her neck from being torn off by the claw swipe of an alpha beowolf. The massive beast barely had time to register that it missed before a blast of fire shot out of Nova's palm and incinerated it.

"Are you okay?" He asked Ruby, the girl was still very much pinned to the ground under him.

She turned crimson, "N-Now I am..." she stared up into his mismatched orbs. The sounds of battle began droning out as Nova just found himself lost in the silver eyes that were so close to his own. He inched himself closer, Ruby made no motion to move as their noses were but a ghost of a space from touching... all that was left was for him to close the final gap...

"HEY! NO KISSING ON THE BATTLEFIELD! SAVE THAT FOR WHEN THE BREACH IS PLUGGED!" Hex yelled as she tossed a rock onto Nova's head causing the dragon to pull back and rub the spot where he was hurt.

"R-Right..." He muttered out not bothering to deny what he was about to do.

Ruby just lay there slightly dazed... and disappointed. Yet...something inside her told her... this wouldn't be the end of that...moment. She mentally shook herself; she'd confront herself later... for now there were Grimm that needed slaying.

"Anyone got any bright ideas? These things are endless..." Yang turned to her team as everyone gathered up desperate to push back the brunt of the force. They were exhausted and spent, everyone's aura was either down or low, their speeds were slowing down but the Grimm weren't.

"I may have one!" Doctor Oobleck finally piped in, he'd been holding back as many as a he could, but he wasn't exactly the most ideal combatant.

"Well spill it doc! Don't keep us waiting!" The blonde yelled in exasperation.

"Mr. Flareheart, Miss Rose, could you corral them to the hole?" The doctor inquired.

Nova and Ruby looked at each other, then back at the doctor, "We can try." They said simultaneously.

"Good, get as many as you can around the breach and I'll blast them back!"

"Blast them back? With what?!" Weiss asked incredulously looking around for explosives, but came up empty handed.

The doctor didn't bother to answer as the two leaders had already taken up action. Nova was superheating the air forcing the Grimm to unconsciously close back around the hole, unable to bare the heat. The few that strayed away were caught by rest of the team. Ruby transformed into a burst of petals and began zipping around the mass of monsters in a circle, drafting the heat as she moved creating a pillar of inferno. When most of the Grimm had been herded, she stopped her motion and came to rest next to Nova, exhausted from using her semblance so much she collapsed in his arms panting hard. He held her close, cradling her against his chest, grinning like an idiot at their handiwork.

The pillar of fire was massive, it soared into the sky like a symbol that testified to the synergistic power of ASHNRWBY. "Okay... doc... do your...thing..." Nova said with laboured breath from overusing his powers. Had he generated anymore he'd be pulling from his own lifespan.

"I still don't get what he's going to use to..." Weiss started to say but fell short when she saw Oobleck light his weapon on fire and pick up a certain corgi with the other hand.

"Zwei?" Ruby asked curiously as she observed, absolutely baffled as the corgi covered himself in aura and Oobleck threw him into the air and batted him into the mass of Grimm.

Like a fuzzy fireball, the corgi crashed into the brunt of the conglomeration of creatures and exploded like a dying star, blasting all the Grimm either to kingdom come or back through the hole. It was at that exact moment the military ships arrived and squads of soldiers filed out to clean up the straggler Grimm.

"Well... better late than never... some 'elite military unit' they are..." Blake spat as squads pushed past her to block off the hole.

"No matter what they say, I vote Zwei for MVP!" Weiss squealed picking up the soot covered puppy and nuzzling him.

"ARF!" he barked in response.

* * *

As the clean-up began drawing to a close, bullheads came to pick up the exhausted and quite literally collapsing team. The machines landed in the square and let down the ramps allowing Nova, Ruby and the others to board. Hex curled herself up next to Yang and the two were fast asleep on the ride back. Weiss and Blake were the next most exhausted people there, having been doing the majority of the fighting work along with Ruby.

The two leaders on the other hand had no other choice than to keep awake, ensuring their team made it on board and their belongings stowed away, Zwei who miraculously followed them through the entire rail way and helped them fight off a few Grimm was now sleeping on the floor of the ship.

With a heavy groan, Nova collapsed his body onto the nearest comfortable armchair, Ruby following suit next to him. He rubbed the underside of his eye and tried his best to recline, only to find out the chair did not in fact lean back, much to his displeasure.

"I'm…so…tired…" he groaned out, his usually startling white hair was covered in dust and soot, making it look almost grey. The same char smearing his face and you could see the soreness in his muscles as he moved. While he held the least injuries, his aura was depleted for several hours on end meaning he felt worse than getting hit by a truck.

Ruby giggled and leaned on his shoulder, earning a raised eyebrow from the young dragon, normally he'd sputter and try to move away from the sudden contact but he was too tired, that was until he felt a subtle softness pressing against his arm.

"R-Ruby w-what are you…" he sputtered blushing profusely. Ruby didn't look at him but her ears were slight coloured when she realized what she was doing. "I-I'm really sleepy and your arm is comfortable so uh... just let me rest…" she said until her brows furrowed and realized she couldn't sleep right now.

"No rest for the wicked or so I've heard Weiss say. Us leaders gotta stay awake to deal with all the complicated stuff," Ruby said with a pout. Nova trying to get over his embarrassment ruffled her hair.

Looking over her features, she had a few scratches on her face, a cut lip and some bruises along her arms, other than that she seemed okay, no broken bones or fatal wounds. "Yeah well you didn't have to fight a titan sized robot then face tank an explosion before fighting off a hoard of Grimm," he said flicking her forehead earning a cute 'owie'.

Ruby frowned remembering why he had to stay back, "How did you beat that thing anyway? What happened to Torchwick?" she asked. Nova rolled his eyes remembering, "The mech was easy, I just turned up the heat and it melted like butter. Torchwick, being the slippery snake that he was got away, even our resident specialist wasn't good enough to track him," he recalled. He was glad that Dr. Oobleck and Winter had left before them, on a different ship, to make a report to Ozpin otherwise that comment would have earned him a cold stare and few agitated excuses.

"At least we're not as beat up as the rest of them. That just means we can help out in their place," Ruby said her arms coming to rest at her sides, quite close to Nova's.

He frowned a bit at the mention of injuries, both Nitro and Luna suffered some serious damages, and from what Ruby told him about their adventures on the train, she pushed herself to the brink of near death with her powers. Unlike him, hers were still unstable and using them took not only tremendous mental energy but consumed more aura than his, precious aura that should have been healing her wounds from the fight against Dune. His stomach felt like he had swallowed a stone, it just sat there cold and disturbing his mental. The worry had amassed to the point where he was almost visibly shaking from the fear that his sister could possibly never recover.

Ruby felt his concern as the muscles in his arms tensed, she knew what he was thinking. She used her right arm and took hold of his left that was next to her and squeezed it gently. She looked up into his distant eyes and shook him a little, "She's going to be fine, Ellie's taking good care of her, she patched me up like it was nothing, if anyone can save your sister, it's her."

Nova barely registered the name of the person she said, his mind so fixated on Ruby's eyes that held such a determination and unwavering confidence that his sister would be okay. He had to believe she was right, for all their sakes.

* * *

**-At Beacon-**

Nova and Ruby stood outside the infirmary, staring at the beige door as though it was the one thing that separated them from an uncertainty, they weren't sure they wanted confirmed. Nova rubbed his arm nervously as if trying to raise the will power to open that door.

"Are you gonna go in or are we going to have to force you out of the way?" A voice came from behind them. The two nearly had a mild heart attack from the surprise as the atmospheric intensity they had created was like a thin veil that separated them from the rest of the world. Yang, Weiss, Blake and Hex were standing their arms folded. Dark circles under all their eyes and even Blake and Weiss had a few purple bruises on their usually unblemished faces.

"What are you all doing here? You should be resting?!" Ruby yelled frantically, zipping in and out of their group looking over their various injuries, only to be comedically picked up by the scruff of her hood by the yellow brawler.

"Chillax sis, you think a few scratches are gonna stop us from checking on our resident psychic and favourite dumbass?" Yang put her down.

"Seriously, you'd think you knew us by now, we're just as worried as you are. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't know she was okay." Weiss said with a huff.

Blake smiled, "Nitro is probably fine, but Luna is our little sister to."

Nova's heart melted a little at the sight before him, it made him feel so good to see that his sister who, had spent her entire life with no one else but him, was accepted by so many people.

Hex poked a finger at Nova and Ruby's chests. "We should be the ones telling you to get some rest, you refused medical treatment when the ships arrived and you haven't even gotten a wink of sleep."

"We totally got sleep, we're fine, right Ruby?" Nova turned to the red hooded girl as if to get help with his lie.

Ruby was about to answer but the look Hex and Yang shot them said otherwise, there was no lying to the group's pair of older sisters.

"Okay fine, so are we ready for this?" Nova looked at them.

They all nodded affirmatively, Nova reached out for the door handle but it was opened before he could touch the handle. Ellie, looking quite frustrated and tired glared daggers at the team, her hair was still wrapped up in the beanie and her sweater was replaced by a long white lab coat.

"Are you kids done? I have two patients in here trying to rest, one of which just got out of surgery." She said agitated.

"SURGERY?!" All of them yelled in surprise. Ellie felt a vein throb in her head as she yanked all of them inside. "I SAID PIPE DOWN!" she said in a hushed whisper.

Nova felt his heart stop when he saw Luna on the hospital bed. Her hair spread around her as she rested on the white mattress. Bandages around her arms and legs, her rib cage was also wrapped in what appeared to be a supporting vest.

Nitro was sleeping soundly on the other bed, a bandage wrapped around his head but overall, he looked alright.

"Four broken ribs, two spinal fractures, a severe concussion, both arms were broken and her left fingers were almost all smashed. On top of that, she had two counts of internal bleeding and her brain was deprived of oxygen she almost died of asphyxiation. What in the world did she do to get that much damage? Fight a Goliath?" the woman sighed heavily as she leaned against the nearby wall.

"H-How is she…" Nova choked out, everyone else in the room was too shocked to speak, Ruby herself was quite mortified.

"She'll be alright. My semblance is healing, normally I can't heal fatal injuries and she had several. It's amazing she survived as long as she did, girl's got the will power of a god. I performed surgery to remove the splintered bones in her arm and used metal to connect what was left. Her ribs weren't shattered so those will heal over time, the spinal fractures were minor and weren't fatal, just a few small cracks that should heal with my semblance. Her left hand will be out of commission for a long time until the nerves reform." she concluded, causing everyone in the room to release a relieved sigh they didn't know they were holding.

"Will she be able to join us in the field again?" Blake asked tentatively. Ellie raised an eyebrow, "Surprisingly, yes. It will be a few weeks until she's fully functional again but she'll make it. She's a fighter, for a girl so small I'm genuinely impressed." The older woman responded.

"Words can't express how grateful I am Doctor but, thank you…. Thank you so much for saving my sister." Nova hugged the woman, causing her to become embarrassed from the physical display of gratitude.

"No problem kid, it's my duty as a doctor," she said releasing herself from him. Ruby then turned and hugged her.

"So uhh, you're the lady from the train?" Weiss asked breaking the collective silence from them.

"Ah yes you must be so confused, my real name's actually Elain, my friends call me Ellie for short." she held out her hand for Nova to shake, who took it confused. That name….

"Nice to meet you Doctor," he responded cautiously.

"I already know of Ruby and her team from what she's told me, she found me in Mt. Glenn, afterall." She said pulling out a cigarette from her pocket and opening a window, lighting it and taking a long puff.

Nova looked at Ruby questioningly, "Long story," the girl responded.

"Wait you're smoking..." Weiss pointed out.

Elain looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, "Yes and?"

"Well you're a doctor... aren't you supposed to... you know..."

Elain drew a long breath and released a pillar of smoke, "Kid, when you've seen the shit I've seen... you'll need something to take the edge off. Besides... I can just heal own lungs when I'm done." She said waving off the heiress.

"Well when you put it that way..."

* * *

"Dr. Elain, I don't know how I could repay you…" Nova started but Elain held up her hand with the cigarette.

"Don't thank me kid, like I said it was my duty… besides I couldn't lose another one…" she said solemnly.

"Another one?" Nova asked, a feeling rising in the pits of his soul… he couldn't explain. The woman before him looked so familiar, as if he'd seen her before. And that name… it couldn't be…

"Yeah, a long time ago, I had two kids, the tiny things. There was an… unfortunate event that happened when they were young. My husband and I were separated from them. My little girl would probably be around her age right now," she said gesturing to the sleeping Luna.

Nova felt his heart stop for what seemed to be the thirteenth time today. His eyes went wide and his hands started shaking. She couldn't possibly… His body felt cold and Ruby just stared at his reaction, unsure of what was becoming of him.

"E-Elain… y-your kids…" Nova said shakily. The older woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow, the soot covered boy staring at her. "It wouldn't happen to have been nine years since you last saw them would it?" he said, unsure he was even speaking, his throat was dry and he looked so scared.

"Yes… how could you possibly…" She said, she looked him over just once and it hit her like a someone swung a sledgehammer at her gut. Nova wiped his face on his sleeve, rubbing away any extra soot that was clouding his features. Elain could see it now, on his face, on his sister's face, the looked so similar.

"W-what's the name of your sister…" Elain said her eyes shadowed over. Nova swallowed hard, "Luna, Luna Sapphire Flareheart, and my name is…"

"Nova Alexandrite Flareheart." She choked out, tears running down her face as she stared, a wave of emotions just crashing over her. She tore off her beanie to reveal the blue and orange hair with accompanying wolf ears. Nova's entire world seemed to crumble away before him as he stared her down, not daring to speak as if his words would betray him.

"M-M-Mom…?" he finally choked out, his voice cracking as tears were spilling from his eyes like streams. Team RWBY and Hex watched the scene unfold not daring to say a word. All eyes wide at what was being revealed before them.

Elain walked up, slowly to Nova as if he were a ghost and any sudden movement would blow him away into the wind. She gingerly reached out her hand to touch his face. The ghostly faint feeling of her palm against his cheek as though he were a fragile doll. She could see it clearly now, the resemblance, that fire, those eyes. That stupid wide grin, he was undoubtedly her son.

"My little dragon…." And with those words she hugged him so fiercely, as though if she were to let go, he would disappear between her fingers.

Nova, crying his eyes out returned the hug, feeling his mother's embrace once more, the wave of emotions came pouring through, breaching the gates that had held them back for so long.

"MOM!" He said amidst his sobbing, Ruby felt tears forming in her eyes as well as she watched the heartfelt exchange. The two finally released and Elain took a good look at him.

"Nine years… oh god look how big you've gotten," she said gauging their height differences, he was in fact almost an entire head above her. "You look so much like your father. And your Eyes! What the hell happened to your eyes?!" she asked incredulously, the burning red eyes he once had was now a mismatched pair that looked as though they had seen living hell. The scar running down his face, the body built like a lean mean, Grimm killing machine... though his form was slimmer than she expected…

"What happened to you…" She said solemnly, then turning to the sleeping form of Luna, gently caressing her face. "My daughter… oh my sweet baby girl," she teared up realizing the girl who had fought against all that pain and suffering, who saved all their lives at nearly the cost of her own was her very own daughter.

Suddenly Elain smacked Nova hard on the head.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" He half yelled turning to see his crying mother. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LETTING YOUR SISTER RUN AROUND HALF DEAD?!" she yelled back causing Nova to wince.

"Anyone wanna explain what's going on here?" Weiss said exasperated that the two had essentially ignored everyone else's existence. Nova wiped the tears from his eyes and turned to everyone, "Weiss, Yang, Blake, Hex, Ruby, I want you guys to meet my mother, Elain Flareheart."

They all smiled warmly, Hex cut in, "Sooo Mama Flareheart, you been gone a long time."

Elain nodded slowly, "I think I should find out what my son and daughter have been up to while I've been absent,"

"Mom… you have… a lot to catch up on…" he said, there was one burning question. "Where's dad?"

At the mention of her husband Elain face turned solemn, "Your father is… Well after we got separated from you two, the White Fang set us on some rather… painful endeavours…" She said rubbing her arms.

"What do you mean?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"Onyx wanted me to create a formula for the Aegis gene, you know that thing in your DNA that gives you your powers," She gestured to Nova and he nodded. "See I figured out how to not only stabilize existing Aegis powers, but also… create them." Everyone in the room stared bug eyed, mouth agape. "WHAT?!" was the resounding response.

"Yeah see, I figured out how to mutate Faunus cells to produce power akin to the Aegis using nano machines. Well at least had a volatile prototype. Anyway, he wanted it to fuel his army, I wanted nothing to do with them. They kidnapped us and forced us to work for them. It was either we worked or they would kill one of us. If I didn't do my job, they would kill your father, and if he didn't do his then they would kill me." She hung her head, fists clenched in rage.

"But… please don't take this the wrong way but, If they had you, what reason would they need to keep your husband? Why not kidnap the kids, kill the husband and force you hostage?" Weiss said rather bluntly, causing everyone to just stare at her as if she were some mutated beast. "What?"

"Fair question Schnee, see, I'm the doctor and while I do a little tinkering here and there, my husband is the real mechanical genius. I only know a few things from him, my specialty is the medical science. So, while I'm working to make his super soldier serum, my husband is engineering their army, fortifying their weapons and soldiers. They split us up so we wouldn't see each other, I was sent to their genetics research team in Mt Glenn while he was sent to god knows where." she explained.

Nova drank it all in, a mix of fear, worry, impulse and happiness were swimming around like a witch's brew in his mind. Fear of the potential super army, worry for his father, impulse to go save him and happiness just knowing his parents weren't dead.

"I guess it's only fair you know what's been going on…" Nova looked at her nervously.

"Tell me… everything." She pulled up a chair, squashing the lit end of her cigarette on an ash try. Nova turned back to his team and Ruby placed hand on his shoulder.

"Alright it's gonna be a looong story…." He said.

**-One long story later-**

"Annnd that sums up what's been going on so far…" Nova finished telling the story. Most of his team had already lumbered off to bed saying they'd rather not hear the recount of their 'achievements'. Hex, Ruby and Nova were the only ones who stayed behind. The dark circles that had been around Ruby and Nova's eyes all day were even more prominent now as the evening descended into night.

"So, you fought Adam? And Lived? Who the hell taught you how to fight? Wait where did you even…" the woman stared shocked. Nova just smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Umm… my master, Randolf Wulf…"

"Did you say... Randolf…Wulf…" Elain said again almost in disbelief.

"Yeah he took care of us and trained us how to fight, well him and Ruby's Uncle Qrow." He explained. Elain looked at the little red and she just blushed.

"Is Wulf around? He's got some explaining to do..." Elain said with a tone hinting something unknown.

"Uhh sure, he's supposed to be here somewhere…" as Nova was about to pick up his scroll to call Randolf, the door to the infirmary flew open, to reveal a rather dishevelled and distraught Wulf. "Speak of the devil…"

"Nova what's happening?! I heard your sister's in Intensive Care and I came as fast as I could…" his voice died down as his eyes drifted onto a certain blue and orange haired woman in a lab coat.

"Oh no…" he gulped, his form visibly shaking as he held up his hand. "H-Hey Ellie… nice to see you…"

"NICE TO SEE ME?! Nice to see me my ass!" She roared as she leapt off her chair and sent a fist flying into the older man's face.

Nova, Ruby and Hex just looked on confused. "Dude, is your mom… on crack?" Hex whispered only for Nova to shoot her a disdained look.

"This is confusing for me to" he replied.

"Um… Mom…. Can you explain…." Nova stared up at the two. They paused their mini squabble to gaze back at the young dragon. They coughed into their hands comically before straightening themselves up.

"Ahem yes… Nova… your 'Master' over here is…." She started.

"Her brother." Randolf finished.

"WHAT?!" Came the resounding confusion once more for the night.

"Randolf you're my uncle? Why didn't you say anything…" Nova felt slightly betrayed.

"Um. Well, you see… At first when I found you two, I had no idea who you were since you both share your father's Faunus trait. Secondly, I only confirmed that I was when I left you both on to go hunting down Onyx. I met your mother at a White Fang warehouse in Mistral before they moved her to Mt. Glenn, and then I heard the story from her and I figured it out." He explained rubbing the back of his head.

Elain just smacked him again, "And your dumbass didn't even tell me my kids were at Beacon. We worked together at that facility, you helped me hide the prototype nanomachines! You had so many opportunities..."

"To be fair, I was a pretending to be a White Fang soldier and you were my superior, there were a lot of guards and no secure way to tell you… besides, I thought they were at Haven until a few months ago..." he tried to rationalize but realized he couldn't. "I'm sorry Ellie, I should have found a way to tell you…"

"Damn right you should have… I bet you were a terrible guardian." She huffed, the childish display causing everyone in the room to feel a sweat drop.

"Oi, I was a great caretaker thank you very much. If it weren't for me these two would still be starving in the streets by now…" He explained his eyebrow twitching, along with his ears.

"What…?" Elain said in a soft and quiet voice. The mood in the room drastically shifted.

"He didn't tell you?" Randolf gestured to Nova who just stood there, Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What is he talking about?" Elain asked her son, her voice scared of itself.

"B-Before he found… er we found him. Luna and I… lived on the streets." He said, flinching at the look of horror on his mother's face. "After the fire, Uncle Quartz helped us escape but he was… he was…" Nova visibly shuddered, Elain placed a hand over her mouth and looked downward.

"I took Luna and ran; we camped out in an alley and then boarded the next ship off the island. We went to Mistral and lived on the streets for about a year before we were eventually chased out of the city." The young dragon gravitated closer to Ruby unconsciously, the memories were bad and he instinctively sought comfort, to which she obliged.

"How did you survive?" Elain choked out.

"Scraps mostly, you'd be surprised what rich people throw away in their garbage. If I got the chance to lynch some Lien off some chump, I'd use it to buy food for Luna, couldn't have her eating the trash you know?" Nova rubbed the back of his neck looking down, uncomfortable about recalling this time period.

"You poor...poor thing. Oh, my sweet child," Elain burst into tears and crushed her son in a hug to which he flailed helplessly.

"ACK! YOU'RE CRUSHING MY RIBS!" his cries for release went unheard. "Seriously mom, we're fine, we survived."

She wiped her tears, "You said you were chased out? You didn't leave by choice?" she asked confused.

"Yeah well, when a crazy crackhead tries to kill you and your sister and you kill him in self-defence, the odds don't look too good for two homeless kids covered in blood when the cops show up. Especially two Faunus kids… and the local racist neighbours decided to speak out against you just nets you in a worse situation. So, when the time came, I hauled Luna on my back and we ran into the forest. That's where we met Randolf." Nova finished.

"Oh, that makes sense…. YOU WHAT?!" Elain felt her eyes bugging out and a migraine coming on. She had to sit back down and rub her temples for a bit while Ruby flinched at her outburst. The woman was either bipolar or crazy with all these mood swings.

"You've killed a man, granted it was in self-defence but you still killed somebody… at the age of eight? Nine?" she reached into her coat pocket and withdrew another cigarette and lit it. Inhaling deeply and breathing out a billow of smoke, she said "My eldest child has blood on his hands… next you're gonna tell me you survived a near death experience and stole from the SDC."

Nova laughed and Ruby felt herself get sick. The reaction on their faces made his mother pale, "Well…." He started.

"Please don't…." she dragged her free hand across her face.

"I was kinda sorta bleeding to death after that fight with Adam and…." He was about to continue when Randolf finished for him realizing it probably made his sister feel sick that her son was talking about his practical death.

"We managed to save him with the nanomachine serum you left behind for them!" Randolf interjected. He held out the remaining blue vial of nanomachines left for Luna. He had brought it with him in case he needed to give it to the girl to save her life, just like he did with Nova.

"So, you did find my prototypes... In that giant Facility? AND YOU GAVE IT TO HIM WHILE HE WAS ON THE BRINK OF DEATH?!" she said quite flabbergasted.

"…. Yes? Well Nova found it…" he gestured to her son.

"The instructions I left with the serum were that, introduction to new cells in your body of foreign, non-organic type, would cause tremendous pain. It was to be administered when the subject was in perfect health. Anything less and you risk potential death due to mental overexertion." She said her eye twitching. "AND YOU GAVE IT TO MY DYING SON, HE COULD HAVE LITERALLY EXPIRED!" She screamed.

Ruby piped in, "It did save his life… the wounds caused by Adam weren't closing up. There was so much blood…" she shuddered.

Elain sighed, "At least it worked, though I'm not sure what side effects it had on you."

"Side effects?" Hex asked as she sat near Nitro looking over her sleeping brother, raising an eyebrow at Nova who just shrugged.

"I'll ask Ozpin if I can get set up in the school somewhere. I'll need to you to come by once a week at least to make sure you're… functioning…" she said looking over her son, sticking fingers in his mouth, observing his fangs and shining lights in his eyes.

"What side effects could I be facing?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"Provided you haven't had any yet…. They could be anything really, depends on how you were when you took them. Patients I tested before, specifically rats, tended to rather violent behaviour, half dead and/or crippled rats went insane, started running into walls and eating their own kind." She said nonchalantly.

Nova visibly shuddered, "I'm not going to try and eat my friends, am I?" he looked toward Ruby who made a squeak.

"Hmmm probably not… if you start hearing voices in your head please inform me immediately." She said extinguishing her cigarette.

"I don't know Mrs. E, with or without the side effects, I bet he _wants_ to eat a certain _someone_." Hex snickered pointing to Ruby. The girl in red just tilted her head in confusion while Nova turned the colour of Ruby's hood.

"HEX THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" He yelled trying to cover his embarrassment.

Elain looked at the interaction curiously, well well… at least he's not asexual, she smiled. The people in the room swapped stories for a bit more until the night grew into itself.

"I shouldn't be keeping you all up anymore, you should get some rest." Elain said with a yawn.

"I'm heading to bed but uhh… should I get those two?" Hex asked the older woman with a smile. Elain raised her eyebrow and followed Hex's gaze only to smile warmly.

Sitting on two chairs next to each other, Nova and Ruby were quietly snoring away, leaning on each other for comfort. The chill of the room caused them to unconsciously draw closer to each other until they were practically interlocked, Ruby's arms draped around Nova, her head resting under his chin, as they slept in the armless chairs. Nova's right arm was clutching Ruby.

"It's adorable isn't?" Hex said snapping a picture.

"Are they a couple?" Elain asked seeing the two of them so comfortable in each other's personal space.

"Not yet, those two idiots are too dense to notice each other's feelings." Hex groaned quietly as she shuffled out the door, "Gonna show Yang this…."

Elain shook her head, "What am I going to do with you?" she smiled before draping her lab coat around them, not wanting to ruin the image. She closed up the infirmary windows and left with Randolf.

* * *

**AND WHAM! Nova and Luna finally have their mom back. That's one parent down, one to go... just one small step on their quest to reclaim their lives. **

**Next chapter should be up by friday/this weekend hopefully. **


	23. Chapter 23: Red Flames

**I actually finished this like way earlier but decided to release it as a Friday special even if it is a short chapter. My cousin's baby got me sick so instead of delaying chapters I'm just going to use it as an excuse to write more and procrastinate everything else.**

* * *

**Chapter 23: Ashen Rose**

* * *

Ozpin sat in his office, as he usually did, reading over the report Oobleck and Winter made regarding the incident at Mount Glenn. If what they said was true, then Onyx was working three steps ahead of them. If they weren't careful, they might lose the war before it even had a chance to properly start.

He breathed a heavy sigh and placed down the documents and turned off his scroll, deciding to recline in his chair and cherishing the few minutes of reclusive peace he had left before...

"OZPIN!" Randolf said as he burst through the elevator doors, accompanied by a woman in a lab coat.

The headmaster rubbed his temples, "And to what do I owe the pleasure of this late-night visit Mr. Wulf?" The tiredness and tone of his voice said that he wasn't in the mood to entertain anyone, which made the male wolf recoil. This felt like a repeat of the first mission, someone ends up in the hospital and he is gifted with less than pleasant visits.

"My apologies for barging in here so late Oz, I'm sure you have your hands full handling the logistics of the breach and what not but there's someone that needs to meet you..."

Elain strut toward the bespectacled man and stood staring down at him. Her ocean blue eyes met his brown ones as they both attempted to read the other, "And you are..." He studied her face, "Doctor Elain Flareheart I presume?"

The blue and orange haired woman smiled as if she'd expected the astute assumption, "It was always a wonder how you seemed to know everything before it could happen... though it looks like the one person you can't predict is your enemy."

Ozpin bit his lip and smiled, "Your fiery personality certainly lives up to the stories from your brother." He got up and shook her hand firmly. The exchange was strictly professional but it felt like they were greeting each other like old friends.

"And you're just as shrewd as I'd heard. I assume you know how I got here from the report earlier?" She gestured to the papers on the desk with a sly smile.

Ozpin chuckled, "Indeed... so... how bad is the damage?" he asked referring to the state of the White Fang.

"After this incident? Pretty bad, your kids blew up their biggest genetics research facility and stole their leading researcher." She pointed a thumb at herself. "The problem is the remaining scientists already have the knowledge they need to work on their own. If they actually took the time to understand what we were working on... I'm pretty sure they'd be self-sufficient within a few months... a year at best."

"So... would you be willing to help us? We would be honored to have your brilliant mind on our side..." He asked referring to the fight against Onyx, though he knew her answer, the question was obligatory.

"After what he did to my family? You bet your ass I'm in... but I am going to need a lab... or some base of operation. I was thinking of taking over Beacon's clinic."

"Consider all our resources at your disposal. Concerning your lodgings, I'm sure you'd like to spend time with your children..."

Elain laughed, "No need. I'll bunk with Randolf, wherever he's staying, so you don't need to overturn your dorms to fit me."

"That... might be a problem... Qrow's staying with me, he's off on a mission right now so you're free to bunk in my dorm but when he comes back..." Wulf said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, he hated to admit it but he rather liked Qrow's company... and the wrath of his sister was not something he wanted to incur on his residency.

Elain sighed and rubbed under her eyes, "Abandoning your flesh and blood for a man? That's cold... even for you." she joked slapping his shoulder.

"We're only half-siblings so not fully flesh and blood, your gracious father abandoned me when he found out I was an illegitimate child. Besides you're gonna find fault with everything I do anyway right? I'd rather like having no nagging women in my room." He said turning his nose up to the air.

Ozpin felt a sweat drop, it was like watching two children fighting. "I'll make arrangements with one Professor Goodwitch, she's got space in her apartment if I'm not mistaken..."

* * *

**-Back at the Infirmary-**

Nova snuggled closer into the warm surface he was leaning on, it staved off the chill of the room, it was very soft and comfortable. That was until he realized his back kinda hurt, maybe he should rollover… why was his bed so hard? Grumbling a little he opened his eyes slowly to see the dimmed lights of the room… who left his lights on?

Feeling more irritated he moved to get up only to feel his arm held down by a familiar weight. Now relatively awake he opened his eyes fully to see he was still in the infirmary. Ruby quietly snoring away on his arm, the familiar scent of roses and sunshine permeated his nostrils and his mother's coat draped over him.

Ruby felt a shift in her pillow and she cuddled it closer, lightly nomming down on his arm. He had to restrain every fiber in his body from laughing as she lightly chewed on his sleeve.

"…Best cookie… taste like strawberry…" she murmured to which he fully lost it. Before he could stop himself his body reverberated from the laugh, she was just too cute for him to contain himself.

The vibrations of his body stirred her rest, "Mmmmm," she sounded, rubbing her eyes and staring up at Nova. Her sleep riddled face and pouty lips were just too cute for him to handle.

"Sorry did I wake you?" he asked in a hushed tone, half smiling as he gazed down at her.

"What time is it…?" she said groggily straightening herself. If she was being honest it was probably the best sleep of her life and it was cut short.

Nova looked at his wristwatch, "About two in the morning, looks like we fell asleep in the infirmary," he confirmed.

"Too tired… want more sleep…" She murmured once more snuggling back into his arm. Nova blushed furiously, "Ruby we haven't showered in like three days, we probably should." He said realizing they still had smudges of dirt on their faces.

Ruby shot up, "Oh gosh do I smell that bad?"

Nova chuckled, "No of course not. You always smell good Ruby, like roses and freshly baked cookies. It might be because of your semblance." He complimented her, earning a bright red Ruby.

"S-Shut up.. I'm going to shower." She said getting up from her spot.

"You're gonna wake your team if you barge in there," he said matter of factly. She stopped in her tracks midway from opening the infirmary door.

"Then how do you suppose I get cleaned up? I'll just be super quiet." She tried to rationalize.

Nova thought for a moment, "You could always use my bathroom? Hex is a super-duper heavy sleeper, plus your door creaks loudly ever since Yang used a laser pointer and caused Blake to crash into it." He pointed out. Ruby burst into laughter remembering the event, who knew the red dot had the same effect on cat Faunus as it did on actual cats.

They quietly exited the room, careful not to disturb the sleeping Luna and Nitro. The soft beeping of the monitors was the only thing else that sounded off as he stole a glance at his sister. Her unconscious form broke his heart, knowing the pain she put herself through for them.

"Wait what am I going to do about clothes? I can't exactly change back into this," Ruby asked, gesturing to herself as they walked down the hallways of Beacon to team ASHN's dorm room.

"Y-you could always borrow umm… Hex's or Luna's clothes. I'm sure something would fit…" he said choosing his words carefully.

"They wouldn't mind?"

"Doubt it."

* * *

They entered the ASHN room to find it surprisingly empty.

"Looks like Hex is sleeping in your room," Nova said walking inside, pulling off his hoodie and tossing it onto the bed. He was just standing there in his black undershirt and combat pants. his boots long kicked off to the corner.

Ruby gazed around the orange room, it was her first time being actually inside it. It was incredibly neat, minus the beds which were all messed up. Heavy curtains blocked out any city lights. It was otherwise identical to her own team's room.

Nova moved to Hex's bed and pulled on her clothing drawers, instead of coming out like he expected... they didn't budge.

"Well shit." He cursed. Ruby looked at him confused, "What's up?" she asked.

He sighed, "Hex fingerprint locked her clothes… _of course_ she did."

"So what now?" Ruby asked ready to go in her room and possibly risk an angry collaboration of girls.

"Hold up let me try…" He moved to Luna's stash of clothes. It was open thankfully.

"Blue's is open so uh feel free to borrow anything," he said nervously gesturing to the open set of drawers.

Ruby nodded awkwardly and began filtering through the various fabrics, it felt strange borrowing the clothes of someone who was currently in the hospital.

They were all pretty much the same outfit with minor variations, a few sleeping shirts and sweats but nothing in her size. She turned to face Nova, blushing from embarrassment at rummaging through someone else's clothes, "It's all too small…" she said.

"Seriously?!" Nova looked incredulously, he should've expected it since his sister was so tiny but he'd hoped _something _at least would've fit. He assumed they shared sizes but it seemed she was two sizes too small. "Can't you like squeeze into something?" he offered in question. She just placed her hands on her hips and gave him an 'are you kidding?' look.

"Girl's sizes don't work like that, especially not this type of clothing." She held up the non-elastic cotton pants.

"Right… well… I probably have something… you can go ahead and shower I'll find something for sure." He said turning red. Realizing the implications of this she felt steam coming out of her ears. She just nodded wordlessly and went to the bathroom and relaxed in the much needed hot bath. The warm waters soaked into her skin and washed away the events of their mission.

This was honestly the filthiest she'd ever been since that time she fell into a mud puddle while chasing Zweil... or that food fight... She was silently thankful for the fact that Nova was too sweet to actually point out that she was this filthy.

"H-Hey Ruby, I uh… left some clothes o-outside the door so j-just grab it w-when you're done." Nova called as he moved to lay down on his bed turning himself away from the door.

He buried his head in the pillow trying desperately not to turn around when he heard the door open for a brief second _Calm down, calm down... think nothing of it... oh who am I kidding... the girl I'm in love with is changing in my bathroom, how the hell am I supposed to stay calm?_ A few minutes later, Ruby came out, completely oblivious to Nova's inner turmoils.

"O-okay I'm done…" she said nervously tugging at the clothes she was dressed in. She was wearing Nova's signature orange and black hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. The clothing was far too big for her but the string on the pants tied in a knot to keep it secured while the sleeves of the hoodie were just too long, covering her arms entirely.

Nova couldn't help but stare at her, entirely enamored. She looked incredibly cute in his clothes and he could feel a twinge of pride bubbling in him with that observation. His heart fluttering as their eyes met... how he wanted nothing more than to...

Ruby blushed hard under his stare, "I-I m-made sure to leave some of the hot water so..." she squeaked tearing her gaze from his and staring at the floor.

Nodding he grabbed his clothes and headed for the bathroom himself. Once he was securely gone into the shower, Ruby plopped herself down on his bed. She was a little embarrassed to use the other beds given that she only had permission from Nova, though she doubted any of them would mind.

She spent the next few minutes rolling around in his sheets and going absolutely crazy. Everything smelled like him. The pillows, the blanket, her clothes, they all smelled like cinnamon and campfires. She couldn't stop herself from grabbing onto his pillow and drinking in the scent, nuzzling it contently.

She was so caught up in what she was doing, she didn't hear the bathroom door open.

"Having fun?" came the male voice as he stood drying his hair. Ruby turned crimson as she let out a small 'eep', before sitting up on his bed. He was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and black shorts, his freshly washed hair was now startlingly white again, his face clean of smudges of dirt and she could see every inch of it in the room light.

"I was um… you know… um… you smell like… I mean the bed smells like cinnamon and I…." she tried in vain to defend herself.

Nova chuckled and plopped down on the bed next to her, chucking the wet towel across the room. She blushed at the idea she was sitting in bed next to the man she was clearly head over heels for.

"These past few days were quite… eventful." Nova said leaning back against the headboard, his pillow behind him for comfort. Ruby was sitting near the wall leaned against it with the other pillow. The hoodie pulled over her knees as she sat with them hugged to her chest.

She snorted at his statement, "Eventful? I fell down a hundred-foot hole after battling a pack of Grim in a wasteland, then stopping a train loaded with explosives. I'd say that classifies as a thriller."

"Yeah well I fought a fifty-foot tall robot and helped stop a Grimm breach. Then I found my mother...well you found her first but still." He countered.

She lightly kicked his arm, "Hey I was there for the breach to you know."

He smiled, "Alright you win."

She made a quiet 'yiss' sound and fist-pumped. Her childish antics never ceased to make him feel happy. His smile died down quickly however, the knitting of his brows and scrunched up eyes signalled to Ruby he was in deep thought.

"Are you okay?" she asked looking concerned for her friend.

The young dragon's expression relaxed but still looked kinda sad, "I was just… I was thinking about… Luna."

Ruby felt herself get depressed as well, the blue girl had practically sacrificed her life to save them all, and the people of Vale. "Hey your mom said she's going to be okay," Ruby scooted closer, now also leaning against the headboard of the bed, next to him.

"Yeah I know, it's just… it had me thinking." He said solemnly.

"About?"

"How easily any of us could die at a given moment." His statement shocked her. "We signed up to be Huntsmen and Huntresses, we knew the risks when we did."

Ruby nodded, "We all chose this path for a reason, I want to be a hero like my mom was. Like the heroes in the stories I read as a kid, I wanted to protect the people of Remnant from the Grimm threat. You may not have exactly chosen this path, but you're on it for a reason."

Nova brought his legs up to meet his chest and folded his arms over it, "I just want a world where the people I love can live together in peace. Without the threat of terrorists, or Grimm. My whole life I've been fighting and fighting. I'm just… so tired Ruby. I feel like no matter how much I fight, I'm not getting anywhere." He didn't understand himself… why was he feeling so emotionally vulnerable?

She felt a pang in her heart, every instinct was telling her to hug him and tell him everything would be okay but that's not what he needed. She thought on her words before speaking up, "Don't say that."

Nova looked up shocked.

"Don't say that you aren't getting anywhere. You have been doing a lot, you have been getting there. Look at Luna, she's a strong, kid with an innocence and kindness that only exists because you sacrificed for her. You found your mom, you know your dad is alive. You made a new life for yourself and your friends here at Beacon. All of them are happy right now because of you, and they wouldn't have it any other way." She said grabbing his face and turning it toward her so their eyes met.

"You are the strongest person I've ever met, you are determined, selfless, kind. You might be kinda crazy and sure you're a dumbass sometimes but that's just who you are. You're twice the leader I am, so you can't give up. Ever." She finished, releasing his face.

Nova was at a loss for words, "Y-you think so? I mean I'm definitely nowhere near that..."

"I've never been surer in my life." She stared him in the eye, the unwavering confidence they held, Nova felt a light flutter in his heart. He was silent for a moment, his head tilted toward his knees now, looking away from her.

"There is one thing you aren't right about though," he finally said. She gave him a confused look.

"You said I was twice the leader you are," he smiled and looked to her again. "You're every bit of the leader I am Ruby. I'd think maybe even a bit more." she looked about ready to question him when he continued.

"You're cheerful and sweet, you got this charisma that just makes everyone around you want to be your friend." He was smiling now, looking through her eyes, into her soul. "You have this child-like innocence that's just endearing and you can take charge quickly regardless of the situation. I might be this 'mature' and 'professional' leader, but you are the flexible, caring leader. You embody a lot of the things I'm not." He said his tone serious but also amiable.

She just gaped, blushing red at what he was saying, unable to find her voice because of the words of flattery. They were striking her heart deeply, especially since it was coming from the person she admired and cared for the most.

Nova continued to ramble, unable to stop himself, "You're super funny, and incredibly smart when it matters. You always make the mood in the room a few stages cheerier because when you smile it's like you're outclassing the sun." the words flowed as naturally as he breathed because they came from his heart.

"You're perfect in every sense of the word and you don't even know it, and that's just some of the reasons why I love you." He finished, a dazed smile on his face as he stared into her silver orbs.

Her expression was now baffled and completely red and she felt her heart stop for a moment. Did he just say what she think he just said?

Nova's smile gradually morphed to absolute horror as he realized the words he'd uttered.

Instantly he jumped away from her to the other side of the bed, his face a look of pure terror. "I've said too much… Oh god I've made things awkward."

Ruby's expression was unreadable as her bangs covered her eyes and Nova felt his heart sink as his mind wandered to the possibility he'd just ruined everything.

"J-Just forget everything I just said, pretend you heard nothing!" Nova tried desperately to cover for himself.

"D-Do you mean that?" she asked, her voice, barely a small squeak.

Nova instantly got serious, he could pretend nothing happened but he couldn't deny that everything he'd told her about herself was the truth, "Every word of it...I understand if you don't wanna be friends with me anymore…"

Ruby moved from her spot and slapped him hard, "You dumbass!" she said.

He was positively shocked to see that despite her teary eyes, she was smiling, a beaming grin.

"Why would I ever want you to go away?" she was now leaning over him, his back pressed to the wall so he had nowhere to go.

"Because, you clearly don't have feelings for me the same way I do for you an-" he was cut off when a pair of warm, soft lips clamped over his own. He was frozen for a moment, completely caught off guard, eventually he melted completely, relaxing into the feeling. The fact that she was kissing him could only mean one thing...

Her hands cupped his face and his arms instinctively snaked around her back pulling her closer. He returned the kiss, pulling her up to him and tenderly holding her, she tasted like strawberry cookies if those were a thing, and he wanted nothing more than to just savour every moment of it.

They eventually broke for air and she was now in his lap, her forehead resting against his, their noses pressed up against one another.

"Does that clear things up?" She asked nervously, slightly out of breath, never once in all her fantasies did she think that she'd be the one to make the first move.

He couldn't contain his smile, and nodded, "Most definitely." He released her and she rolled over back onto the bed sitting next to him, her head resting on his shoulder.

"That was emotionally exhausting," he said causing her to hit him lightly.

"You think?" she said with a light laugh. "Do you have any idea how long I've been wanting to do this?" she asked taking his hand in hers and interlocking their fingers.

"I realized I liked you… as in like-liked you… since that day we spent together, when we went to get ice-cream." He confirmed.

She gawked, "Seriously?! I sorta had a crush on you since you first came to Beacon."

Nova mentally slapped himself. "That long?! Well to be fair you did attract me since the weapon store…" he countered.

"Is this a competition now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nova just laughed, "Alright, we should probably get some sleep, we don't have classes tomorrow since it's the weekend but it's already like four a.m and I don't wanna sleep 'til two in the afternoon."

"Yeah you're right…" she reluctantly got off the bed and was moving to Hex's when Nova stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked quirking his brow.

"I don't want to bother you by sleeping in your bed…" she stammered out.

"Ruby Rose, we have literally fallen asleep together like four times, you also just took my first kiss. Do you really think it would bother me to sleep in the same bed with you?" he asked folding his arms.

"To be fair most of those were accidents…" she tried to reason but quickly caved. She really liked sleeping next to him, he was just so warm and comfortable. He just shot her the 'really?' look and she just smiled giddily and climbed back into bed next to him.

She snuggled herself under his arm, her head resting on his chest. Nova smiled contently as he cuddled closer to her, "So… does this mean we're… you know…" he left the sentence hanging with the silent implication. "Yeah… I guess it does…" she responded.

Nova blushed again, "Good night Ruby."

"Good night my dragon," she said causing him to severely blush at the nickname. "And Nova?"

"Hm?"

"I love you too," She squeaked before tilting her head upward and kissing him under the chin.

Nova just sputtered a moment before tugging her closer and nuzzling into the top of her head and returning a kiss. It wasn't long before they fell into what could only be described as the best sleep of their lives.

* * *

**The Dragon finally finds his mate. I gave myself gushing butterflies and a toothache writing this. Hope I didn't give everyone cavities... **

**Short chapter I know but this was literally the perfect ending to this chapter. **

**This story is far from over, in fact... it's barely even begun. I'm nearing the end of my pre-written content so we have about two or three chapters again before I everything slows to a crawl so I can fully develop the next few arcs for the Vytal festival, The Fall of Beacon and then the events of volume 4. I have the plot points it's just to write them out. In terms of planning, I have everything up to the end of volume 6, because I have zero idea how to tackle volume 7.**

**Also I took Ethos the ET's advice and used Grammarly, it worked out pretty well. Thanks for the advice (^_^)**


	24. Chapter 24: Things Got Weird

**Chapter 24: Well... This Was Unexpected**

* * *

Luna's mind was restless. It was like she was staring through endless darkness with nothing in there but memories. Events of her life played like a movie in her mind, all her trials and achievements are shown before her, all completely out of order. She saw her father carrying her on his back, her mother reading her bedtime stories to Nova coming back to that alley, covered in dirt and grime, holding out a plastic bag of food for her and she would just sit there and eat in depressed silence because she knew he worked hard for her and he would never take any for himself.

Memories she had surely thought forgotten were being shown back to her, welling up emotion within her core and her eyes stung. Not from lack of sleep but from the hot tears that flowed from them. She missed them so much, her parents. Her mother's colourful hair and her father's goofy faces. Precious memories she wished never to forget again.

The memories began fading before her as the darkness of her mind was beginning to brighten to white light. "WAIT DON'T GO!" She called out to the fading pictures but to no avail. She wanted to stay in this moment, with the peace of memories forever. The reality, was often disappointing as she was forced to awaken.

Peeling back her heavy eyelids, the bright sunlight of the room entered her eyes, causing her to squint from the sudden intense luminosity. Glancing around she could see pale green walls and heard the beeping of machines. Slowly, she got up and rubbed her eyes open, her body felt like shit, everything was sore and her stomach was starving.

She glanced down at her arms and saw IV strips attached to them, the memories of her previous encounters came rushing back and she inhaled sharply. Her heart rate spiked and the beeping of the machine increased. She needed to find her brother, her friend., Where was she? What happened? Were they all alright? She felt a panic attack coming on from the anxiety her situation was giving her.

Almost instantly, a pair of warm hands encircled her and a soft, familiar feeling overcame the small girl.

"W-Wha..." She stammered out unsure of what was happening. Someone was hugging her? And she didn't hate it? Why?

The person was rubbing circles on her back, whispering, "It's alright… it's fine, everything is okay now," the woman who was holding her said. Her voice is soothing and calming.

"W-Who… where…"

"It's alright Luna, Nova and the other's are fine," the figure released her to gaze upon her face. "Miss Ellie? What are you…" her words died in her mouth as the woman before he came into full view, hair, ears and all. Only one person in the world had those features. Luna felt her heart stop as she gazed upon the person before her.

"Hello my little sapphire, it's been a while," Elain said a loving smile on her face, tears forming in her eyes.

"M-M-m.." she couldn't speak, the words dying in her throat as tears began to pour from her face. She glomped her mother in a tight hug, nuzzling into her neck. "H-How is this possible… y-you were…" she could barely speak. Elain just held her daughter and explained everything.

* * *

Ruby awoke the next morning incredibly feeling refreshed. It was honestly the best sleep she'd ever had in her life, all the fatigue of their last mission now completely gone and she felt as though she could take on the world.

The events of the previous night played in her mind, the feelings she held bubbling up in her to the point she felt as though she were on cloud nine. The tuft of white hair sticking out over the covers just above her face was proof enough. Smiling contently she cuddled closer to her boyfriend, draping her hands over his wide, muscular… soft chest?

_That's weird, did he not always have solid pectorals?_ She pondered. Her eyes were still muddled over with sleep, she scrunched her face in confusion and gave the chest a light squeeze. Yup, definitely soft, she shot up in bed now, alert and confused. Glancing down at her sleeping boyfriend she could tell, something was off. She rolled him onto his back gently hoping not to wake him, thankfully all it elicited was a soft mumble.

White hair with orange tips… check. Black horns… check. Scaled cheeks… check. Things seemed to fit, so what was it that was so off? His spikey hair was now straight and wavy, maybe it was just the effect of his conditioner?

She was about to shrug it off when the door burst open to reveal a quite eerily smiling Yang.

"Good morning dear sister!" She said marching into the room, the tone of voice, scarily happy. Even stranger was that it was morning, and Yang was never this happy in the morning.

Ruby eyed her suspiciously, "Morning Yang…" she returned hesitantly, sitting up in bed, her hair sticking up in several places.

"Where is he?" she said darkly, her mood instantly doing a complete one-eighty.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby played it off, awkwardly laughing.

"That white-haired son of a bitch!" Yang roared. Ruby just made an eep and pointed to the bed where they were sleeping.

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" she yelled with fury making a move for the sleeping dragon. Ruby instantly got up and blocked her sister's path.

"Yang stop! Why are angry with him?!" She tried to appease her sister's fury.

The brawler placed her hands on her hips."You slept in the same bed.. with a boy... alone... instead of coming back to our room! That is NOT okay! I don't care if he is our close friend if he touched you that means he's dead!" she returned with vigor. She looked at Ruby and realized what she was wearing, "You're even wearing his clothes!"

"What do you mean, I've fallen asleep with him on multiple occasions how does this make it any different, besides I thought he had your approval?!" Ruby flailed, dodging the fact that she was wearing his hoodie.

"Those were different! One was to save your life, the other times we were around so it was just mild teasing! He might have my approval but that doesn't mean you guys act outside your age gap. You're still my baby sister." Yang deflated at that last part.

Ruby blushed and looked at the floor, "I appreciate you being so protective of me but... you'd think by now you'd know him better. We just fell asleep. That's it."

"Then why are you wearing his clothes." The blonde pointed out.

"Because Luna's couldn't fit me and I didn't want to wake you..."

"Ugh fine... your not-boyfriend gets to live..."

Ruby turned dark crimson at the mention of the b-word causing Yang's face to morph from light to mild confusion then pure shock.

"Something happened didn't it..." the blonde observed, "What. Happened."

Ruby began twirling her thumbs, "Um... don't freak out but... we kinda sorta...confessedtoeachother..."

Yang felt her world stop, "Oh... my...god... so are you...?" the blonde pointed at them.

"Yup," Ruby said with emphasis on the p, "he's my boyfriend now."

"Okay now I have to enact the 'older sister' mode," she said calmer, her eyes and hair still glowing. "HEY LIZARD GET YOUR ASS UP!" she yelled.

There was a distinct shuffling of sheets and a high pitched groan… wait high pitched? "Ugh, Yang it's like eight in the morning go back to bed…" a feminine voice said?

Nova rose from the pile of sheets, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his… long white hair draped down behind his shoulders, parts of it sticking up at the top. His black long-sleeved shirt now hugging his figure from the excess material being held down under him. Wait... excess material? This shirt fit him like a glove before… _did I lose weight?_

His muddled thoughts were ripped from him when Yang spoke up, "You have some serious explaining to d-" her words died in her throat as she got a good look at Nova.

Ruby confused at her sister's sudden halt she turned around and fell victim to the same thing, both of them wide-eyed and slightly terrified.

"Huh, what are you two gawking at…" Nova said, his voice definitely more feminine and higher pitched.

"Wait is that my voice?" he repeated confused, "No that can't be right… are you guys playing some sort of trick on me? Yang is this revenge for the hair incident?" the more he spoke the more the voice seemed to… fit.

When the two didn't respond Nova grew extremely concerned, "Guys? Ruby? Red you there?" he looked to his girlfriend for a response, he snapped his fingers a few times for attention.

She just shakily pointed her finger at him. Her mind was currently exploding, when Nova rose off the bed she thought it was someone else, the idea she had been sleeping in a bed with a stranger terrified her. Yet when he got up, and she saw all his features, unless he had an older sister she didn't know about, that was unmistakably Nova Alexandrite Flareheart.

"Ah- Ba- B-B" Yang stammered out.

"What is it spit it out damnit!" he said quite unnerved by the level of shock on the girls' faces. Ruby just gestured for him to look downward.

Nova felt his neck muscles lock, refusing to let him look down. Through sheer willpower he forced himself to turn his head to look at himself.

His arms were much more slender than before, most of his solid muscles were gone. He pulled off the covers to see himself practically swimming in his old shorts, and to make things worse… there were two objects obstructing his view. _Oh god no please don't tell me…_ his hands reached up to touch his chest.

His face paled, "HOLY FUCK!" a loud resounding swear of alarm caused the remaining members of team ASHNRWBY to flock into the door, Nitro who'd woken up earlier that morning and had just come brushing his teeth had raced to the source of the noise.

"Hey did one of you girls stub your toe or someth-" Nitro started but he to join in the jury of surprise. "Weiss are you okay?"

Hex placed her hand on her brother's shoulder, "I don't think that's Weiss…"

The heiress in question pulled up beside him, "No... I'm over here... is that Luna? She looks... taller..."

"Nope... Luna's still in the infirmary..." Blake pointed out, looking visibly shaken.

"N-Nova? I-Is that you?" Hex asked shakily, her hands trembling from the sheer level of shock.

"Who else would it be?" came the snarky reply that sounded rather bitchy in the feminine voice. "Glad to see you up and running Nitro," he said referring to Nitro's previous condition.

"B-But y-you're a…" she stammered.

Nova hoped to god he was dreaming, "I'm a…?"

"You're a girl," Blake stated matter of factly managing to regain her composure.

Nova felt his brain snap at the mention of reality, he was really hoping this was a vivid hallucination but the look on everyone's face was too much to be faked.

Almost like a white blur, he rushed to the bathroom and looked in the mirror to gaze upon the truth before him. Yup there he was…. Er she was.

White hair with orange tips down to his upper back, slightly larger eyes, shapely face, and slender build. Broad shoulders replaced by smaller curved shoulders, his arms slender and non-muscular. His pectorals replaced by a pair of C-cup breasts and his rock hard abs were gone and he had more like a really well-toned stomach now. The combination of wider hips and shapely legs completed the build of his...her... body.

He looked like an older version of Luna. He had the same height as Weiss but with longer hair and bigger breasts. He also sounded a lot less bitchy. There was one last thing he needed to check. Swallowing hard, he lifted his pants... and sure enough... someone had robbed him of his family jewels. The great 'staff' of Nova was completely gone.

At this stage, all his shock had turned to disbelief. He came out of the bathroom he had to sit down for a second, muttering "They're gone... they're gone... I'm doomed..." He hyperventilated for a few moments before finally speaking "Can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on?"

"That's what we wanna know!" Hex said waving her arm.

"My leader is now a girl," Nitro said in shock, "I did not see a chapter on this in the textbooks."

"Speak for yourself! My boyfriend is now my girlfriend?! How does that work?!" Ruby exclaimed earning a shocked look from everyone.

"BOYFRIEND?!" They all said simultaneously except for Yang.

"You two confessed? Finally!" Hex said fist-pumping. "Which one of you said it first?"

"Hex this is hardly the time… and it was me," Nova said confirming earning a groan from Weiss and Blake.

"We lost the bet," Blake said dejectedly.

Nova and Ruby looked mildly annoyed, "You bet on us confessing? Wait, was everyone aware that we liked each other?" Nova asked curiously.

"Yeah... Weiss and I bet that Ruby would confess first, everyone else bet against us." the catgirl pointed out causing the new couple to deadpan.

"We can sort this out later, we need to find your mom, she'll have an idea about what's going on," Ruby said as she pulled a still frozen Yang outside.

* * *

"I have no idea what's going on," Elain said taking a sip from her coffee, remaining completely calm as the members of team ASHNRWBY stormed the room in a mass of confusion and hysteria.

"Come on mom, you must know something, any idea how this could have happened?!" Nova half screamed as he flailed around in his sleepwear. His breasts bouncing around from his erratic movements, a hypnotic motion that had Hex staring. Yang had to snap her fingers in front of her poor girlfriend's face, barely able to peel her own eyes away.

Elain raised a hand to silence them, everyone looked in in bewilderment as the wolf Faunus calmly got up from her chair, and in one fluid motion, chugged down the rest of her coffee then walked outside the room.

"… What just happened?" Weiss asked. There was a brief respite of silence before a loud slapping was heard, Elain came back into the room with a red mark on her face.

The wolf-lady coughed into her hand, "My apologies." as if she didn't just slap herself.

"Did she just…" Yang said concerned.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Elain screamed gawking at her son… err daughter?

"That's what we said," Ruby said placing her hand on her hips, the short girl rather confused and disoriented. Her emotions were running wild with Yang making her angry then her boyfriend turning into a girl.

"Ugh, can you people shut it? A girl needs her beauty sleep…" A small but, irritated voice piped up from the infirmary bed. Everyone turned their heads to see Luna rising from the cot, looking quite disheveled.

"You're awake!" Weiss said happily, she and Ruby wrapped the small girl in a tight hug.

"ACK! Can't…. breathe… release meee!" she squealed then feigned to die from suffocation.

Blake chuckled at the little drama queen, she was just as happy as everyone else to see her favourite blue dragon awake again but physical displays of affection weren't her thing.

"Oh, right sorry, forgot you were injured," Ruby said releasing her with a 'tee-hee'.

"Come on Ruby, trying to kill your future sister-in-law in front of her mother is not a good thing," Hex teased causing Ruby to turn the colour of her name.

"What's that mean?" Luna asked confused, the bashful look on Ruby's face and lack of denial caused a lightbulb to go off in her brain. "You didn't…"

Yang grew a devilish grin, "Yup, and Nova was the one to confess first," she said with a smug look earning a high five from Luna.

"My brother finally managed to grow some balls… where is he by the way?" she said looking around the room. Nova had ducked behind Yang and the others earlier when she awoke but they betrayed his location.

Elain almost fainted by the mention of the term.

"You might want to rethink that choice of wording… he might have actually lost them instead." Nitro said earning a snicker from the others. Elain just sat there rubbing her temples trying to figure out the situation.

"What's that mean…." She questioned but eyes bulged when Yang and Blake moved aside to reveal a hiding Nova tugging at his oversized shirt.

He raised his hand shyly and waved it, shooting her a lopsided awkward smile.

"Is that… tell me that's not…"

"Hi sis, glad to see you're awake," he said rather awkwardly.

Luna just looked at Yang, then at her brother, then at Ruby who just shrugged.

"Excuse me while I go wake up from this dream," she said calmly attempting to go back to sleep but Elain grabbed her daughter by the hand.

"Well sorry to disappoint you, dear, but it seems your brother is now… your sister."

"I'm going to need some time to process this…" Luna said curling up into a ball.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Yang asked concerned.

"She'll be fine," Hex replied.

"So um… what are we gonna do about me?" Nova asked moving the hair out of his face and placing it behind his ear. The morning light shining on his face at an angle that made his concerned pout look absolutely adorable to everyone in the room.

Weiss and Blake clutched their hearts while Yang had to hold onto Hex for support. Ruby could do nothing but stare and feel her heart flutter.

"Oh god, he's cute… I feel like...I just lost as a woman…" Weiss muttered now wanting to curl into a ball herself.

Nova blushed furiously, "Guys this is serious!" he yelled flailing around. Yang had the incredible urge to hug the new girl.

"I mean, in all seriousness, you did swing both ways so maybe it's not entirely a bad thing?" Nitro offered in some semblance of the bright side.

"Maybe that has something to do with it? You know, Nova being bi and all," Yang placed her hands on her chin.

Elain studied her son for a moment, "No I don't think his sexuality has anything to do with it. This is the first time an Aspect… err rather anyone I know, spontaneously transform into the opposite gender…"

The older woman looked over Nova, gauging his sizes, looking at his features, she was in full doctor mode. "Were there any signs prior to this? Anything that could've hinted towards this transformation?"

Everyone in the room thought for a moment, Nitro was the first one to say something. "He did start acting strange since he came back from the infirmary the first time…" he recalled.

"Strange? How so?" Elain asked.

"Well… they weren't very often but he would have random bouts of… femininity?" he said unsure if that was the word.

They all began to think back to the past. "Yeah! I remember stuff like that, he would sometimes fuss over the way his clothes looked on his figure," Hex said a thumb resting on her chin.

"And that time he was seriously asking me about makeup?" she continued.

"And the extreme shift in personal hygiene care?" Luna piped in, finally regaining herself.

"AND THAT TIME HE WAS TALKING ABOUT PUTTING HIS HAIR UP IN TWIN TAILS!" Weiss said in realization, her eyes widening.

Elain looked at her son with a raised eyebrow, that seemed to say 'twin tails? Really?' "Hey, I thought it was cute at the time… oh my god…" he said in horror realizing his own words.

"Okay so was there anything common between the times you were… feminine," Elain folded her arms interrogating him.

Nova thought for a moment, "… it usually happened after… after I used my powers!" he said in realization. "Could my powers have something to do with it?"

"Maybe… thought it is unlikely it's due to you being the Aspect of Fire... The Aegis gene never manifested such mutations." she rationalized.

"Well my powers didn't actually become useable the way they are now until I took the nanomachine cells," Nova said causing Elain's eyes to widen. She'd completely forgotten he'd been injected with her prototype serum.

"Of course! The Aegis formula, why didn't I think of it sooner!" she messed up her hair, her wolf ears twitching.

"… huh?" everyone in the room was confused.

Elain straightened her hair out again, "The Aegis formula prototype that I made using Nova and Luna's DNA, were modified with Nanomachines right?"

Everyone nodded, remembering the explanations of Randolf Wulf.

"Well whenever the nanomachine cells reacted to the Aegis gene, they would shut down. They needed a catalyst to bond with in order to store energy, before being placed with the actual serum. I spent years trying to find a catalyst but when the White Fang captured me and put me to work, I came across a rather interesting idea." She said a wild look in her eye that made everyone shiver.

"See, one of their top brass members came back one day with the blood of…. Get this… the Fall Maiden!" She said waving her arms.

"I'm sorry I think I misheard you… did you say, Fall Maiden? As in the four Maidens? They're real?" Hex mentally slapped herself.

"Well, of course, they're real, silly, if super-powered Faunus exist then obviously super-powered humans exist too," She said gesturing to Nova and Luna with a tone like 'duhhh'.

Everyone in the room had a mental shut down for a minute to process this. When they did they all groaned. "Of course… I feel stupid.." Weiss cursed.

"Anyway, I used the Fall Maiden's DNA as a catalyst to stabilize the Aegis formula. So when Nova took those cells into his body, he was placing female genes into his system, and normally that wouldn't be a big deal but Maiden DNA is powerful so for him it would've been like getting a hormone imbalance." She finished, took a deep breath and then went back to thinking, her previous vigor gone.

"That doesn't explain how you became an entirely different gender… it should've just made you a little gay if anything," she said causing everyone's sweat to drop at her crass way of explaining.

"Maybe it has something to do with his semblance?" Ruby input finally finding her voice.

"Semblance? What's your semblance?" Elain asked Nova.

"Adaptation, my body can use aura to adapt to any environmental condition or… physical change!" he snapped his fingers.

"Well, that explains it. When you were half dead on the bed," Elain said amidst Yang's snickering at the rhyme, "Your body was absorbing any help it could get, and that included female genes. Meaning your body adapted to the Fall Maiden gene that was running dominant in your body at the time… it must have taken some time to fully transform you…" She formulated.

"Yeah, I only transformed this morning after that serious emotional episode I had last night," Nova waved his hand and rolled his eyes.

"Oh that's right you confessed to Ruby, I guess you must've been overloaded on emotions that it kickstarted the transformation," Hex inferred to which everyone looked at Ruby.

"Hey don't look at me this isn't my fault." She shrugged.

Nova groaned, "No one's blaming, you love." Ruby just blushed at being referred to as 'love' by her boyfriend...err girlfriend.

"That reminds me… I owe you a pummelling," Yang said dangerously.

Nova made a cute eep before ducking behind Weiss. "Weiss save me!"

Weiss looked torn for a moment, "Yang, come on, leave him be, you wouldn't want to punch 'that' would you?" she gestured to Nova who, at that moment employed one of Ruby's most notable tricks… the super cute puppy dog eyes.

Yang stared down at the adorable white-haired girl, her fist raised. _It's a dude, it's a dude it's a…. fuck…_ she lowered her fists, closing her eyes and biting her lip, "Ugh you are so lucky you're cute…" she relented.

Nova sprang up happily and hugged Weiss. "Yay I get to live!"

"For now… when we manage to change you back… you'll get it." Yang chuckled darkly, causing Nova to simmer down.

"More like 'if' we manage to change him back. I have no idea if this will be permanent or not, we are dealing with a clash between Aspect DNA, Maiden DNA, and his own semblance. The only way I see it would be to beat him within an inch of his life then inject male DNA back into him and hope his semblance adapts him back to a guy. Even then it's not 100% sure to work, he could end up dead for all we know… I'll need to do some experimenting." She moved to her medical drawer.

"What do you mean by… OUCH!" Nova yelped in pain as Elain stuck a syringe in his arm.

"Hold still you big baby," she said as she drew a decent amount of blood from him.

"I'm going to use this for testing. In the meantime, you should probably get used to that body. I'd explain how the female body works but I think you girls got it covered. Also, you should get some food, I just drew a lot of blood from you so you'll be a little weak." Elain took the syringe back to her medical supplies ushering out everyone, grumbling about not wanting annoying teenagers disturbing her work.

This left Nova feeling rather panicked. He was now a she. He would need to readjust his lifestyle, try to fit in and operate as though nothing has changed. How was he supposed to face his classmates? His panicking was torn when he felt a sudden wave of dizziness causing him to almost collapse. Luckily he was caught by Ruby who held him close.

"Nova are you alright?" she asked concerned, taking her hand and brushing the hair away from her… girlfriend's… face.

Nova leaned into her palm, "I'm ok, I guess I'm just dizzy from blood loss…" the newly formed girl responded.

Everyone cooed at their interaction, Hex felt her nose bleeding. "This is some prime girl on girl action… could his be heaven…" the purplette spoke causing Nova and Ruby to break apart in a blush.

"I need to shower if I'm going into the dining hall…" he said, the realization dawning on him what was about to happen.

A devilish glint came in the eyes of Yang, Hex, and Luna causing Nova to flinch away in fear.

"Oh no… no no no, no you will NOT!" He yelled in protest.

Yang grabbed his left arm and Luna grabbed his right and hoisted him slightly off the floor. "You are not getting away this time…" Yang said evilly.

"My uniform might fit, though 'she' might be more Weiss' height…" Hex looked at the heiress who just shrugged, "My skirt should fit 'her', but she's a bit more top-heavy than me…" Weiss said a little peeved.

Nova paled, "I am NOT wearing a skirt…"

"Oh, but you will…" Hex said with a devilish smirk that sent chills down Nova's spine.

"Come on 'Alexandra', we need to get you outfitted!" Luna said as they carried away Nova who squirmed in protest, kicking and flailing helplessly in the air.

* * *

Ruby and Weiss sat inside their dorm, waiting on the others to come out. Nitro had gone ahead to the cafeteria and Blake sat atop her bunk reading.

"So… Ruby," Weiss said looking at her partner who was lying back on her bed. Ruby got up and gave her a quizzical look.

"You like Nova right?" she asked awkwardly. Ruby nodded, "I really like him… like, like-like him…" she blushed.

"Do you love him?" Weiss returned with a serious expression. Ruby's brows furrowed, "Well… I'm not sure what love feels like… but…"

"But..?"

"But… I the feelings I have for him can't be summarized by just words, you know? I mean he literally became my boyfriend yesterday... but I feel it... deep within me, I think I really do love him." The red leader chirped giving Weiss a shit-eating grin.

"What do you mean think?" Weiss countered.

"Well, all I know is, that thinking about a world without him by my side is really… depressing. If it were me or him, I'd choose him any day over what I want. He just… he makes me feel so happy inside, like that part of me that's been missing my whole life." She returned.

"Sounds like love to me," Weiss smiled, content with the answer she was given, she trusted her leader's judgment. "Now that he's a girl… does that change anything between you?"

Ruby stopped her musings and her brows furrowed again. "Why would it?"

"Well because.. he's you know… she?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

Ruby smiled, "Silly Weiss, just because he's a girl right now, doesn't mean I feel anything less for him. He could be a piece of wood and I'd still like him the same."

Weiss just stared baffled, "So you're into girls too?" she looked confused trying to understand her leader's mental.

"Pfft what? No, just him," she replied giggling like Weiss had asked a stupid question.

Weiss was about to interject when the door opened, Yang and Hex standing in the doorway.

"Ladies and Ladies, I will now present to you... Alexandra Flareheart," Yang said as she and Hex stepped aside to reveal Luna walking in with Nova.

Nova's hair was done in a natural fashion. Its waviness and natural bounce made it easy for Yang to brush it into a flowing hairstyle, with one part extending to 'her' right as a straight piece while the left was a wave at the top that flowed down to 'her' shoulders and lower back **(For reference either Luna Lovegood from HP or Elsa with her hair down at the end of Frozen 2)**.

He was wearing a red long-sleeved sweater shirt with a white undershirt and a red plaid skirt that went just above his knees. The colours matched his eyes and made his hair stand out. The outfit was accompanied by a pair of black tights and flats, overall 'she' looked gorgeous even if it was casual clothing.

"Ruby close your mouth you're drooling," Yang said with a smirk. "Weiss you to, you might catch flies," Luna said with a certain smugness. Even Blake who was normally quite composed dropped her book and gawked.

"C-Can you guys quit staring… I know I look ridiculous," Nova said holding his left arm with his right and looking down at the floor, his breasts were accentuated by the action.

Ruby had to mentally slap herself, "Weiss…"

The heiress nodded to her partner unable to tear her eyes away, "Mmhmm?"

"I take back what I said earlier… I might be gay now," Ruby said. Nova just blushed furiously.

"Same…" Weiss said absentmindedly.

"I think we outdid ourselves," Hex said proudly, high fiving the others.

Ruby walked up to Nova and looked him in the eye. Weiss nudged her partner and made a sound that was supposed to cue Ruby.

The red leader composed herself, 'Ah... Nova, you look… so pretty…" she said in awe.

Nova just blushed harder, "A-As long as you like it…"

"AWWWWW!" Came the resounding reaction.

"C-Can we just go get food already I'm starving," Nova said grabbing Ruby by the hand and walking out the door.

* * *

**Nova is now a girl(Temporarily). Bet y'all weren't expecting that. To the ones that actually pieced together my hints over the chapters since the nanomachine injection, props to you for not just writing it off.**

**This story just got a lot more fun to write.**

**'Til next time, stay awesome (^_^)**


	25. Chapter 25: Love and Predicaments

**You're probably wondering where the hell I've been. Well, I did say the chapters were gonna come to a crawling pace. My course projects and assignments are kicking in, it's only February and I've got 3 assignments 2 projects and a Mid-term in a couple of weeks. Thank you engineering faculty, very cool.**

**Anyway, I missed you guys and I certainly missed writing. In the spirit of Valentine's Day and the rest of us lonely souls, unless you have someone in which case, I'm so happy for you (^_^ ), here's a mushy one.**

**Also not sure if make-out scenes are considered M related material, so be warned.**

* * *

**Chapter 25: Being a Girl is Hard**

* * *

Walking the road to the dining hall was one of the most uncomfortable things he had ever done. Firstly, he was turning heads almost everywhere he went which in all honesty wasn't that bad if you considered it flattery toward his appearance. Imagine how the world would react if they found out he was a man.

He was, however, quite unnerved by the attention he was getting, so much so he had to latch on to Ruby as tightly as possible for comfort. The red leader jumped in surprise initially but returned with a comforting smile and a gentle head-pat.

"Scared 'Alexandra'?" She giggled at the use of his fake name. Nova just buried his head cutely into her arm, ever since he'd become a girl his emotions seemed to spill forth easier. No longer would he try to mask his outward expressions, rather he'd freely act on his feelings, perhaps a side-effect of the nanomachine mutations.

"Too many stares..."

He walked behind the rest of them, still practically joined at the hip to his girlfriend, she could tell he was incredibly nervous.

"R-Ruby…" he started in a quiet voice so the others couldn't hear. The red leader gave him a quizzical head tilt.

"I…If I'm stuck like this… a-are things going to be different between us? Now that I'm a girl I mean," he said almost in disbelief of his reality.

Ruby gently squeezed his hand and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Of course not, it doesn't matter what you look like, you're still you."

Nova felt his heart swell with affection, he just leaned his head on his girlfriend's shoulder, making sure his horns weren't poking her and continued walking forward with new confidence. The quartet in front of them smiled and gave each other knowing looks.

* * *

Breakfast was…entertaining for everyone... except for Nova. He spent the majority of her time trying desperately not to get food in his hair, which kept flying off its perch at behind his ear, much to the entertainment of Weiss and Yang.

"Pffft ahahahah!" Hex cackled madly while Luna and Yang were vehemently giggling.

"Now he knows how it feels to have long hair!" Luna said in between fits of giggles.

Nova just blushed and tried desperately to stay sane as it was taking every ounce of his mental energy to remain even remotely composed.

"How do you girls live with this anyway?" Nova asked restraining himself from using his food covered fingers from touching his hair.

Luna smiled, "Hair clips 'sister', or you can style your hair so it doesn't do that... though you look great with it down."

"Orr... you could cut it like me?" Ruby piped in causing everyone to look at her mortified. Touching that gorgeous head of hair that Nova sported would be a tragedy in every sense of the word.

"Wait I just realized something," Weiss chimed in staring at Nova who just looked at her confused.

"Nova… you're wearing girl's clothing, specifically tights… and unless you're going commando… that means you're wearing… and your chest…" Weiss said a huge smirk showing itself on her face.

Ruby felt her eyes bulge, "Oh...my…god…"

Nova almost choked on his food. "Please don't remind me…"

"Whose…" Weiss was confused.

"She's 'borrowing' one of my bras and Luna's panties if that's what you're asking," Hex said with absolutely no form of chill.

Nova made a desperate attempt to hide behind his hair. "Can we please not talk about this, my pride as a man can only be damaged so far…"

"Oh come on flamethrower, what's the harm." Yang said smirking smugly, "There's no shame in it…since… we're all girls here!" she finished with a roar of laughter, Hex laughed so hard she fell over and Nova just stared at his fork wondering if he could perform a self-induced lobotomy.

"Yo Hex, mini-blue and friends, and Weiss," A male voice came in, alerting everyone at the table.

"HEY!" Weiss said taking offense as she turned around to see Sun and Neptune walking up to their table.

" Sup ladies, haven't seen you guys in a while," Neptune waved to which Hex groaned at his feeble attempt at being cool.

"Can't help but notice y'all laughing at the expense of this pretty lady over here," Sun chimed in looking at Nova who, at that moment, wished to disappear. He had taken Nova by the hand and looked him in the eyes.

The girls minus Nova looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Oh boy, Sun you know how to pick 'em," Yang said wiping a tear from her left eye.

"What's that supposed to mean," he asked confused.

Nova just swallowed and looked up to the monkey Faunus. 'She' smiled nervously and tucked 'her' hair back behind 'her' ear for the millionth time today, "Yo Sun, what's up…" 'she' said nervously.

The monkey Faunus felt his heart skip a beat, "A beautiful Fanus girl and she already knows my name, Neptune, pinch me I might be dreaming..." He said elbowing his partner who just yanked the golden Faunus back and then slicked back his own hair.

"Hey… so, if you know him then you must know me to right?" he asked, using every ounce of his 'suave'.

Nova just rolled his eyes, "Yes Neptune, I do have the unfortunate pleasure of knowing you too."

Neptune felt his heart explode at that moment, he was a sucker for high maintenance women. He placed a foot on the bench spot right next to Nova and held her hand and kissed it, to which Nova felt visibly nauseous.

"You know us but, we don't know you, may we have the pleasure of knowing to whom we are speaking?" Sun asked joining his friend.

Weiss and the others couldn't contain their giggles at Ruby's face which was, jealous, in every essence of the word.

Nova pulled his hand away and smirked, "Oh come now, you didn't think I would be this easy did you?" he batted his eyes to which Yang gave a thumbs up at the move. His killer looks combined with the ability to play every male for a chump was a deadly combination.

Neptune recoiled sputtering, "Huh?"

Nova smirked devilishly, "I'm already spoken for," he turned around and kissed Ruby, full on the lips completely shocking everyone, including Ruby. Once he was done he just looked back at the two boys, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Ruby in question was both dizzy and blushing madly.

Sun stammered out, "A- b-bah… Wha?"

Neptune sighed, "Why are the pretty ones always taken!" he shook his fist to the sky, looking down at the floor in some dramatic act of rejection.

"Trust me guys you aren't missing out much," Luna snickered behind her hand.

"Wait, Ruby… I thought you had a huge crush on Nova, why the sudden change of heart?" Sun asked confused.

"Ugh did everyone know?!" the red leader flailed.

".. Uh.. yeah? So what happened, I know it's probably not my place but Nova is my boy, and he'd be devastated to find out…" Sun said feeling for his friend, "Rest in peace my favourite ship..."

"Oh... Don't worry… he knows…" Yang smirked earning knowing glances around the table.

"What? And He's okay with it?" Neptune asked concerned.

"Yeah, I am!" Nova said with a goofy grin, holding out a thumbs up.

"We weren't talking about you Miss Ship wrecker," Neptune returned feeling a little peeved.

"What do you mean dude? I finally got the girl of my dreams and you're not even happy for me. Some friends you are," she puffed out her cheeks.

Sun felt his brain die, "I'm sorry what? Friends? Lady, we don't even know you…"

"You would think after fighting a giant Atlesian Paladin rampaging through the streets of Vale, piloted by Roman Torchwick then hanging out at the Beacon Dance would make us friends," Nova smirked.

Sun and Neptune both paled, "How would you know that… the only people that know that are…" Sun faltered in his words when he noticed the features of the girl before him.

White hair with orange tips, black horns, only one person had those features, "… No way.." he said gasping in horror.

"Yup!" Nova said popping the 'p'.

"What? Sun you know this chick?" Neptune asked still not getting it.

Sun sighed and pointed at the horns and hair, "Neptune, brace yourself but I think this girl might actually be Nova."

"What? Pfft no, that's impossible Nova is…" his sentence failed him as he realized the truth.

The expressions of horror on their faces were absolutely priceless.

"Excuse me while I rethink my life... and possibly bleach my brain." Neptune moved to the nearest trash can and threw up. Everyone winced at the sound, especially Nova who was slightly regretting leading him on that far... slightly...

"How the…" Sun asked still shocked.

Nova sighed, "Long story, my semblance had a bad run in and adapted the wrong way now I'm a girl."

"Is this gonna be permanent?" Sun asked concerned and slightly disturbed.

"No idea, we're working on a way to get him back but we're not sure," Weiss said.

Sun sighed and placed a hand on Nova's shoulder. "Dude… I got one question…" he asked turning to the new girl. Nova looked up at him with a cute head tilt and Sun had to chant the mantra _It's a dude on the inside, It's a dude on the inside._

"Is 'it' still there?" he asked. At first, Nova was confused then it hit him, he let out a heavy sigh, Yang answered for him, "Yeah… I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself," she said, referring to the time they forcefully dressed him.

"They're very much gone," Luna finished causing Nova to bury his head in Ruby's shoulder.

"Someone kill me..."

Sun stood at attention soon joined by Neptune, they saluted the air, "A moment of silence for a fallen comrade."

The girls weren't sure but they swore they heard the somber sound of bagpipes playing, but they couldn't figure out from where.

"Uh, guys um… can you not tell anyone about this?" Nova asked rubbing the back of his head, "I kinda don't want anyone to find out it's me, might cause panic and confusion and just overall unnecessary drama. If anyone asks my name is Alexandra," she finished.

Sun shot him a thumbs up, "You got it, man, err girl? Anyway, see you around, 'Alexandra'" he smirked as he and Neptune ran off, very much disturbed by their encounter.

* * *

This was going to take some serious getting used to for Nova. He spent the day with Ruby and Luna, they were his main lifelines as Yang and Hex had a date, Nitro was off doing god knows what, probably hanging out with Jaune while Weiss and Blake weren't exactly the social types, the former preferring to study and the latter reading her books.

It was a bit past four in the afternoon, The trio was hanging out in team RWBY's dorm since they had video games and Zwei. The dog was quite nervous to approach Nova at first, but once he recognized the scent he warmed up instantly.

"Now that I've spent the day walking around like this… I have to say I rather like girl's clothes, I refuse to wear a skirt though." Nova said as he petted Zwei who was nestled comfortably in his lap.

"Not you too?!" Ruby said exasperated, "Combat skirts are amazing, even Weiss agrees with me!". Her eyes sparkled with some unknown intensity. "We could be combat skirt sisters!" Ruby squealed tackling her girlfriend, scaring the poor corgi out of her lap.

Nova blushed as Ruby's cheeks were pressed up against him, they were very soft. "Ruubbyy you're gonna push me- ooOAH!" Nova protested as he fell over onto his back with an audible oof. Ruby fell flat on his chest, she had face planted in the world's softest pillow, Nova's boobs.

"R-Ruby you're squishing my…" Nova didn't want to finish that sentence, he wasn't exactly comfortable referring to his own fleshy mounds.

Ruby turned her namesake and got up, she was just hovering above Nova, her face in line with his. "Sorry, I got excited…" she apologized, staring into his mismatched orbs.

"It's fine, you are super cute when you're excitable," Nova replied with a blush.

Ruby just continued to stare and Nova became flustered, "N-Not that you're only c-cute when you're happy... you're always cute...even when you're sad…. Not that I want to see you sad is just-.." Ruby broke out of hs stupor and shushed his ramblings.

"Shh, I get it… you're… pretty cute yourself…if I'm being honest you're definitely prettier than Weiss…" Ruby complimented, not bothering to move from her position. Nova flushed under the compliment, he wasn't sure why he felt so happy about being called pretty.

"You sure you're okay with me like this?" Nova asked his eyes trying to look away from her. She frowned, "Of course you dummy… I love you… regardless of your gender," she spoke, her words tender and filled with emotion.

Ruby then did the unexpected and closed the distance between them, capturing his lips. The subtle softness against her own, he still tasted like cinnamon and she couldn't get enough. Moving against him she fervently devoured his mouth like it was freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  
He responded in kind, cupping her face in his hand as he leaned up and deepened the kiss. He pushed up until he was sitting with his back against the bed, Ruby straddling his lap. The two pressed up against each other, the world lost to them.

Ruby broke this kiss for air, resting her nose against the other girl's.

"And Ruby?" the dragon said earning a nod from his girlfriend, "I love you too,". As if acting on instinct they switched positions and now Nova was in Ruby's lap, there was a hunger in both their eyes that could not be contained any longer. Again, their lips met in an insatiable passion, Nova felt something press against his lower lip, as if acting on instinct he opened his mouth slightly and instantly Ruby's tongue snaked its way in. A welcome surprise for the young dragon as he returned the favour by meeting hers with his own. Ruby moaned in pleasure as they melded together, thoroughly enjoying the feelings they shared in this moment.

For a final time, they broke apart for air completely entrapped in each other's gaze.

They would have begun making out again had at that moment the door not open with a rather audible creak. "Yo kiddies, Hex and I are back and we brought snacks…" Yang's words died as she saw the position of Ruby and Nova, both had incredibly messed up hair and the two looking quite disheveled.

"Oh my god did you get to a second base already?!" Yang exclaimed looking at her sister.

Ruby bolted off of Nova and straightened out her clothes. "Ahem… um… did you say something about snacks?" she tried to distract her sister.

Yang just smirked, "Mhm, who instigated the snogging?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ruby sputtered from the use of the word while Nova meekly pointed to her. Yang's eyes turned surprised, "Well I'll be damned, her boyfriend turns into a girl and now suddenly my sister is wearing the pants in the relationship," she said amused.

"I would say try to keep it in your pants 'cuz I don't wanna be an aunt yet but that doesn't really apply here," Luna said as she came in through the door behind Hex.

Nova just hid under Ruby's pillow, "Ugh wake me up when I'm a dude again."

"Yeah about that Mom wants to see you in her lab," Luna said.

"Huh?! Already looks like I'll be able to be me again by tomorrow! Wait mom has a lab?" Nova almost jumped for joy. Ruby pouted slightly disappointed by the turn of events.

"Well it's just the infirmary that Ozpin modified to give your mom space to work," the blue girl said leaning against the door.

* * *

Team ASHNRWBY made their way down to the 'lab' and opened the door to find Randolf Wulf and Qrow with Elain.

"Hey kiddos, and HOLY SHIT YOU WEREN'T KIDDING!" Qrow said almost spitting out his drink when he saw Nova, he started coughing and patting his chest.

Even Randolf had to compose himself, "This is… unexpected…"

"Unexpected?! My only nephew is now my niece… this… this is a nightmare…" Qrow said with feigned despair. "Well at least now I don't have to worry about being a great uncle anytime soon, I have enough baggage."

"Why does everyone say that?!" Nova pouted in rage. "At least now I get to transform back right?"

The adult trio shared awkward glances causing Nova to pale.

"Well… about that…" Randolf said nervously.

"Oh no…"

"Yeah you're kinda stuck like that, after the blood testing, the DNA isn't separated anymore. It's one string of DNA with Nanomachines, the only way to get you male again would be to drain you of all your blood, which would kill you. I have a theory but it's like fifty-fifty it'll work." Elain said taking a puff of her cigarette.

"I'll take anything," Nova affirmed.

Elain sighed, "That's the thing, I have an idea about the nanomachines, I can probably create a new formula to deactivate your female gene but it'll take… a while."

"How long is a while?" Ruby asked.

"A few weeks? A month? Maybe a year? I'm not sure, it'll all depend on how well his DNA reacts to foreign treatments. So… I'll be needing a blood sample at least once every week or so, I would use the prototype I made for Luna but those were tailored to her powers, not yours." She finished.

"So… I'm officially stuck like this?" Nova asked in disbelief. If he was being honest with himself, the change wasn't bad, he certainly didn't feel any different from himself, his main concern lay with his ability to protect the others. In a changed body, how was he expected to perform at his maximum capacity?

"Mom… I know this might take some time but… is it possible to get this done before the Vytaal festival? Team rounds start in a few weeks." He said with a heavy sigh, accepting his fate.

Elain thought for a moment, "It's not impossible but… there are too many variables to be sure…"

"I can reduce those variables," A voice said coming from the doorway. It was Professor Ozpin, standing there with his signature cane and a look of business on his face. He stole a glance at Nova and blinked in surprise, "When the esteemed doctor told me her son had been transformed into a girl, I'd accepted it unquestioningly… but seeing it for myself… is something else entirely."

"Okay Oz, we get it, it's weird, can we move past this?" Nova said growing impatient. He folded his arms and tapped his forearm with his index in annoyance. He reminded Ruby of an angry Weiss.

"Ah yes, my apologies Miss Flareheart." He said with a smirk. Everyone gawked, and Ozpin just coughed in his hand, "Was my attempt at humor that surprising to you?".

"…Yes?" Yang answered meekly.

Nova just groaned, "Am I going to have to get used to being called that?" he asked hoping for a negative response.

"Well… would you rather me still refer to you by male pronouns?" Ozpin asked genuinely curious.

Nova just sighed, "It's fine, call me what makes you feel comfortable."

"Ahem yes well, onto matters at hand," he continued entering into the room. "I happen to know someone from Atas who will be willing to assist you in acquiring materials. Anything you need Mrs. Flareheart you only need but ask."

Elain was quite surprised, "This is a rather… generous offer Ozpin… thank you…"

Nova, on the other hand, was quite skeptical. "I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth but… why are you going so far? Atlas technology isn't exactly cheap, and I'm assuming you're using Beacon's funds for this… why are you putting up so much for a single student?"

Ozpin smiled knowingly, "I see your life on the streets has trained your skepticism well. To answer your question, consider it a debt repaid and an investment made."

Nova was confused, "Debt? Ozpin as far as I know you and I are on rather even terms, you gave my team and I a place to stay at Beacon, I help you with your huntsman endeavors when you need it. You don't strike me as sentimental so your attachment to my master shouldn't play a role in this. So, what exactly are you playing at?"

"Well to put it simply, on your last mission, not only did you thwart an evil terrorist organization but you also saved countless lives by fending off Grimm at the breach, and from the report that was sent to me, you also stopped a giant Atlesian paladin that could have damaged things further. On top of that, according to Miss Winter Schnee and Doctor Oobleck, you also took charge of the situation faster than they could and managed to get everyone out alive and intact."

"Miss. Schnee even spoke quite highly on your behalf, saying you even saved her life." Ozpin explained. Everyone in the room nodded, glancing at the girl. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that this was true if it weren't for him and Ruby they'd be facing an entirely different Beacon.

"I also believe some of that credit goes to Miss Rose who's leadership skills helped save the lives of her team, and the younger Miss Flareheart who very nearly died stopping the train. All in all, your actions far outweigh anything I have given you and as such, I owe a great deal of debt to you all." He finished at last.

Nova was quite embarrassed at the praise, "Professor I… we were just doing what we thought was right nothi-" he was silenced by Ozpin raising his hand.

"Accept credit where credit is due. You've earned it." He said. "That being said… I'll have some uniforms outfitted for you by tomorrow." He finished before walking out the door and disappearing.

"Wait but how would you know my…" Nova called out but Ozpin had already been long gone, "…sizes…"

"I don't know about you guys, but I certainly want to know those sizes," Hex said her chin resting in the space between her right thumb and index finger. "What? She's hot!" Hex said when she realized everyone was staring.

"… I hate to agree with you there… but he was hot as a guy and now he's a hot girl… and those…" Weiss said glaring at Nova's chest. "This isn't fair!"

"Oookaayyy… Us males will excuse ourselves… this is going into unwanted territory." Qrow said awkwardly walking out.

"Yeah let's go guys," Nova said playing dumb and making a move to walk out with them but was held back by Luna, her hand pulling on his collar.

"Nuh-uh, you heard the lady, as of today you're a girl so get used to it." The blue dragon smirked.

Nova just groaned and let himself be dragged off.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Weiss and Yang giving him a very uncomfortable lecture on how a proper lady should act. Nitro did not envy his friend in the slightest.

"Ugh, I'm just going to take a shower and go to bed… and NONE of you follow me…" Nova said grumbling off to the bathroom. From RWBY's dorm, Ruby watched her now girlfriend trudge off in annoyance and she couldn't help but stare. He had a really nice ass.

"Mhm, mhm, yup, that's some quality material right there… makes me sad that I have to punch his lights out tomorrow…" Yang said looking thoughtful in the direction Ruby was staring.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled flustered, "No oogling my boyf-girlfriend!" she fake hit her sister. "Wait what do you mean punch him?"

"Come on sis, you gotta admit he's pretty much eye candy. And to answer you I mean, I have to test his strength, I trust him, as a leader and as a friend. But… as your sister… as the person who looks after you while dad's not around… I need to confirm his ability to protect you with my own fists." She finished.

Ruby was thoughtful for a moment, it was rare to see Yang hold so much respect for a person, "But… he's not as strong as he normally is… at least wait until he's used to his body…" she tried to reason.

Yang shook her head, "No can do, we're huntresses remember? Things can happen at any time and we need to be ready, if he uses his body as an excuse if he loses to me then all the more reason to not allow you two to date." Yang said solemnly.

Ruby just looked baffled, "Yang you can't just take control of who I date, I'm my own person! I'm allowed to make my own decisions!"

Yang placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, "And I respect your decisions Ruby, but you gotta see where I'm coming from. My only sister is dating someone and I don't feel ready to give you up without a fight."

Ruby could only stare at the floor. She understood Yang, if Luna was the one in her shoes then she'd want to make sure whoever she was dating was adequate, even if she knew them personally. It still didn't mean she liked the idea.

Nova strode in wearing one of his old white long-sleeved shirts and a pair of shorts. His long hair was a tangled mess but overall was rather swimming in his old clothes.

"You can't be going to bed like that…" Weiss pointed out as she and Luna walked into the room, back from getting ready for bed themselves. Hex was working on her machines in the ASHN room and Nitro was already snoring away.

Nova quirked her eyebrow, "And what's wrong with this?" she questioned gesturing to herself.

Ruby just giggled and Luna shook her head, "We really need to get you some clothes…"

"Wanna go out tomorrow? It's a Sunday but most places around Vale are open due to the festival... No scratch that we _ARE_ going shopping tomorrow." Weiss said staring at the dragons.

Nova flinched, "Oh no…"

"Oh yes…." Blake said smirked causing everyone to jump, completely forgetting she was there.

"Wow Blake didn't expect you to be into shopping," Yang said raising an eyebrow.

"Normally no, but any opportunity to tease my childhood friend is a plus," she gave a cat-like grin.

"Well, it will have to be AFTER I mop the floor with him, provided he can still walk," Yang said flexing her arm.

"Excuse me?" the dragon leader asked incredulously.

"Yeah lizard, just cuz you're a girl now doesn't mean you can escape this. You're dating my baby sister… my only baby sister… you still need to prove yourself..." The blonde said glaring daggers at him. "No offense Luna, you're the little sister."

"None taken, I know what you mean." the blue dragon responded.

Nova stood up to Yang, though his face was barely in line with her chest. "Challenge accepted."

"Good now you better get some sleep then," she patted him on the back, glad he didn't back down.

"Upupup, not yet you don't," Weiss said halting Nova before he could leave.

"Whatttt" he groaned desperately wanting to rest his weary eyes.

"You need to brush that hair young lady." Weiss wagged her finger as if Nova was a child.

The girl groaned, "But I don't wannaaaaa."

"If you don't your hair will be a mess of knots and it will be extremely painful so bare with it," she seethed as she nodded to Luna.

The blue dragon forced Nova to sit down and the others watched in amusement as she sat brushing the long mane of white and orange hair. It was soft and very comfortable to the touch. "For a guy turned girl, you have some amazing hair quality…" Luna mused. Ruby had to resist the urge to reach out and touch it.

"When we were kids, Nova would brush my hair like this anytime he got the chance," she said smiling.

Ruby stared at her girlfriend with a goofy smile on her face, "Is he any good?" she asked Luna.

"Yeah, he's really good at it, really gentle and its really soothing." She said smirking

Nova blushed furiously, "W-Well mom wasn't around… so someone had to do it…"

The other girls made an awe sound. "That's really sweet…" Ruby said smiling warmly.

"Yeah my bro-sister here might be edgy and hotheaded but he's really just a big softie," Luna said finishing up the hair.

Nova buried his head in Ruby's lap, "Ughh make them stopppp" she said her voice muffled by Ruby's person.

The red reaper just smiled and petted her girlfriend, "But they're right, you're adorable and sweet!" she said hugging her.

Yang and Luna made barfing sounds, "Okay, geez you guys anymore and I'll get a cavity," Weiss said blushing.

The teams parted ways for the night, Nova settled into his bead, severely missing the feeling of a certain silver-eyed reaper nestled at his side.

* * *

**It'll be a little while before I get my major assignments out of the way, but hopefully, I should be back up to speed after next week.**

**Be sure to leave a review, and to those of you who haven't given up on me yet. Love you guys! ^_^**


	26. Chapter 26: Hurts before Skirts

**Chapter 26: Ass-Kicking and Clothes Shopping**

* * *

It was maybe five in the morning when team ASHNRWBY were rudely awakened to the sound of loud knocking.

"Wake up, it's time," Yang called barging into the room.

Nova awoke startled, he wasn't in a very heavy sleep because he missed the warmth of a certain red leader. "Holy shit Yang the sun isn't even up yet!" Nova seethed and Yang just shot him a death glare.

"Arena, you have ten minutes." She said firmly before leaving.

Hex shuddered at the cold glare in her girlfriend's eyes. Yang noticed and turned smiling sweetly, "Morning love, you're bout to watch your leader get her ass kicked." She turned and walked off.

"Ugh come on guys we need to…" Hex said but only got a response of loud snores from Luna and Nitro. "HOLY SHIT HOW HEAVY DO YOU SLEEP?!" She said tazing Nitro and ripping the covers off Luna.

The two groaned, "Is it morning already?" Luna said rubbing her eyes.

"Nova's got his match with Yang." She said to which the others bolted up and started getting ready.

* * *

**-In the Arena-**

Nova was clad in the same outfit he wore yesterday with a black dress shirt and tights that probably belonged to Luna and the same black flats he borrowed from Weiss. He didn't bother with new clothes because he'd just get them dirty in the fight, and in terms of a shower, all he took was a face washing because he'd have to take a shower after... provided he was still alive.

"This is going to be hell to fight in…" he said looking at himself. Asura was unsheathed in its katana form, he tried using the scythe but it was almost three times as tall as he was. The scabbard weighed a ton and the sword was no slouch on heaviness either. His arms were showing signs of pain from holding it up in a ready stance.

Yang looked at him, a mix of confusion and anger, she knew his fighting style was sword drawing techniques or scythe skills so having the sword already drawn seemed to her that he was looking down on her. "You're not holding back are you?" She glowered.

Nova shook his head, "Not in the slightest… I'm just not used to my own weapon's weight, don't worry it's not going to be a problem," he said half hopeful.

Yang grinned, "Good…" without so much as a warning she dashed toward him with blinding speed. He barely had a moment to react as Yang's fist soared past his cheek within a hair's distance. Using the momentum of his reaction he leaned back and backflipped kicking Yang across the chin sending her backward. She recovered and landed on her feet, wiping the dirt from her chin in the process, while Nova stood there gawking at himself. He'd never been able to successfully backflip before unless he was ten feet in the air.

Nova was surprised at how incredibly flexible this body was, he'd never have been able to do that in his old one. Yang spared him no chance to ponder as she sent several shots from Ember Celia at him. He managed to dodge one but the other collided with his stomach knocking him backward. His aura took a subtle hit but it wasn't bad.

_It should be about now… come on hurry up and adapt... _his semblance was still adapting to the weight of the weapons, he had maybe two to three seconds left. Yang wasn't in the mood to allow him to stall so she launched herself at him again, giving no chance to breathe.

SHNRWBY filed into the room just in time to see Nova get smacked into a nearby wall, his aura levels dropping to 75%. "Holy shit Yang, a delicate flower such as myself could never hope pack that much punch!" he said in mocked admiration.

"Delicate flower my ass... " she grunted quite annoyed that he was making excuses.

"Well once I manage to peel myself out of here, you'd find out that I have thorns..."

"Damn, Yang isn't pulling any punches…" Nitro commented the red-haired boy reclined in his seat putting his feet up on the rails. "You'd think she'd give him some grace given that he isn't as strong as his old self."

"She said he needed to be ready for anything if he's going to be my boyfriend…" Ruby said nervously.

"That's what this is about? I thought he just messed with her hair again," Nitro said half-heartedly.

Hex just rolled her eyes, "Come one this is important… for both of them," Luna returned.

"I just hope he'll be okay…" Blake said nervously.

* * *

Back in the arena, Nova rose from the crater he was in, Asura now sheathed in its scabbard. He gave her a smirk, "Come on Yang… now the real fun begins!" there was a scary glint in his eye when he launched himself at her. It was like he blinked out of existence at that moment, if not for her instincts Yang would be missing her head.

She had barely managed to bring up her guard in time to block Asura's vibrating blade, the resonance between the metals sent her propelling backward. Asura could not cut Ember Celia, or maybe its owner chose not to cut them. Without letting her rest, Nova released Asura in its scythe form, the massive weapon towering over him as he came down in a deadly spin. Like a violent pinwheel, the scythe crashed down onto Yang attacking her from every direction. All she could do was tank the damage mid-air until she hit the ground.

Her aura deep in the yellow zone. "You know what they say, don't poke a sleeping dragon." Nova stood above her, scythe resting at his side. His long white hair slightly messed up in dust, it was a miracle Yang hadn't singed any of it off.

Maybe it was his semblance adapting him but his body was beginning to move naturally again.

Yang said nothing as she rose from the pit, her hair now glowing yellow and her eyes a burning red. _Oh shit…_ was all Nova could manage to muster in his mind as Yang's fist shot through the haze of dust and smoke colliding with Nova's chest, the damage sent his aura into the yellow in an instant because of his opponent's semblance. Nova recovered and tried shot a few rounds of Asura at the ground to steady his landing. He then relaunched himself at Yang utilizing one of Ruby's techniques, using the sniper recoil to propel his body forward.

Yang caught him mid-air with her enormous strength and held him up with one hand around his neck choking him. Everyone in the room looked on in shock at the brutal choice of attack from the blonde.

Nova gasped for air, Asura dropped to the side clattering on the floor, his aura dropping slowly.

Ruby gasped in horror, "YANG YOU'RE GONNA KILL HIM!"

Even Luna and the others were feeling uneasy now. Had Nova been fighting at his full power, Yang wouldn't have lasted even a few seconds.

Nova meekly shot Ruby a thumbs up and choked out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Yang said darkly as she slackened her grip enough for him to speak.

Nova smiled, "Just… figured out… how to… use this… body…"

Yang looked confused but refused to let him do whatever he was planning. She tightened her grip and was about to bring Nova's head smashing into the ground when he gripped her forearm tightly. Nova channeled his powers, draining his aura to the point just above red and burning Yang's arms with his fire.

Yang roared in pain releasing Nova from her grip, just before he fell to the floor he wrapped his legs around Yang's neck and bent backward allowing his hands to touch the floor. He then used the momentum to fling Yang across the room. While mid-air, Nova picked up Asura and propelled himself forward with a series of flips, hooking Yang In the blade of the scythe and channeling his power through it.

The dragon's crystal glowed a fiery red, acting as a conduit to fuel his power. Flames then erupted from the scythe, burning through the blonde's defenses like it was paper. With a heavy swing, Nova sent Yang crashing into the arena floor, her aura quite literally depleted.

Ruby stormed onto the field rushing over to Yang in a flurry of rose petals. "Yang oh my gosh are you okay?" she asked desperately checking over her sister.

Yang coughed violently but got up none the less. Her face was scratched and bruised and there were definitely purple spots on her back and lower abdomen, her wrists had some pretty nasty burns as well.

"I'm fine Ruby… nothing a little aura won't heal…" she stretched and a few audible pops were heard, Ruby winced. Yang rotated her shoulder a bit, "You got me good flamethrower, I approve of your relationship with my sister… but just know that if you break her heart or hurt her in anyway…" she said dangerously.

Nova nodded in understanding, Yang just smiled genuinely, "Not that I'd expect you to anyway…". The young dragon was taken aback by her overwhelming confidence in him.

"You almost had me, not gonna lie, I thought I would've lost. You fought perfectly, not giving me a chance to rest, switching up your attacks so my semblance wouldn't be able to adapt to the damage. Honestly, it was quite impressive." Nova smiled walking up and grasping the blonde by her forearm in the form of a solid handshake.

"Bah don't give me too much credit, had you been fighting at your fullest potential, you'd have mopped the floor with me," Yang said shaking the hand of the other girl. "When you said you'd figured out how to fight… what'd you mean?"

Nova relinquished his grip and spoke, "This body… while it might not be as physically capable as my male body, it is incredibly flexible." he explained.

Yang quirked his head and Nova stepped back a few paces. "Here watch," he said before proceeding to bend his spine all the way back so her hands touched the back of her heels. Then using the momentum of his body, backflipped, then cartwheeled into a split. Everyone just gawked in surprise.

"That's… incredible…" Weiss said quite amazed.

Hex just patted Ruby on the back, "Looks like nightly activities would be… very interesting… lucky for you, huh?" she snickered, causing Ruby to look on bewildered.

"I don't understand…" the red leader said confused, Nova blushed madly from the implication while Yang leaned in and whispered something into her sister's ear that sent the girl into an overheat.

"Oh god Yang we aren't ready for that!" she playfully hit her sister.

Nova wasn't too sore, his aura healed him up quite nicely while Yang was groaning in pain. They insisted she stay behind on their shopping trip but, a quick visit to Elain in the infirmary and she was as good as new.

* * *

The bullhead ride to the city was rather calming. His sense of balance in his new body was astounding, surprising him and to the extent, everyone else when he climbed on top of the ship and did a handstand, thankfully he was wearing a pair of slacks today ... much to the disappointment of the other passengers. _This is so much fun… I might not even WANT to change back if I get too used to this_, he thought.

Nova felt like he was dragged around the equivalent of four hundred stores throughout their escapades. He was thoroughly thankful he wasn't forced into heels.

"This one looks cute~" Hex said as she held up the equivalent of lace with a few fibers attached.

"I am NOT wearing something that revealing… I have at least some modesty…" He said turning his red face to the floor.

Weiss smirked, "Maybe not publicly but I'm pretty sure Ruby would love it."

Nova paled and looked to his girlfriend who was pretending not to have overheard them. "Ruby?"

*High pitched whistling*

"NOOOOOO! I trusted you!" he reached out to her only to miss and fall over.

"Come on girl you need to loosen up, think of all the cute outfits you get to wear now…" Yang said referring to her own outfit.

"You have a point…but I rather like being edgy." He said with a pout, which just looked way too cute in his current form.

"Not when your face looks like that you don't ." Weiss pointed out. "Here try these on."

Nova was forced to the changing rooms while everyone stood outside awaiting him to be done.

There were a few strained groans and exasperated sighs before he finally emerged wearing a fiery orange jacket with black undershirt., accompanied by a black short-skirt and orange and black striped knee-socks. His face was pure red.

"Oh….my…he's in a skirt." Weiss started.

"And…it …looks…amazing…" Blake gaped unable to contain her giggles. She quickly pulled out her scroll and snapped a picture.

"GUYS SERIOUSLY?!"

"Yeah gotta…burn this into my memory for…research purposes." Ruby said studying her girlfriend.

"Oh, god Ruby not you to…"

"Okay… it's official." Hex said eyeing her leader.

"What's official?" Nova asked quite scared.

"You're wearing that for the rest of the day."

"WHAT?! FUCK NO! I am changing right now!"

"Oh no, you're not…" Weiss snickered as she froze his old clothes solid, thus forcing the dragon to unwillingly wear a skirt all day.

"Legs…for…days…" was all Yang could utter as they walked down the streets of Vale. Despite the copious amounts of clothing that they bought for Nova, they had no bags. This was courtesy of Hex's hyper-compressed storage cubes. The look on the cashier's face when she shrunk four bags of clothes into a tiny cube then strolled out the store was priceless.

* * *

Nova felt his scroll vibrate in his jacket pocket signaling he had a notification. He pulled it out and observed it curiously.

"Hey, guys I got a text from Ozpin."

Everyone stopped in their tracks looking at him curiously. "Oz wants me to pick up semi-liquid dust... Wait does dust even come in liquid?"

Weiss flinched, "Not exactly, it's semi-liquid because it's essentially extremely powdered dust. The dust crystals are ground into a powder so small that it flows like liquid and is dispersed easier than ashes since they can't stick to inorganic material."

"Why have I never heard of this before?" Blake asked curiously, wondering why only the SDC heiress was aware of it.

"That's because it's highly illegal, due to its extremely light density, if a person were to inhale it, the dust goes straight to their bloodstream and diffuses like a drug. Inhaling the raw stuff gives people hallucinations like a type of high. Why would Ozpin need such a dangerous substance?" Weiss explained.

"It says here it's for my mom. She needs it to work with the nanomachines." Nova confirmed checking the follow-up message.

"Oh that makes sense, the dust particles are small enough to bond on a cellular level with the nanomachines and Nova's blood. She must need it to formulate the cure." Luna realized bringing attention to the fact that she inherited her mother's genius.

Ruby ruffled the smaller girl's hair, "That still doesn't explain why he's asking you for it." she pointed out. "How does he expect you to acquire black market goods. It's not like you're friends with a crime lord…"

Luna and Nova looked at each other awkwardly.

"You're kidding…"

"The real question is how Ozpin knows that I am." he replied with a head tilt.

"The all-powerful Wizard of Oz knows all." Hex said waving her hand in the air.

* * *

The group of girls wandered into the slums of Vale. One would think it would be the last place a group of pretty girls would want to be walking in alone, especially two Princesses and an Heiress. But they would be wrong since anyone who would have the unfortunate experience of approaching them would probably end up crippled at best.

Once they all reached a familiar crossroads, Nova and Luna stopped.

"Guys, why are we stopping?" Ruby asked nervously.

"NOIR! COME OUT HERE!" Nova screamed out causing everyone to flinch from the sudden increase in volume.

They waited a few moments. "Nothing's happ-" Weiss started but faltered when she saw a horrifyingly tall man with a hunched over stature, in a black trenchcoat and plague doctor's mask, emerging from the shadows of the same alleyway as the night Nova met him. The way the coat wrapped around his figure made him look inhuman.

"To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" came his rat-like voice. He rested heavily on his cane and they could see several armed men in suits pulling up behind him.

"Stuff it Noir. It's me, without the mask this time. Or have you forgotten the one person you're indebted to?" Nova placed his hands on his hips staring down the older man. One could see his wrinkled eyes widen behind his mask as recognition dawned upon his face.

"Alexandrite? Well… this is a pleasant surprise. I thought you were a man? Your disguise was much cleverer than I'd imagined."

"I am a man. This is just an unfortunate accident." Nova said gesturing to himself. "I'm going to cut straight to the chase. I need semi-liquid dust."

Mortus began to chuckle, "And why would you need that? And who're your friends? The only one I know is the Schnee."

Everyone else visibly flinched. "Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Hex, Blake and you already know my sister Luna" he introduced them in order much to everyone's horror.

"Should you be giving a shady guy like this our names so easily?!" Weiss asked in alarm.

"It's fine. He won't harm you now that he knows you're with me. Right Mortus Noir? Underground King of the Rats?" Nova said stepping forward and staring up at the man.

The man's wrinkled eyes went up in what one could assume was a smile, "Indeed Mister Lucius. I do honor my debts. So… why do you need the dust?"

"I need it to work on a cure for changing my body back. I know you can deliver so have a crate delivered to Beacon Academy. You shouldn't have a problem with that right?" Nova asked, his voice all business with no room for argument. Even as a girl he was just as commanding as when he was a man.

"Very well… will that be all your highness?" He asked mockingly.

"Yes..."

Mortus chuckled, he'd been expecting this visit for some time. Within seconds Nova felt his scroll vibrate, a contact had been updated with speed dial.

"What's this for?" Nova asked curiously as he observed the new contact labeled MR.

Everyone peered into the scroll bewildered, why would an infamous crime lord give a kid his contact number? Did he want to be constantly pestered for favours?

"I get the feeling you might need my help again in the near future..." He said almost ominously.

"Uh... thanks Noir... I know I our debt still stands but... I feel like I should repay you in some way..."

Noir held up his hands, "I will accept no acts of charity. My debt to you can't be repaid so easily. Besides, I… it's no longer a point of debt. My prince."

Nova gaped and everyone else felt a shock reverberate through their bodies. "How did you…"

But he was already gone, the only evidence he was there was the lingering stench.

* * *

**I tried getting work done today and all I came up with was the void so I did the only thing I could when I was in a rut, and that was write. I hope you enjoy the early chapter because the next one won't be out til Friday.**

**I sat down and mapped all the plot points from here to the end of volume 6. This fic may very well go over 50 chapters... maybe... depends on how much content I can squeeze with the stuff I'm pulling for vol 4.**


	27. Chapter 27: Back To The Norm

**It was fun writing about female Nova, arguably the most fun I've had out of all the parts of this fic, but all good things must eventually come to an end.**

**You might be wondering: "Author, You spent an awful lot of time on what is basically a gag and it's not relevant to the plot at all." To which I say**

**NAY! Female Nova actually has very important plot relevance in the coming arc so I had to spend some time establishing a firm hold on her. The next major arc, if you haven't guessed already, is Volume 3, but I have couple chapters before I start that arc, mostly just stuff I want to do before well... everything explodes.**

* * *

**Chapter 27: It was fun while it lasted**

* * *

It was Monday now…. And Monday meant classes, classes meant student population. He would have to deal with this somehow.

With a heavy sigh, he stumbled out of bed and threw on his new uniform… complete with a skirt and all. Weiss insisted he wear these knee socks, claiming that his legs were far too pretty to be walking around shamelessly. He didn't understand what that meant. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

Walking out of his room, he was greeted by the sight of an extremely cheerful Ruby, a brilliant smile plastered on her face that just seemed to lift his worries away. Good morning~!" she said pecking him on the lips causing Nova to turn red.

"M-Morning…" he stammered looking at the floor, he wasn't mentally prepared for such sweet assaults in the morning. The whole relationship thing was new to him after all. his closest comparison was Blake's novels... which held more... adult themes.

Ruby just reveled in the feeling she got from making him blush and took him by the hand, pulling him down the corridors of Beacon Academy.

"Aren't we gonna wait on Yang and the others?" He asked curiously not seeing his friends anywhere.

Ruby continued to strut, linked arm in arm with her boy-girlfriend. "They went ahead of us so it's fine." She pointed out.

The red-leader and white dragon girl made a very eye-catching couple and Ruby had to glare daggers at anyone who so much as stared at Nova, If looks could kill then half the student body would be six feet under by now.

Nova unconsciously clutched Ruby's arm as if to make a point that they were a couple, which turned away some of the attention at least. Once they finally approached the doors of their class, Nova shrank away from her, staring up at the great oak doors as if they were the only thing separating his peace from hell itself. He couldn't do it... not like this. He wasn't ready to be stuck in a classroom with a bunch of people he barely knew...as a girl.

"Ruby… I can't do this…" He said backing away from the door.

The girl just shot him a look, "Oh no you don't" she said pulling him back to the door. "You _HAVE_ to do this, who knows how long you're going to be stuck like this so why don't you just get used to it?"

"B-But… "

"Nova Alexandrite Flareheart. You faced down Adam Taurus in single combat and wrestled with death itself, and you're afraid of a little class? Come on this is nothing to worry about! You'll be fine…"

"Yeah but Nova is a strong, tall, confident prince of dragons…."

"And you're still no different. Even if you are a princess now. Besides…" Ruby cupped his face and kissed him deeply, "You're absolutely gorgeous, so you have _nothing _to worry about. I'm with you every step of the way."

Nova had no idea why being called gorgeous made him so happy… it was probably because it was coming from Ruby.

He inhaled deeply and nodded to confirm he was ready. Ruby smiled warmly and too him by the hand once more, together they stepped through the doors of the class.

* * *

Inside most of the students had already filed into the room, the rest of ASHNRWBY had taken up their seats in the middle of the class, with JNPR right behind.

"Morning guys…." Nova said cheerily as he walked up and took his place with Ruby. Yang had opted to sit with Hex, and Luna was with Weiss so Ruby and Nova sat together in the middle row next to Blake, it was as if the team had planned this...

"Ah, the Dragon Princess has managed to make it. Glad to see you didn't chicken out dude." Yang smirked.

Nova just laughed nervously, "Well I had some… strong encouragement…" he leaned on Ruby and kissed her cheek and everyone just went 'Awwww'. The leader couple was just so sickeningly cute together it was ridiculous.

"Yang why don't you kiss me like that…" Hex pouted looking up at her girlfriend.

"Because we both know that if I try that it will turn less than PG very quickly…" she winked causing the purplette to turn beet red.

"Personally, I think that the male to female ratio of this team is getting a little fucking uneven…" Nitro pointed out with a look of disdain.

"Come on bro, you are practically one of the girls…" Hex said lightly punching him in the arm. He sighed, he didn't know whether to be happy he was being included or annoyed that he was being overlooked. He _really _needed a vacation right now, no drama, no fighting, just some time to rest his brain. _Like that's ever going to happen._

"Ugh, tell me about it… I'm still trying to get over the fact that my brother is now my sister…" Luna said.

Weiss genuinely laughed, "Look at it this way, the three of us look like actual sisters now." She gestured to Nova and Luna, then herself.

Everyone gawked at the observation. It was true, they all looked like sisters, they all had practically identical white hair and Luna had blue eyes. With the exception of the horns and minor colour variations… they looked like triplets.

"Holy shit… We have three Schnees…" Blake pointed out looking absolutely horrified.

"Hey! Why'd you make it sound like that?" Weiss felt her sweat drop.

"Or Flareheart triplets..." Hex said studying the three, her index finger tapping on her chin thoughtfully. It was incredibly strange how closely the three resembled each other, Weiss could very well pass as their long lost human cousin or something.

Nova rubbed his temples, "Guys really? Weiss and I look nothing alike. Right Jaune?" he asked turning around to find the blonde boy looking incredulously.

"Um… do I know you?" He asked nervously. Everyone else on team JNPR looked absolutely baffled, how did a super pretty girl know Jaune?

"Fuck…" Nova cursed realizing he completely forgot that he was a girl now and that JNPR would never be able to recognize him.

Weiss reached over and pinched his cheek, "A proper lady doesn't swear!" she berated him.

"YOUR ETIQUETTE CAN FUCK OFF WEISS!" He half yelled and half laughed, lightly swatting her hand away. The heiress just pouted in annoyance.

JNPR watched the interaction curiously, "Anyone going to introduce your friend here?" Pyrrah opted, slightly peeved since the white dragon girl had so casually spoken on such friendly tones to her blonde boyfriend. Nova could feel the underlying tones of irritation, he never pegged Pyrrah to be the possessive type.

Thankfully Luna came to his rescue, "That's my cousin…Alexandra… she um...came in from back home for uh… the tournament…" she lied awkwardly.

All the members of JNPR stared unblinkingly for a few seconds. Nora was the first to speak, "If you think for one second that I'm going to believe..."

ASHNRWBY visibly flinched, "Um I can explain..." Nova started.

"... THAT THIS PRETTY GIRL IS RELATED TO LUNA? Hell yes, I am..." She finished cheerily and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, well nice to meet you Alexandra…" Jaune greeted awkwardly trying to be polite. "Where's Nova?"

Everyone flinched again, earning curious looks from JNPR, "He uh… got hurt really bad during the breach and is… off-campus for treatment?" Yang shrugged. They didn't really have time to come up with a proper lie and were just playing off each other.

"Yeah, that's it… he um… won't be back for a bit… so she's on our team as a substitute? In case Nova doesn't make it back before the tournament?" Ruby explained, turning to her team for approval. They all nodded and looked back at JNPR.

"Well do give him my best wishes, hope he gets better soon." Ren said in his usual stoic manner. If you didn't know Ren, you wouldn't be able to tell but that was his 'worried' face.

Pyrrah's expression softened a bit when she heard the news, "Oh dear... I do hope he's okay... wouldn't want to lose my best rival now would I?" she offered a small smile.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Nora practically stood up. "We. Have. Another. One." She said excitedly looking at Nova.

He felt like a deer in headlights… "Oh shit…" was all he could utter before he was tackled to the ground by Nora and squeezed the life out of.

"LUNA! Ruby! H-Help m-me…." He died as the air left his lungs, his arms stretching toward the heavens in some dramatic effort to save himself.

"Sorry bro… you're on your own…" Luna snickered evilly. This was payback for all the times he left her to the orange-haired girl's assault.

"Settle down now everyone! Class is about to start…" Port said striding into the classroom causing Nora to unwillingly pry herself off of Nova and back to her seat.

Pyrrah leaned down and helped him up, "My apologies Alex… our friend is very… excitable."

Nova wanted to say he was quite aware but held his tongue, "No problem… miss…" he pretended not to know her name.

"Nikos, Pyrrah Nikos." She cheerily introduced shaking the dragon's hand, the two were interrupted when Port called out to the two.

"Miss Nikos and Miss uhh… my apologies but I don't know your name…" Port interjects, alerting them that class had indeed started.

Nova's face turned red and everyone snickered, he stood up and walked to the front of the class, this could be his moment to dispel some of the unwanted questions he'd receive later, "Hello everyone," he waved to the class with a cute smile, "I'm Alexandra Flareheart… as you all may or may not know… my cousin Nova… most of you know him as Alexandrite… is receiving medical treatment off-campus."

There was a series of murmurs spreading throughout, apparently no one knew Alex's real name was Nova… well that was to be expected since they didn't exactly make it public… Most of the girls in class had shocked looks on their faces, holding their hands over their mouths. He could see Ruby getting physically angry, her hands gripped tightly but refusing to let her emotions explode.

"I'll be filling his place on his team until he recovers." Nova finished with a light bow. Most of the boys in the room couldn't help but stare.

There were a few whispers of, "Wow she's so pretty… who knew Alex's cousin was this hot." And someone replied, "Well, of course, they would be hot, have you see _him_?"

There was a point in time where all strings must snap, and the one that was holding Ruby's temper in check just did. *BAM!* With a resounding slam, Ruby smashed her textbook on the table effectively silencing everyone.

"Sorry… My book slipped." She said with a dangerous smile that silently said, drop it and leave it alone. To which everyone gladly complied. The sheer danger signs she was giving off surprised everyone, especially her team. Who knew that when it came to her boy-girlfriend she would be so possessive?

Port coughed into his fists, "Ah yes thank you Miss Flareheart, you may return to your seat."

As he strode up to take his place at Ruby's side, he accidentally tripped on one of the stairs, barely managing to catch himself before the fall. The act was so gracefully adorable, especially the squeak he made as he fell, combined with the rearview that most of the class received, made most of the guys in the room swoon.

Quickly dusting himself off, he sat next to Ruby and huddled close to her without actually touching so they seemed to be a healthy distance apart.

"Nova?" Ruby asked without turning to the dragon, her gaze fixated on the front of the class.

"Hm?"

"If any of them so much as looks at you? I will not hesitate to murder."

"Please don't break any laws."

"No promises…"

* * *

**-Three Days Later-**

"AHA!" Elain exclaims loudly from her lab. She'd been working on Nova's cure tirelessly, mostly because the Vytal tournament was coming up in a few weeks and he needed to be in top performance.

She'd finally made a breakthrough, though the cure wasn't complete yet. She was would have continued further tests when Nova burst through her lab door looking like someone stabbed him… even though he had no physical wounds, the only sign he was in pain was the look of bloody murder on his face.

"WAH!" She cried out startled almost dropping her instruments. She calmed down when she saw her… daughter. "Oh hey sweetie what do you… holy shit what happened to you?" she asked referring to the pained expression he had. It'd been roughly a week since Nova had become a girl and he'd been adjusting nicely. He certainly learned to act the part and had taken a deep liking to the skirt.

"Moom… I think I'm sick…. I have the most awful stomach ache…" He said walking up and leaning his head against his mom's chest. The older woman smiled lightly and placed a hand on her son's face.

"Here let me use my semblance…."

"I really think it was something I ate… Luna told me, she said "Nova don't eat the three-week-old cheese, it's rancid and you're lactose intolerant" but I didn't listen… thought my semblance would sort it out…" he said, his voice muffled by his mom's lab coat. The woman had to concentrate very hard not to burst out laughing at his story.

The warm blue light eventually faded and Elain looked at her son quite perplexed. "Well, my semblance isn't picking up anything abnormal in your body…"

"Are you sure? Cuz my stomach hurts like a metric fuck-tonne." He said swearing vehemently and sitting down on one of the beds.

Elain pondered, "Hmm… that's the equivalent of twenty-five metric shitloads. That _is_ serious… Can you show me exactly where?"

Nova lifted his shirt and pointed to his lower stomach, bordering his waist. "Like right here, I swear to Oum I am in the motherload of all pains." He groaned looking visibly pained.

Once Elain saw where he was pointing, she burst out in a fit of laughter, and all Nova could do was look on in absolute confusion as his mother was practically wheezing.

"MOM THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" He continued to groan in protest, half horrified that she was laughing at his pain and half irritated.

"FWAHAHAHA! Sorry…but… I think… I know… why… you're… in pain!" She said in between bouts of laughter.

Nova was not amused. "What's wrong with me?"

Elain finally calmed down and placed a gentle hand on her son's face. "Sweetheart, you're not sick…"

Just then the infirmary doors burst open to reveal a disheveled looking Ruby, Yang and Luna. "What's going on? Nova looked like absolute shit and we saw him coming in here. Is he okay?" Yang asked concerned, seeing the pained expression on Nova's face and the contrasted laughter of Elain.

"Oh, girls you're just in time. I was about to explain to our recent girl here why she's feeling 'sick' " she said with air quotes.

"What's wrong with him mom?" Luna asked confused.

"Brace yourselves for this one ladies…" She said with suspense. They all leaned in closer in anticipation. "Nova here…IS ON HIS PERIOD!"

Nova paled and Ruby fell over. Yang and Luna burst into a fit of laughter. "HOLY SHIT! THIS IS GREAT! AHAHAHAHA!" Yang roared.

"You know I didn't think you'd ever evolve to this stage. The fact that you get periods means your body has now fully adjusted to being a girl." Elain affirmed looking at the pouty expression of Nova. His face resembled that of a kicked puppy.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm still working on the cure; I should be done pretty soon. For now, you'll just have to ride this out like the rest of us girls do… unless you want the unfinished cure now and risk turning back into a guy who bleeds from his dick." She continued.

Nova felt his sweat drop…. "I think I'll live with this…"

"Good… Ruby can you take care of your boy-girlfriend today? She won't be going to class since this _is _a pretty big deal. We have no idea what a nanomachine fuelled fire dragon is capable off on her period."

Ruby smiled sheepishly, "W-Will do Mrs. Flareheart!" she said walking up to grab Nova, who just blushed and gratefully latched onto his girlfriend's arm.

Elain waved her hand, "Ruby darling, drop the formalities. You're dating my son..err daughter, and from what I've seen you two make the absolute cutest couple. You can just call me Elain, or Ellie… or Aunty or... Mom if you want."

They all visibly flinched at that last term, looking to Ruby in slight worry. "I… haven't called anyone mom since… my own mother…" she went silent.

Elain's expression softened and she looked rather guilty after realizing she'd stepped on a potential landmine, "Oh dear, sweetie I am so sorry… forget I ever…"

Ruby just smiled and hugged the older woman. "It's fine. It was years ago anyway." She took Nova by the hand and walked out the door. "See you later Aunty Ellie!" Elain just smiled warmly; she really did like that kid. Ruby was the sweetest girl she'd ever met and she'd be damned if she didn't approve wholeheartedly of their relationship.

* * *

"So how the hell are we dealing with this?" Yang said gesturing to her leader who was rolling around on his bed in pain.

Ruby scratched her head, "I guess… the same way we deal with it?"

"Right so… Nova usually gets me all the junk food I want, a heated pad and relaxation." Luna said with a finger on her chin in thought.

The other two girls looked at her incredulously, "How would he know…"

"I had to be a mom. I learned how to take care of her the hard way." Nova said, his voice muffled by the sheets of his blanket.

Ruby smiled, "Alright you guys get the stuff I'll stay here with him. Usually, I'd prefer to be alone but I think maybe having his girlfriend around would make him feel better."

The blonde and the other dragon just cooed in awe before leaving.

* * *

Ruby lay on the bed with Nova playing with his hair. "It's only this bad because it's your first one and you're like sixteen. I mean only last week you were a boy."

"Ugh how do you girls deal with this every month…" he groaned and cuddled up to Ruby, snuggling into her tummy.

Ruby giggled, his antics were too cute, "Girls are strong like that. I remember our first one." She said referring to herself and Yang. "Dad was freaking out… if it wasn't for mom he'd never be able to handle us." She snickered.

Nova had to think back now about his mom. Surely, she'd want to take part in this rite of passage but she was working on his cure. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he got his mom back. He certainly didn't expect them to go back to being a happy family but he had to admit, her work-oriented priorities felt… right.

"Hey, Ruby?" He asked turning his face to meet her eyes.

"Hm?"

"What was your mom like?"

Ruby was silent for a moment, she certainly hadn't been expecting this question but it wasn't unwelcome. "Mom was… I guess what you would call a 'super mom'. She could do everything, cook, bake and fight monsters. She was the kindest person and made me feel safe no matter what. She used to make the absolute best…"

"Chocolate chip cookies?" Nova finished for her.

She giggled, "Correct. How'd you guess?"

"It's one of your favourite things to eat." He returned with a smile. His cervical pain became a dull sensation as he relished in the comfort of his girlfriend. His aura and semblance were adapting his body so he was able to handle it better. Still, he didn't want to give up this intimacy so he sat up and brought his nose up to hers.

She blushed realizing what he was about to do, she closed her eyes in anticipation for the pair of warm lips that planted themselves softly on hers. It was a gentle and kind kiss, not laden with passion but one that conveyed pure love and care.

"Alright, kids I brought the…." Yang came in followed by Luna.

"I leave you two alone for a few minutes and the first thing I come back to is you two face munching again." She said with a lopsided grin.

Luna chuckled, "Told you they would be…"

The couple broke apart in embarrassment, "Hey guys, what'd you get me?"

They then proceeded to lay out the copious amounts of snacks, Luna may or may not have gone overboard.

* * *

**-One Week Later-**

Nova was feeling much better than he was previously. His pains long gone now, attending class felt easier than at the start of the week and he certainly enjoyed being a girl… but he missed his old body. He just wasn't feeling very feminine that day at all. As if the universe had heard his inner turmoil, the sound of rapidly tapping shoes was heard outside the class door.

"ALRIGHT WHERE'S MY SO- NIECE?!" Elain burst through the doors of Oobleck's class, thoroughly scaring the occupants inside, some people even fell out of their seats in surprise that the new school nurse was in their history class.

Even the professor himself was quite startled. "Ahem… Doctor Flareheart. To what do I owe the pleasure of this interruption." He said pushing up his glasses.

" Oh sorry bout that moss-head. I just need to see Nov… err I mean Alexandra in my lab…."

Nova perked up, "Is it time?!" He practically fell out of his seat while all his classmates looked on in amusement.

Elain nodded, and, with a speed faster than Ruby, Nova took off out the door following his mom leaving the rest of ASHNRWBY confused and disoriented.

* * *

Inside the infirmary, Elain set her son down on the cot and began rummaging for her instruments. The entire infirmary had been converted into a lab at this point and it looked more akin to an advanced doctor's office than a school infirmary. It also looked like Elain had been sleeping in the lab... evidence being that she was wearing the same clothes as two weeks ago and the ungodly amount of cigarette butts in a brown ashtray atop her desk.

"So… where's the cure?" he asked looking around for some new drug or surgical device.

Elain smiled, "Well about that…"

Nova deadpanned, he was getting rather tired of all the ambiguity that his mom was throwing around. It was if she enjoyed torturing him with suspense.

"I couldn't fully cure you… since your DNA is extremely complex…instead, I worked on something better than a cure. Since I wasn't able to separate and revert your DNA…. I used the semi-liquid dust to… control it." She said sinisterly.

Nova gulped, "What does that mean… exactly?"

"It means that by wearing this…." She held out a bracelet that looked rather bulky. It was at least one inch off his wrists and looked like circular with a flat face. It was at least two inches thick and was pieced together of three layers of red and silver. There was a tiny button on the underside of the wrist area and the inside looked like a series of tiny needles. **(A/N: Picture the Armlets from God Eater)**

Nova looked it over hesitantly. "Uh… Mom… this looks kinda…horrifying... If this is your idea of a cure I'd hate to see what punishment looks like."

"This, my child, is a biological, neural to cellular control device. It latches onto your nervous system and connects to your brain. From there you can push the button on the underside and think on whether you want to be a girl or a boy and your body will alter to suit." She explained.

"Wait how the hell is that supposed to work? I'm shorter than my male body so wouldn't that mean I just get shorter overall? How do you just spontaneously change my gender?"

"It deactivates the nanomachines in your body that holds the Maiden DNA, while simultaneously keeping them powered. In other words, It allows you to freely change…" She continued.

"Why though… I like being a girl don't get me wrong but… why not just revert me completely?"

"Haven't you been paying attention you dingus. I couldn't change you back completely so this was the best solution. That being said… if you ever take that bracelet off or it breaks somehow, you will revert back to being a girl, since that's pretty much your body's default setting." She confessed.

Nova inhaled sharply and placed his left wrist inside the bracelet. Instantly it clamped down, the needles felt painless as they were too small to be considered a serious penetration of the skin. He pushed the button on the underside and thought _I wish to be male again_. And concentrated on his previous form.

Aura enveloped his body in a bright fiery glow, his scales began emerging all over him and disappearing in an instant, starting with his hands and, in a wave-like motion, traveled up and around his body. His height returned to normal, his breasts disappeared and his body became bulkier. Once the light was over he glanced down to see himself practically tearing out of his girl clothes. A set of rock hard abs and toned muscles over his body.

"YES! IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK!" He fist-pumped. He began hugging himself awkwardly and Elain felt like she had to avert her eyes.

Elain studied him, checking over his body to ensure he was completely transformed, "It seems transforming consumed almost all of your aura..."

"Well, I do feel kinda woozy..." He explained realizing he was feeling much weaker than before. If transitioning his gender meant going through this feeling, he'd better not make it a habit. "Thanks mom!" He hugged her tightly and squeezing her a little.

The woman chuckled, "Have fun kid, the bracelet's made with Incidium so it should be pretty durable. I modeled it with the idea that you'd be fighting a lot… since you are a huntsman in training after all." She smiled and returned the hug, silently glad he was back to being a he.

* * *

He took a quick stop at his dorm, changing into his original uniform before heading back to class. He smirked devilishly as he prepared to make his grand re-entrance.

" 'Sup bitches I'm back!" He said bursting through the door with grandeur, a bit of swagger in his step.

Everyone in the room had a brain malfunction. "Who is that?!" was the resounding murmur.

Nova smirked, "Who am I? How have you forgotten, Nova Alexandrite Flareheart?!" He said with a mock bow.

"WHAT?!" They all gasped while team ASHNRWBY smiled like idiots.

Oobleck coughed, "Good to see you back Mr. Flareheart… please refrain from such language in my class again… now please return to your seat."

"Yes, well my time off-campus was… interesting… I must say it's incredible to be back."

Most of the girls and a few of the guys in class made a simultaneous, "HI NOVA~"

He waved a polite hello to his few fans and sat back down, next to Ruby.

"I'll explain later." He said looking at their quizzical stares.

* * *

**AAAND He's back... more or less. It feels great to now have the freedom to write between the two versions of Nova. I got a really long break this weekend so I could try to do a few more chapters.**

**'Til Next time you beautiful people (^_^)**


	28. Chapter 28: Truth, Lies and, a Holiday?

**Chapter 28: Doubts and a Vacation**

* * *

**-White Fang Outpost Vale, Just after the incident of the breach-**

Bell barely managed to haul Lyme and Dune through to their medical station. Dune was in pretty bad shape, the beetle Faunus might not actually make it, the damage to his lungs and lower abdomen was severe. Lyme's legs would heal but he'd be out of commission for a few weeks at the very least. She was the least damaged but her wings took some slight burning from the heat Nova was emitting.

She shook herself off and raked her palms across her face, sinking it into her hands. Another week, another failure. How could they be beaten so easily? They were a team of the most elite soldiers the White Fang had to offer, each specially trained to handle any and all combat type situations. From infiltration and espionage to all-out warfare, there was not a single military force on the face of Remnant that could match them... so why? Why is it that a couple of kids, who were still wet behind their ears, barely a few months with of experience, were taking the world's largest metaphorical dump on their operation?

The first time team BLADE failed Onyx drilled them for hours, Adam got his body beaten half to death by the High Commander himself... and she could still hear Lyme's screams echoing in her mind. She was spared only because it was her wits that pulled Adam out of the fight.

The way failure was treated at their organization was horrible, even before they became a team, they were all at one point or the other subject to the atrocities of their superiors.

Dune usually took the punishment the worst. Due to his 'unbreakable' body, Onyx subjected the large beetle-man to multiple experiments. Every time he failed, Dune would have something inside him replaced with cybernetic enhancement. First, it was his left arm, then his right, then his vocal cords, eventually they removed his ability to feel emotion completely. Now he was barely half Faunus, and more machine than flesh and blood. Sighing heavily, she took a quick shower and changed out of the bloody rags that she called clothes, and slipped into her uniform, dreading the report she was about to give to High Commander Onyx.

* * *

Bell stumbled into the council room and stood at attention, facing down Onyx, who sat at the head of a great round table. His face stoic and icy, like that of a man that'd seen hundreds of battles. The scars across his face combined with his rugged look, sharp jaw and thick beard made for a terrifying figure. Every bone in her body was shaking, every muscle, begging her to run, but her duty as a soldier compelled her to continue.

"Report, field agent Wings." The tall bear-like man said as he sat, glaring at the exhausted girl. "What happened out there?!" his voice was deep and commanding, it sent waves of fear down the blonde's spine, the sheer terrifying aura drying her throat in an attempt to choke her where she stood.

"High Commander Onyx sir!" Bell stood at attention, just barely, as her legs were shaking. "Our operation at Mount Glenn was blown to hell by a squadron of Beacon students accompanied by two professional Huntsmen. They took down our lab and destroyed the latest mecha soldier prototype."

Just then, the doors to the great room slammed open to reveal a rather annoyed Adam Taurus and what looked to be a boy in a black suit with shining gold embroidery.

"So you failed! Get to the point!" Adam spat joining Onyx as they sat around a conference table.

"Captain Taurus sir! We lost Elain Flareheart in the fight, her corpse was found lying under her collapsed lab, burnt to a crisp."

Onyx who had been trying to remain calm slammed his fist down on the table cracking it.

"WHAT?! OUR LEADING SCIENTIST IS DEAD?!" He roared in anger, the entire room shook like a small tremor causing everyone to flinch back in fear.

"Calm down sir! Bell are you sure it was her?" Adam said trying to appease his leader.

"The body was burnt beyond all recognition, we had the guys at the lab run a test on the blood samples we found on the coat and body, the DNA matches."

Onyx's fury morphed into hysterically mad, his suddenly tore out of his anger and laughed madly, as if the whole situation was so horrible it was funny.

"Sir? Is something wrong?" Bell asked curiously

"You said the lab coat? Blood splatters? YOU FOOL! If she died in a fire… there would be NO blood splatters on her coat. Even if there were, they'd have dried up from the heat. Besides… that woman isn't stupid, she most likely set that up to buy herself time to escape. She probably fucked off with those _humans_ at Beacon."

"Sir then what do we do about Flint Flareheart?" Adam asked curiously, their whole operation banked on that man's co-operation. If Flint found out his wife was no longer their hostage, he'd either kill himself or stop working altogether. That dragon was prideful, he'd rather die than help them any further.

Onyx pondered for a moment, stroking his beard thoughtfully, "Tell him nothing. If he finds out his wife has escaped then we won't have any means to make him co-operate… He needs to continue to believe she's in our hands…"

"Do we know who attacked our camp? Where they acquired the information on our location?" the boy in the black and gold suit asked, his voice sounded raspy and dark.

"Captain Edan sir, It was the Dragon children and their allies," Bell confirmed, hating the words herself as if merely mentioning Nova was like a curse upon her lips.

"He's still alive?" Adam asked curiously, he was grateful the brat was still breathing. "Good… now I can kill him again…" he seethed.

"Those lizards are a problem… but how do we get rid of them…" Onyx continued to stroke his beard in concentration.

"Don't worry about that… come time for the Vytaal tournament… all will be realized." A sultry feminine voice said as Cinder appeared on a large monitor in the center of the table, her sudden appearance jolted everyone at the table.

"Cinder Fall… Just because we're partners doesn't mean you can just freely break into our networks and call us." Onyx said sizing up to her, he stood twice her size.

She laughed and made a dismissive wave with her hands, "There, there grizzly, how else am I supposed to get you to answer the phone? Besides, there's no need to get impatient. That little dragon and his friends will all burn when we enact our operation…"

Onyx snorted, "Your operation? With that fool Torchwick? He's failed twice now and look at what it's cost us."

"Failed? Oh by no means has he failed. The Breach was a success! The whole point wasn't to kill Vale… it was to sow the seeds of chaos. Make them realize their city isn't impenetrable…. Soon they'll go running into the arms of our queen." She smiled.

"Queen?" Adam asked curiously.

"Do not concern yourself with matters that are above you, apprentice. For now, ready your team, you'll be undergoing special…training…"The commander instructed.

"But sir two of them are in critical condition!" Bell exclaimed referring to Dune and Lyme.

"It matters not. They will work regardless."

"BUT!"

"YOU WILL LISTEN TO YOUR SUPERIORS WELP!" His voice boomed, silencing everyone in the room. Even Cinder jumped back a little and she wasn't even physically there.

She chuckled, finally breaking the tension, "You certainly do have a fiery temper, Mr. High Commander, we'll speak later, there are much more important matters to attend to than listening to your petty squabble." with that she signed off.

Once she was gone, Edan spoke up, "Sir if I might add, does this 'training' include us as well?" he gestured between him and Adam.

Onyx eyed them, "Did I stutter?"

Adam was baffled, "But Master, why are we to take the fall for their failure?"

"Because it was your inability to train them that they failed to protect our base. You two buffoons are in charge of them, so it is your duty to own up as captains. YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!" The bear-man boomed as he prodded Adam's chest, towering nearly three heads over the man.

Bell had been standing there quietly, drinking in every word that Onyx said. Why did they need to be punished? They failed because they were outmanned and outgunned, if anything it is the White Fang soldiers that needed to be disciplined... so why them? It was then that the words Nova said to her in the cavern resurfaced in her mind. Were they just fighting Onyx's war or were they fighting for the White Fang? How did all these operations benefit their race as a whole?

All the genetics research, the new weapons, the bombings, the stealing. Working with these humans that they despised so much, was this really all for the greater good of the Faunus race? Or was this entire thing just a scheme built on lies made to fuel this so-called 'High Commander's ' own objective?

The more she stood thinking on it, the more the roar of her commander droned to low vibration. Eventually, she'd had enough.

"Blind orders again? Is this what you wanted? What about the dragons? Did they really commit the crimes you said they did?" she asked, tearing Onyx away from his assault on the two captains, even Adam was now interested.

The Commander instantly halted all motions and eyed her dangerously, "Who has been filling your head with lies…?" he seethed, his black aura flaring dangerously, enveloping the room in a mass of miasma, Adam could feel his throat constrict as it became more difficult to breathe.

Even if Bell wanted to answer, Onyx's aura was exuding a pressure so great that it made it impossible to operate functionally.

"It matters not, you only need to carry out your duties and nothing more. Soon all of Remnant will bow to the power of the White Fang…" the pressure died down once he saw the look of absolute terror on all their faces. He smiled darkly to himself, even if his subordinates had doubts, they wouldn't dare oppose him out of fear. He enjoyed that feeling, being able to make people eat their own words just by his mere presence.

The way that sounded struck a bad chord with Adam. When he'd been enlisted he wanted to take the humans down for sure but…. Why did it feel like this had less to do with empowering the Faunus and more like empowering Onyx…

He couldn't dwell on these thoughts. They clouded his judgment. He just needed to trust his master, that's all there was to it.

* * *

**-Later that Day-**

Bell sat in the training room, her normal attire replaced by a pair of baggy tracks and a tank top that allowed her wings to stretch out. She was laying waste to a punching bag hanging in the small gym, venting all of her anger and frustration onto the object, as if every punch she sent flying was therapeutic. She'd seen that look Onyx had in his eyes, that man had the power to kill all of them at once if they stepped out of line. He could order their execution in an instant and they'd be powerless to stop him.

She respected Onyx, his ambition and leadership skills were the driving forces, but now she hated him. In that one instant in that room, all the puzzle pieces had fit together. She knew he was a self-important tyrant from the moment she laid eyes on him.

_Wait that's not right... didn't I just say I respected him..._ she thought. _No... I've always hated him... when I think about respecting him... why does it feel so wrong? I've always hated him, haven't I? That's right! I'm loyal to Adam not..._

Her thoughts became confused, wracking her brain with an intense headache that propelled an incredible feeling of anger, forcing her thoughts away from her.

"Bell stop, you'll break your arms if you continue tearing into that thing." A male voice said, bringing her back to reality.

Bell stopped herself in confusion, staring back at the bag and blinking rapidly. She'd torn a hole straight through the material and the sandbag was now hanging by a thread of cloth, its grainy contents on the floor. Her hands were trembling, why was she so angry again?

A calloused hand gripped hers forcing her to look up at the owner of the appendage. "Adam?" She asked, unsure if she was back to reality.

"It's me kid, calm down. Are you okay?" He asked referring to her outburst earlier and now the bag.

Bell sighed and slumped to the floor. "I... I'm not sure..."

"What you said back there, about the dragons being innocent... what did you mean?" Adam asked, his tone of voice different from its usual commanding tone.

Bell looked up from her spot on the floor, "It's nothing... just something that idiot Nova said to me back when we fought"

"What did he say?" Adam was very interested now.

"He said... that we were the ones who attacked him first. That Onyx ordered the attack and covered it up, he said his family never betrayed our people, and that we weren't fighting for the Faunus... we were fighting for Onyx." she explained.

Adam was thoughtful for a moment, "You don't believe him do you?"

Bell was hesitant to answer, "Of course not... it's just..."

"It's just...?"

"Are we doing the right thing?" Her question threw Adam for a complete loop. "All this war, fighting, and killing... is it really for the benefit of the White Fang? For All Faunus?" The moment the words left her mouth she felt a sharp pain shoot through the back of her mind driving her to make her want to punch the nearest wall.

Adam saw the shift in her demeanor, "So... you've been getting it to then..."

She looked up confused, "Getting what?"

"The sudden spurts of anger, the pain. Every time I've thought about Onyx and his actions, I've been getting this awful pain in the back of my neck and it makes me want to kill someone..."

Bell rubbed the back of her neck, "It's only happened today... being the first time I've ever had... doubts... What could this mean?" but his face was unreadable.

She was about to press for more when he suddenly grabbed her shoulder, "Master Onyx is working for the good of all Faunus, so that we an all rise up against these humans. You'd do well to remember that... don't do something you'll regret..." He said viciously before releasing her and walking off, leaving the blonde girl perplexed and worried.

Adam rounded the corner and slumped himself against the back wall just outside the room, out of sight. He raked his hands across his face. _Fuck... Master isn't some self-serving tyrant... he's doing this for the good of all of us. This pain is nothing more than mere coincidence, just a product of stress... it's just stress..._ he chanted over and over in his mind as if he was convincing himself he was right.

* * *

**-Presently At Beacon-**

Team ASHNRWBY were busy preparing themselves for the Vytal tournament. Female Nova hadn't been seen in a few days and most of the students assumed she just went back home. They didn't need to explain to anyone other than a depressed Nora that her favourite white-haired dragon girl wasn't coming back any time soon. They were all gathered in the training room, practicing their various combinations and battle strategies.

"Oz give us any word on how we're supposed to tackle the team matches? We're an eight-person team." Yang asked pointing out the obvious.

They were all engaged in sparring sessions with each other, mostly. Nova was the only exception since he was training Luna to control her power.

"I think we're supposed to tackle it as team ASHN and team RWBY separately. At least from what he told me yesterday, we're being registered as two separate bodies, though we are allowed to mix and match our partners for duos round." Nova confirmed as he helped Luna get into a position.

Luna was concentrating very hard on manipulating the space between objects, moving them around or levitating them. She was getting pretty good at controlling it, until she lost focus and accidentally hit Weiss over the head with a bean bag.

"You know… Nova is the Aspect of Fire or whatever… what exactly _is _Luna's power?" Blake asked curiously studying the girl's training.

Nova felt his brain falter, he'd never actually thought about it. He knew she had powers and that he was the Aspect of Fire but he had no idea what she was. He'd just wrote it off as a unique power mutation.

"We don't exactly have a name for it. This is the first time a power like hers has ever manifested before…" he replied.

"Umm… well, I control space vectors and object displacement so… the Aspect of Physics?" the blue dragon offered curiously.

Nova deadpanned, "Luna, that sounds…."

"Lame as fuck." Yang finished for him.

Ruby thought for a moment, "What about the Aspect of Lunar? Cuz I read that the moon controls our gravity or whatever so maybe?"

"The moon doesn't control our gravity, you dolt, it applies its own gravitational pull to... you know what? Never mind... her powers aren't gravitationally based…. Still, I like where you're coming from." Weiss said flicking Ruby over the head.

Ruby pouted, "Novaaa, Weiss is bullying meee." She said hugging her boyfriend by the waist and giving him puppy dog eyes.

He looked at her smugly, then back and the heiress, "Weiss please _keep_ bullying my girlfriend." He replied causing Ruby to pout.

"Meanie."

Weiss just smirked, "Great minds think alike… Come on Ruby we need to work on our strategy for the duos round."

"BUT THAT DOESN'T START FOR LIKE THREE WEEKS!" she squealed as she was dragged off, her arms flailing in protest.

"WAIT! Before you leave to listen to this for a sec," Nova said garnering everyone.

Hex and Nitro came closer and sat down on a bench next to him, "What is its cap?"

Nova inhaled, "Luna and I are going to reveal ourselves to the world."

They all looked at him curiously, "What I mean is. During the tournament, we're going to go on stage with our hoods and then reveal to the world, if we win, that the royal family is back. It's about time we took the fight to the White Fang."

"And why did you need to specifically alert us?" Nitro asked with his hand over his chin.

"I wanted your permission. We always had targets on our backs but this is going to just post up a big flashing sign that says 'Oi come get me!'. I just want your permission to go ahead before we reveal it to everyone."

Nitro and Hex had plastered smiles, "You always have our approval cap." Hex said speaking for both of them. They knew this day would eventually come, the day that their fearless leader and his sister would finally seek out their throne, and they were prepared to support them all the way.

"Are you sure you guys are ready to go through with this?" Blake asked concerned, she was afraid that they may be biting off more than they can chew, releasing that level of information was like tossing a nuclear bomb into a city. The continental shock would be massive and there'd be no going back.

Ruby took Nova's hand and squeezed it, looking into his eyes and silently giving him her reassurance.

"No… but this is a perfect time, on a stage where everyone in the four kingdoms can see us." He said, his eyes were wavering with fear.

Ruby moved closer and pecked him on the cheek, "It doesn't matter what your decision is, I think I speak for everyone when I say we have your back every step of the way."

He blushed a crimson red and smiled, "Then there's no going back, right?"  
"Right!" They all said simultaneously.

* * *

**-Later that Day-**

"So guys…" Ruby said nervously twirling her thumbs as they sat around the team RWBY dorm. All members of the joint team who were present, that being Nova, Luna, Weiss, and Yang, turned to face the reaper.

"We have a couple of weeks break before the Tournament… and…"

Weiss didn't know why but she felt a simmering irritation as Ruby began explaining herself. "…You mean a couple of weeks of preparation right…?"

Ruby rubbed her arm nervously, "Well… with all the stuff going on, Yang and I haven't been able to see our dad… and um… he kinda wants us to visit before we head to the tournament…"

The dragon siblings visibly flinched and gently scooted away from the heiress who looked just about ready to start a new ice age.

"Ruby. Rose. You _promised_ to focus primarily on training… so help me I WILL-"

She was cut off when Luna tackled her to the floor, "Chill out Weiss-cream, I think we need a break. It's been non-stop preparations for the last two weeks, then the drama with Nova turning into a girl and… I think we all just need some time to breathe… before we burn out." The blue dragon said trying to calm down her bestie.

Yang snorted in laughter, "NICE ONE BLUE! WEISS-CREAM! I Love it."

Weiss groaned, "You're lucky you're adorable." She said pinching Luna's cheeks.

"So… what do we all just take like a week off?" Nova asked curiously, looking to his girlfriend.

"Well about that…" she was once again nervous.

"Ruby, love, what are you not telling me?"

"Dad wants to meet you." Yang finished for her.

Nova felt his brain die, "I… uh… what?"

"Qrow and I may or may not have snitched that you and Ruby were dating and now dad wants to kill the sorry sap- I mean meet the lucky guy." The blonde offered with a 'tee-hee'. Somehow Nova felt like those words were still the watered-down version.

"So…I'm going to have to go with you to Patch? What about Luna? Is your dad really okay with me staying with you guys?"

"Well, I think he's pretty confident that if you tried anything weird, you'd be skinned alive." She explained with a shrug.

"And what about Hex? Isn't she dating you to? Also, what is Luna going to be doing while I'm gone?" He continued to list all the reasons why he couldn't possibly take a vacation.

"I'll hang back with mom, I'm sure she's dying to spend some quality time with the daughter she's been missing for nine years." Luna conveyed nonchalantly.

Yang smirked, "Hex already met dad on a video call, besides, he's fine with me dating a girl. His youngest daughter and a boy on the other hand… well… that's a different story."

"UNGGGGHH!" He groaned and rubbed his temples. "I'm finally meeting the old man… well in all fairness Ruby did meet my mom first so…"

"And your mom loves me!" The reaper squealed in delight.

"So when do we leave?"

"Today… in… like a few hours?" the red-haired girl gave an awkward smile as if this last-minute notification was a happy accident.

Nova inhaled, walked up and kissed her on the cheek, "At this point, I shouldn't even be surprised. What if I tried to run away hm?"

Ruby chuckled and hugged him, "Come on, we all know you wouldn't dream of it. Besides you got nothing to worry about… pretty sure dad wouldn't even be able to phase you."

"You say that like you expect him to punch me in the face."

Yang roped an arm around Nova, "Don't worry, if all else fails, we change you back into a girl, that way he won't even think about harming you."

Nova silently prayed it wouldn't have to come to that.

* * *

**So we had some much-needed villain development. Expect a bit more introspection with the enemy forces as the chapters near the beginning of the Tournament. Personally I just want to have a bit of fun with the calm stuff right now.**

**Also, I was thinking of exploring relationships for Qrow. Possible candidates are: Randolf, Winter, and Clover, or we could just leave him single, it's really up to you guys. The only problem with Clover is well... you know...**

**Anyway, be sure to leave a review and what not, Stay awesome (^_^)**


	29. Chapter 29: Trip to Patch Part 1

**Chapter 29: Is being Blonde and Angry just a Xiaolong thing or...**

* * *

**-At the Airport-**

The afternoon air was warm, signaling the ever-encroaching season of summer. It was peaceful days like these that the dragon leader wished to simply live in the moment and savour the serenity... yet he couldn't help but feel the prickling nervousness that bubbled in his subconscious. Nova, Yang, and Ruby were boarding the bullhead to Patch, their bags in tow. Luna, Weiss, and Hex stood to see them off.

"Are you sure you'll be okay without me?" Nova asked, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder, searching her eyes for confirmation. He felt incredibly nervous to be willingly leaving his sister behind, even if she was staying with their mother. Being metaphorically joined at the hip since birth, it was like tearing off a band-aid.

The blue dragon smiled, "I'll be fine, _mom_. Besides, I'll be with actual our actual mother, I'm a big girl now so I can take care of myself." She poked her brother, pushing his hand off her. If she was being honest with herself, she had no idea what she would do with her time. She _wanted _to stay with him since he was some weird combination of her brother, her mother, father, best friend and leader, but she knew more than anything that he needed time away from her. They both did.

Nova stuck a finger into her cheek, "Just don't give mom too much trouble, she hasn't had the chance to raise you so I told her if anything goes wrong, especially with your power training, to give me a call."

"She'll be fine, stop being a worrywart and go spend some quality time with your girlfriend."

Nova turned red, "Pssh It's not like we're going alone... Yang and their dad's gonna be there..."

"Think of this as a miniature vacation. We'll go on an actual relaxation trip once the tournament is over." Hex said pushing him toward the ship. Ruby and Yang had long since boarded.

Weiss flicked his forehead, "Make a good impression on Ruby's old man. Remember the table manners I taught you." She said referring to the time she spent training him on how to be a proper lady. He just rolled his eyes and waved goodbye as he boarded the aircraft.

* * *

Nova took up his seat at the side of Ruby, near the window of the three-seater row, with Yang at the front. Since this was technically considered a vacation, they weren't allowed to use the usual military-grade bullheads and were subject to traditional passenger planes. The primary downside to this was that they forgot 'first-class' was a thing and ended up booking economy, so the legroom was in short supply. Even if they did remember to get first-class tickets, he doubted Yang or Ruby would want to spend the extra cash, though he didn't mind sponsoring them.

He never was one to pay money much mind, even when he was living on the streets, he didn't see money as an object. As long as it kept his sister from getting sick or going hungry, he didn't care how much he had to spend.

Even now, Randolf didn't leave them with much, but... with the help of the world's greatest hacker they... may or may not have forged a few bank accounts, and stole one cent from every single bank account across Remnant and deposited it in their own.

They took advantage of the bank's tax systems so whenever there was a money transfer the one extra cent would show up as tax. The money was bounced across several locations before inevitably ending up in their virtual pockets.

It wasn't stealing as long as nobody cared. He didn't feel bad about it, Luna never questioned it and frankly, they didn't care either, especially when most of their income came from taxing the SDC.

"What took you so long?" the blonde asked as Nova was one of the last people to board the ship, barely squeezing his way into their small aisle.

"You know the drill, gotta make sure everything is secure with Luna before I leave." He said closing his eyes and leaning against Ruby's shoulder.

The red leader smiled and kissed the top of his head, "You are such a caring brother."

Yang smirked, "Bet he'd make a great dad to…"

Nova's eyes went wide but he made no move to react as he was mentally shocked, staring blankly at the wall, while Ruby turned the colour of her hood. "YANG NO! Well… maybe not now…"

Yang had to mentally slap herself at that response, even Nova shrunk further down into his seat, his eyes staring up at her in awe.

"Holy shit… don't let dad catch you two saying stuff like that, pretty sure Nova wouldn't even get the chance to… you know…" she made the gesture of pushing her index into a hole made by her other hand's thumb and index.

"CAN WE NOT DISCUSS THIS RIGHT NOW?!" Nova almost died of embarrassment.

"I'm just saying If I wake up in the middle of the night and I hear…"

"YANG PLEASE!"

"ARF!" came a familiar barking sound from above their head.

Nova paled, "Ruby you did not…"

"Well… they wouldn't let me bring him on board because you can't exactly travel with pets so…" she said nervously.

"So, you stuffed him in your bag? How did you make it past security?!" he asked incredulously, this wasn't like the mission where they had military clearance, this was a passenger flight, so they had to go through the normal processes.

Ruby waved her hand dismissively, "Pfft no, of course not! I'm not stupid. I had Yang stuff him in the mailing cylinder so he would make it through the scanners. Everyone knows the scanners don't pick up Aura sealed mailboxes."

"They can't pick up a dog in a mail cannister but they can pick up my precious baby?" He asked incredulously, referring to Asura.

Nova shuddered, remembering how they pulled him aside during the scanning process because he and Ruby had their weapons in their carry-ons. They'd be damned if they let the baggage guys man-handle their precious babies.

It was even more awkward when he had to try to explain why he had women's clothing and 'necessities' in his bag, which he brought in case he was forcibly regressed into his female body. Thankfully Ruby came to his rescue saying they were for her, and Ozpin came to their rescue by granting them Beacon Academy weapon's clearance. He might not be loyal to the headmaster, but he was damn grateful they were on his good side.

* * *

Patch was, peaceful if to summarize in one word. An island without the bustling of towns and big cities. Just miles and miles of untamed wilderness and white sandy beaches. The weather was warm and the air smelled clean, it did absolute wonders for his Dragon senses.

The girls, plus Nova, finally arrived at the airport, and after passing through the formalities, exited to find a tall man with a tanned complexion, blue eyes, and a khaki outfit. He looked like Yang except his hair was a lighter, more tame blonde.

"DAAADDDD!" Ruby squealed tackling her father, Yang coming up behind her. The older man chuckled and ruffled his youngest daughter's hair.

"Hey kiddo, Firecracker. Looks like I made it just in time to pick you up." He said giving both of them a warm hug. "I missed you two so much!" he squeezed.

Yang laughed and pushed him off lightly, "Great to see you too dad."

The man folded his arms and looked around, "Where's that so-called, co-leader, you've been telling me so much about? Ruby just would not shut up about him… He didn't chicken out, did he?"

Yang and Ruby glanced around curiously to see if they spotted Nova. "No… he was with us up until a minute ago…" the reaper trailed off until she heard disgruntled complaints coming through the doors.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF… How many times do I have to tell you, people, if I'm going to have to pay nine Lien for a single bottle of cola, I might as well just stay thirsty!" the familiar male voice could be heard as he stomped out of the automatic doorway, with a bottle of cola in his hands.

"I swear to Oum, these airports overprice their drinks on purpose… bunch of lousy money-grubbers…" Nova said looking rather irritated, before taking a sip from the cold soda.

"OOOH IS THAT CHERRY COLA?! GIMME!" Ruby squealed running to meet her boyfriend as he approached the trio.

"Ruby… what have I told you about intaking both caffeine _and _sugar at the same time?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

Ruby pouted, "That it makes me way too hyper than I already am but you love me anyway so you always give me?" she offered her cutest puppy dog eyes.

Nova rolled his eyes, "Only because I can't say no to that face…" he handed her the bottle to which she gratefully drank from, ignoring that it was an indirect kiss or the fact that Yang and her father were watching the interaction with amusement… and irritation.

"AHEM!" the older male coughed into his hand, garnering the attention of Nova and Ruby. The dragon in question was a little confused at first but once he saw the resemblance between Yang and the man, and the smug look on the brawler's face… he instantly went on alert mode.

In a millisecond he detached himself from Ruby and shifted to a healthy distance, walking up to meet the man. "Mr. Xiaolong, I'm…"

"Nova, right?" He finished for him. Nova nodded. "Qrow and my daughters refuse to shut up about you. I feel like I actually know you already before even meeting you…" he said exasperated.

Nova felt his sweat drop, "Um… is that a good thing?"

"Well if you count all the praise, my brother-in-law… who almost never has anything good to say about ANYONE… gives you, and the fact that my daughters won't stop praising you either, a good thing then… yes." He said with a smug look.

"Taiyang Xiaolong, father of these two miscreants. It's good to finally meet the esteemed hero of Vale." He smiled while Ruby and Yang shot double peace signs at being called miscreants.

"Hero? Are you referring to the breach?" Nova turned to him curiously as they stepped into the car.

"That very same one."

"Calling me a hero is a bit of a stretch...with all due respect sir, I can't take full credit for that. Most of it goes to my team, especially Ruby… she saved most of us that day." He said refusing to accept praise.

"From what Ruby's told me, if not for your plans and quick thinking they'd all be worse for wear so…" Tai responded, leaving almost no room for Nova to argue.

* * *

The ride to the house wasn't as awkward as he'd expected, since most of it consisted of the girls catching up with their dad while he just sat in amusement, petting Zwei on his lap.

The Xiaolong-Rose abode was a simple… but rather large, wooden house, it looked more akin to a giant log cabin than a house, as it sat nestled comfortably in the middle of a small clearing of the forest.

"HOME SWEET HOME!" Ruby screamed as she used her semblance and dashed hers, and everyone's bags, and Zwei inside while the rest of them were still walking up to the front door.

Nova sighed and rubbed his temples, "This is why I don't like giving her caffeine…"

Tai chuckled, "Tell me about it… that's why I hid the coffee from her for years, good thing she doesn't like the taste of the stuff otherwise we'd be missing a few years of our lives…" he shuddered

Nova grabbed hold of Ruby as she zipped past them and set her down next to them, "Ruby… I know Weiss isn't here but I'm gonna need you to chill for a few minutes okay?"

Yang snickered, "Nice…" while Tai just looked on in bewilderment.

Ruby pouted, "Fineee…" before she, unwillingly, walked into the house, like a normal human being for once.

Tai was surprised, "Wow… you managed to get her to calm down… instantly… that's actually impressive…" he marveled.

Nova snorted, "Trust me, I live with her on a daily basis, either you adapt or you get swept away…"

As the two girls walked inside, Tai held Nova back. The dragon looked up at Xiaolong senior curiously. Once the two girls were practically out of earshot Tai placed a hand on Nova's shoulder.

"What's the deal Mr. Xiaolong?" Nova raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was going to be the classic dad to daughter's boyfriend lecture.

"I want to thank you." This caught the dragon by surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to thank you for keeping my daughters safe. I know how the life of a Huntsman is. I used to be one myself… before I became a teacher at Signal. I know how crazy things get, how easy it is to lose your life. Not a day goes by when I'm not worried that they'll be okay… but the fact is you've kept them alive… on more than one occasion if what Qrow says is true. So… thank you… as a father, and as a fellow Huntsman, thank you."

Nova was completely caught off guard. He hadn't expected such a heartfelt string of words from the older man.

"I uh… no thanks, necessary Mr. Xialong… I was just doing my duty as a Huntsman… and as their friend. Oum knows where I'd be without them… I'd lay down my life to protect them." He smiled firmly shaking the blonde's hand.

Tai chuckled, "Of course, of course… you can drop the Mr. Xiaolong. Just call me Tai or whatever you want once it's not old man."

Nova smiled, "Alright 'pops'. " he snickered.

Tai pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fine, I did say you can call me what you like… come on the girls are probably wondering what we're doing outside."

As they stepped inside, Nova marveled at the humble yet classy living space of the Xiaolong-Rose family. The living room took up the majority of the downstairs, with a long green couch and a separate armchair atop a large mint green rug. A projection television screen most likely a Light Crystal Dust Display, sat atop a small table. The kitchen was a rather standard size, with the addition of a dining table atop a yellow rug.

Zwei had a little doggy bed at the side of the couch in the living room. Speaking of Zwei, the moment Nova entered the house the dog came running down the stairs and jumped into Nova's arms, licking him on the face.

"ZWEI! Doggy spittle nooo! It's good to see you too boy." He said putting down the corgi and wiping his face.

Tai smiled, "Looks like the dog likes you, that's always a good sign." He teased causing Nova to blush. For some reason Tai hadn't brought up the fact that Ruby and Nova were dating… which was strange…

"AH Zwei! I told you not to jump on Nova like that! Sorry, Zwei is just excited to be home again." Ruby said sheepishly as she reached up and used a handkerchief to wipe Nova's face.

"Ruby, you've got a fine leader with you I must say." Tai commended placing an arm around Nova.

The dragon chuckled, "See Ruby? I got your dad's approval." He said with a thumbs up.

Ruby instantly paled, and Tai's grip around the dragon suddenly increased. "Umm… Approval?" He asked in a low voice.

Nova who was unaware of the growing danger to his side responded, "Well yeah you know? Approval since I'm dating Ruby. I'm just glad you didn't freak out and try to kill me as soon as you saw me…"

Ruby instantly flinched and shrunk behind the couch.

Nova noticed this reaction and deadpanned.

"Ruby is there something you forgot to mention?" Tai said dangerously, and Nova felt his blood run cold.

"Um… Nova… Remember when I said I told dad that you were my boyfriend and that he wanted to meet you?" She asked with an awkward look.

"Yeah…?"

"I lied… He just wanted to meet you…. I didn't actually tell him you were my boyfriend…. IT WAS YANG'S IDEA!" She squealed at ran up the stairs with her semblance.

Nova shook his head in dismay and pried himself from Tai's iron grip. "So uhh… Tai… are we going to sit and talk about this like civilized people or… are you going to do the same thing Yang did and try to kill me?"

To say Taiyang Xiaolong's face was angry was an understatement. He was practically livid.

"Come on Tai, what about all that stuff of approving of me earlier huh?"

"That was before I knew you were dating my youngest daughter." He said in a quiet tone.

Nova sighed in dismay. "Fine, can we discuss this outside? Where things won't break?"

"Gladly."

* * *

The two men strode back outside and stood squaring off in the open field in front of the house. Yang and Ruby followed shortly after, sitting themselves down on the front stairs just outside the door.

"Dad, are you seriously doing this right now?" Yang asked chewing on what seemed to be beef jerky. She was completely unphased by the scene before her. On the other hand, Ruby was quite nervous.

"Of course I do sweety, I am NOT giving up my youngest daughter without a fight." He said without looking at her.

Nova sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was so done with this. "Tai, you're being a little irrational right now. I've already gone through the phases with Yang and gotten the lecture. I do NOT need this right now."

The elder Xiaolong stared him unwaveringly, "Hmph you talk as if you're not scared that I'm about to bash your skull in."

Yang almost spat out her food in laughter, "Oh dad! That's rich! If that's what you think's going to happen then you'll be royally surprised!"

Nova stretched his arms in the air, not even bothering to draw Asura. Tai wasn't using his weapon either so it wouldn't be fair.

"What's so funny?" The blonde asked his daughter, looking a little annoyed that she wasn't on his side. "You know most people would be terrified if they were in your position." He said turning back to Nova.

The dragon just continued to stretch and warm himself up, "Honestly Tai? I've seen scarier things come out of my sister's closet. I've faced more than enough of my fair share of battle to even be remotely intimidated by you."

Tai wanted to be angry, he wanted to flare up in rage at the boy before him, but he could tell he was stating facts, not just mouthing off hot air. His scars and eyes told a story of someone who'd seen countless death. He wasn't just some kid… he was a warrior.

"Dad just… be careful…" Ruby said nervously, finally finding her voice. "Nova, please don't actually hurt dad."

Tai looked at her confused, "You're worried about…. Me?"

"Dad, did Qrow never tell you?" Yang asked tilting her head.

"Tell me what?"

"That Nova here's beaten him… several times… and that was _before _ the power-up…"

The man looked at Nova incredulously, "That true?"

"Unfortunately. Kicked the old man's ass enough times to say I could probably fight one on one with any professional huntsman." Nova said without a shift in his gaze.

"Well colour me impressed. Still… you'll find I'm nothing like him." With that Tai launched himself at Nova in full swing.

Nova blocked the oncoming left hook and countered with his own right. Tai blocked that and tried for an uppercut but missed by a hair's fraction of a space. Nova reacted almost instantly, using the momentum of his dodge to turn a spin kick onto Tai, sending him sprawling into a tree.

The fact that Tai challenged him despite all his previous praise was irritating. That coupled with the inherent raw pig-headedness that seemed to be ingrained into the Xiaolong blood had set his anger to a boiling point... so he took his frustrations out on the nearest thing... or person. He almost felt a little bad about using Tai as a form of stress relief…. Almost.

Before he had time to relish in his moment, Tai came out of the smoke in a flurry of golden hair and red eyes, very similar to Yang's semblance. His power was increasing with each hit taken.

Nova barely blocked the flurry of punches only to be blindsided by an elbow swing from his left.

"FUCK That hurts!" He rubbed the spot where Tai hit. The old man packed a serious punch, and he was fighting dirty. It seemed anger tended to blind one's sense of honor.

"Come on, don't tell me that's all you had in you?" the blonde was clearly enjoying himself now.

"Ugh, you sound like Yang…" Nova groaned before kicking up with his legs and sending a flying kick toward the man, only to be caught mid-air and swung like a shotput. Nova latched himself onto a nearby tree and kicked off, this time with much more force and sending a fist into the older blonde's gut.

There was an audible 'ACK!' as Tai cratered into the forest.

"Uh... Should I go look for him?" Nova asked pressing his hand over his brow, scanning the treeline for Tai.

"Nah he'll be fine..." Yang said with a dismissive wave. As she spoke a loud snapping sound was heard in the forest and a few birds flew out of it, "Oh there he is now..." Tai had come back out with what looked to be a tree.

"You took up a log? Really? That's what we're doing now? " Nova shook his head in dismay as Tai threw the log like a javelin. Curiously enough there was an unfortunate family of squirrels living inside a hollowed-out hole in the trunk. Nova caught the log mid-air, carefully placed the squirrels on the ground and uttered a quick apology to them before he used it as a bat to smack Tai into the ground forming a crater.

"Seriously, I might be the Aspect of Fire but you are being really hot-tempered right now. You should probably let off some of that steam before you overheat yourself." He started laughing at his own puns. Ruby wasn't sure, but she could've sworn she saw one of the squirrels facepalm...

Yang was reeling on the floor in a fit of giggles, "Ruby, I wholeheartedly hope you two get married, this guy's a riot!"

Ruby just blushed and twirled her thumbs in embarrassment, "Maybe one day..."

Tai got up from the crater, his hair and eyes now glowing like shining lights. He'd taken maximum damage, so now he was on maximum output.

"OH, fu-" Was all Nova could manage to say as Tai sent a light speed fist crashing into his gut, sending his aura into the red zone before he landed.

Tai stood up looking rather pleased with himself. His smug look was quickly wiped when Nova got pissed, and rose up from the crater, a giant ball of fire in his hands, looking like a miniature sun in the middle of a fiery scaled palm. the grass around the ball was drying up and dying from heat.

Tai marveled in awe at the power the boy was wielding, the fact that he'd given all of his strength to push the dragon to this point, and the boy was still holding back was incredible. He was willing to accept his loss.

"NOVA DON'T!" Ruby yelled pulling away both their attentions. Instantly Nova dissipated the fire and calmed down, he dusted himself off and stretched a bit.

"You are so lucky you're her dad. I was about to cook you six ways to Sunday." Nova sighed and walked up to the beaten brawler and helped him up. He was standing there looking like he'd been in a train accident four times in a row.

Tai groaned and stretched his back, a few audible pops and cracks were heard. "You kidding me? That last punch took all my aura and you're still standing…"

Nova smiled, "Yeah well it helps that my semblance is adaptation. I'd adapted to your constant punches a while ago so I was just taking reduced damage with each hit. It also doesn't help that I'm an Aspect of Remnant…." He said without thinking. Instantly holding his hands over his mouth as if it would stop further secrets from spilling.

Tai gaped, "Did you just say… Aspect of Remnant?"

Now it was everyone else's turn to be confused, "You know of my kind?" Nova asked.

"Know of you? One of my old friends was obsessed with them, he used to tell me this story about the Faunus and their so-called forgotten history… 'course he was a dragon so it made sense that he would know something…" Tai's words faltered when he noticed Nova's Faunus traits. "What'd you say your last name was?"

"Flareheart. I'm Nova Alexandrite Flareheart. Prince of all Faunus and current Aspect of Fire."

"Flareheart? You're related to Flint?" Nova was taken aback by the mention of his father's name.

"Yeah…. he's my dad. You know him?"

"Know him? We went to school together. I trained as a huntsman and he worked in the weapons engineering department at Beacon. He would do all the upgrades for me and my team…" he said wistfully.

"I can't believe it… after all these years… his son is dating my daughter… what a weird twisted turn of events." Tai looked as if he was remembering the past.  
"So, how is the old dragon doing?"

Everyone else visibly flinched while Nova looked nervous. "Umm…. I haven't seen him in… nine years…"

"Oh… I'd like to know what happened... if that's alright with you."

Nova nodded and followed the elder Xiaolong inside. He then explained his story as they sat around the kitchen eating dinner as if they weren't just trying to kill each other.

* * *

"Well, Nova… I do feel bad for you… what you had to go through… I'm sure it must've been awful." Tai said holding the boy at arm's length.

Ruby looked at the interaction curiously.

"It's fine Pops."

"About today… no hard feelings right? We can call it a draw?"

Nova smiled, "I understand man, I'd be the same if someone told me they were going to date my sister, Luna."

Yang snickered, "Dad... he totally kicked your ass."

"Pffttt no…" He tried so hard to deny the truth.

Ruby poked her father in the rib cage, earning a yelp of pain, "You specialize in hand to hand combat... Nova primarily uses his weapon, plus I think he also has claws so he was on the disadvantage the entire fight." she explained as she walked up, leaned over Nova as he sat in the char and buried her head into her boyfriend's hair. The action caused the elder Xiaolong to visibly twitch with irritation... but he held it in.

"So... you got like a spare bedroom or something where I can go dump my stuff?" He asked, glancing around for his bags. "Wait where is my stuff?"

"I took the liberty of putting it upstairs in the room I share with Yang..." Ruby began to explain but faltered when she realized what she'd said out loud... in front of her father.

Nova instantly turned red, "R-Ruby i-it's fine... I'll crash on the couch downstairs, pretty sure me and Zwei will be the best of roommates..." he tried to amend before he incurred the wrath of the elder blonde again.

To his surprise, Tai laughed, "Are you sure? It's quite alright if you bunk with the girls... as long as you sleep on the floor..."

The dragon blinked incredulously, "It's fine Tai... pretty sure the girls would feel weird sleeping in the same room as a guy..."

"Oh please Nova, we've slept in the same close quarters on multiple occasions so you can't pull that bullshit, just admit you want to stay close to your girlfriend and be done with it," Yang said folding her arms.

"What was that?!" Tai felt a vein in his forehead throb.

"N-Nothing, I'm staying downstairs, it's decided. Zwei we're roomies you hear that buddy?" Nova called across the house. The dog in question just sat up in his bead and tilted his head curiously.

* * *

Ruby and Nova sat on the couch watching tv, Yang was upstairs on her scroll while Tai was in the kitchen cleaning up after their earlier dinner. Nova offered to help but the elder Xiaolong refused saying something about being terrified Nova break something. It seems even he was aware of the stories of Nova's clumsiness.

"Your dad is... different than what I'd expected," he said as he slouched down on the couch.

"How so?"

"I'm not sure what I expected but he seems like a more mature version of your sister. Don't take this the wrong way but you and he are almost nothing alike." He explained, hoping he hadn't accidentally offended her.

Ruby smiled, "I get that a lot... he says I inherited everything from my mom..." she trailed off, thinking on how much she missed her mother. Nova saw the look in her eyes and instantly pulled her into a warm hug, letting her head lean on his left shoulder while he stroked her hair.

"It's okay to be sad about her you know... just because you're sixteen doesn't mean you have to hide your emotions..."

She kissed his cheek, "I know but... I shouldn't dwell on it like that. Besides, I should be more like you... you spent so many years without your mom and dad, yet you handle it so well. I wish I had that strength..."

"It's not strength... and I don't handle it well... it takes real strength to be true to your emotions. Bottling it up and fighting it as I have just led to anger, eventually when you break, it spills out like a broken dam and there isn't any stopping it."

Her eyes widened in surprise, she hadn't expected that from him. It felt like the more time she spent with him, the more she was learning and, just when she thought she knew it all, she found a little bit more.

"I just hope that if I find my dad, he turns out to be just as cool as yours." Nova smiled, caressing her cheek with his thumb.

She responded by reaching up and kissing him full on the lips, "_When_ you find your dad."

"Right."

Unbeknownst to the two, Tai had been listening in the whole time, he had a newfound respect for that boy, more than he already had.

* * *

**Nova finally met the father and earned his approval. How will the rest of their vacation go? Who knows... I certainly don't... or maybe I do...**

**Kinda slacked on the writing today cuz I was hungover from yesterday's party, I think I downed like 16 beers, either way, I woke up like absolute garbage. Don't mix your drinks...or be like me and drink inhuman amounts.**


	30. Chapter 30: Trip To Patch Part 2

** I got a really interesting review from Guestdxd. Firstly, lovely to see new people post up reviews, not that I don't appreciate you KawaiiMomoko-chan and Ethos The ET, you know I love you guys. **

**To answer the question: Which Voice Actors I Would like to play my OC's... well I've actually never thought about it and it actually flung me so far off the rails cuz I was in the middle of Thermodynamics class when I read it. My friend next to me looked at me like I was crazy when I dropped all my notes to start finding Voice Actors that fit the voices in my head.**

**First up, the easiest one would be Onyx: I'd pin Donny Lucas, the voice actor for Zed from League of Legends (I'm a Zed main btw), or Alan Howard the voice of Sauron from LOTR**

**Nitro was a bit tough to match, in my head he's chill and slightly young-sounding with an overtone of maturity, I'd say the closest one would be Rider Strong as the voice of Tom from Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**Hex was pretty easy with like the first person coming to my mind was Alya's English VA from Miraculous Ladybug, I believe her name is Carrie Keranen**

**Randolf sounds like Unsho Ishizuka (Forgive me if I butcher the spelling) who is the voice of Joseph Joestar in the Stardust Crusaders version, or if I had to give him an english voice it'd be Sean Connery.**

**Mortus Noir sounds like Vincent Price or if you see him as a darker individual try Karthus' current voice actor from League, though I'm not sure who he is.**

**Elain sounds like Esme Bianco who is the voice of Eclipsa in Star Vs The Forces of Evil, or quite possibly Tara Strong because she has a wide range of voices or Megumui Toyo Guchi, who is Revy from Black Lagoon. Elain kinda sounds like my own mom so I can't particularly put a voice to her.**

**Luna sounds like Sarah Williams the voice of Jinx, but she also closely sounds like Akari Kitou, the voice of Iwanaga from In/Spectre.**

**Nova sounds like me but if I had to give him another voice it'd be Johnny Bosch the english voice of Ichigo from Bleach with a little lighter on the tone.**

**Female Nova is more akin to Eden Sher as the voice of Star Butterfly.**

**I love getting questions like these btw, seriously if y'all ever curious bout anything related to this fic just leave it as a review I'd be more than happy to answer.**

* * *

**Chapter 30: That's One Way to Make an Impression...**

* * *

Nova shuffled uncomfortably on his couch-bed. It wasn't really the couch, more like it was the lack of heavy curtains that usually draped his dorm room. He'd grown so accustomed to the comfort of cool darkness that he'd forgotten how much the morning sun stung to the unwary sleeper.

He groaned hard and rolled over, burying his head in his pillow, which smelled like Ruby… well, it was from her bed so…

He found solace in the sweet scent of his lover and nuzzled his face in deeper. "Mmm… Ruby…warm…" he said in his mind.

"See sis, even in his sleep he's dreaming about you. Told ya he was a keeper." A familiar voice of Yang said rousing him from his sleep.

Nova's eyes instantly shot open; he'd said those words aloud… He bolted up and scanned the area to see a smug Yang and a very red Ruby, clad in her pajamas, staring down at him. The golden morning sunlight cascading through the open windows of the Xiaolong-Rose household, illuminating her cute blushing face.

It was at that moment Nova decided, if they ever finally settled down, his sleep preferences be damned because if he could wake up every morning to see this scene, he'd be willing to suffer sleep deprivation for the rest of his life.

"Oi, Reality to love birds, you can stand around staring at each other later, there's food to eat…" Yang said snapping her fingers between them, bringing them back to reality.

Nova blushed, "Right… morning guys," he muttered a quick greeting before hastily making his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Once he was done, he made his way into the kitchen to be greeted by the smell of cooking pancakes… well, he'd be damned if they _didn't _eat unhealthy food for breakfast when Ruby was around.

"Mornin girls, Nova. Figured I'd do something special since it's the first time you girls have been home in a while." The elder Xiaolong said as he flipped a pancake.

Yang snorted, "Don't worry dad, you can just consider it as girls collectively," she snickered referring to Nova.

Tai blinked curiously, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ugh just Yang being Yang, please pay her no mind…" Nova groaned as he looked around for a clean mug. "Is it alright if I go ahead and make coffee Tai?"

"Huh, didn't know you drank coffee kid. There's still some left in the pot if you want…" He said gesturing to a half-empty coffee pot on the kitchen counter.

"NOVA WAIT NO!" Ruby practically yelled but her cries went unheard off as the un-caffeinated dragon made his way over to where Tai was pointing.

Nova uttered a thanks as he poured himself a full cup and drank gratefully. It wasn't as strong as he liked… but he was on vacation, so he needed to decaf a little. Tai would've offered him milk and sugar but the dragon was already well away into the concoction of intense bean juice.

Once he was done taking a long sip of the bitter brew, he glanced up to see the horrified faces of the sisters. Ruby more so than Yang.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You drank that shit… like it was nothing…" Yang said incredulously. Ruby just continued to gape, no one's ever done that before, even Qrow fears the dark elixir of death that resided in that pot.

"Dad makes the vilest coffee… it always comes out three notches too strong and smells like burnt wood…" Ruby explained still in shock.

"Hey, it's not _that _bad…" Tai amended.

"I usually make my own… or drown his in milk and sugar… but you… you're drinking it black…" Yang said amazed.

"Like an absolute champ to… there's still hope for you yet kid." Tai said approvingly while Nova was still confused.

"Guys this just tastes like regular coffee… what are you even talking about…"

Ruby pretended to faint, "It's like I don't even know you… for someone to stomach the taste of that filth… Nova, I want a divorce…"

"BUT WE'RE NOT EVEN MARRIED YET!" Nova said dramatically.

"Yet?!" Came the simultaneous sound of Tai and Yang, except Yang was excited while Tai looked ready to faint himself.

Nova saw the elder Xiaolong's reaction, "We're not getting married! Well… not that I don't want to… maybe in a few years… with your permission…." He frantically trailed off like some kind of socially awkward schoolboy.

Tai breathed in deeply and made a mental note to talk to the kid about that later for now breakfast was due.

* * *

Most of the day went by with Ruby and Nova playing videogames on the couch or playing with Zwei. They couldn't do anything overly touchy since there was a certain pair of blondes hovering around them so they were almost never alone.

Eventually, Nova found himself outside to see Tai… gardening? He didn't know why he didn't notice it until now but, behind the house was a sizeable home garden. A few rows of well-tilled soil and several growing plants, some already baring produce.

"Woah… pretty impressive set-up you have here…" Nova marveled at the perfectly manicured rows, not a single weed in sight.

Tai looked up from his work, "Oh hey Nova… you need something?"

The dragon smiled, "No not really… Ruby's upstairs doing girl stuff with Yang and I got bored so I came out for a little stretch. Imagine my surprise when I find you have the world's greatest home garden."

Tai laughed, "If you're trying to flatter me to death… it's working keep it up!"

Nova approached him and marveled at the bed of what looked to be tomato plants. There were a few holes dugout and a handful of plants wrapped in newspaper off to the side of the blonde. The look of wonder that crossed the young boy's face did not go unnoticed by Tai. "You ever garden before?"

Nova recoiled in embarrassment, "Ah.. no… I've just always admired the art. I've seen a few videos, primarily while doing research for class, and the time and effort it takes to manage this stuff is incredible."

The elder Xiaolong smirked, "Well you're not wrong… but it's not as hard as it looks… care to give it a try?" he asked gesturing to the unplanted stems.

Nova rubbed his arm awkwardly. Being a dragon and an Aspect of Remnant… and a team leader, there were a lot of things he was confident he could do… this was not one of them.

"No… I couldn't… I can't… my body temperature is way too high and if I accidentally set them on fire…"

"You won't."

"What?"

"I believe that you _won't_ set them on fire. You _WILL_ plant it, all you have to do is give it a shot." Tai said urging the boy onward, placing a plant in the palm of his hands.

The green, leafy object was frail and small in his larger hands. It looked so tender and fragile as if gripping it would cause it to break. Tai saw him freeze up and gave him a gentle nudge, urging him to continue. He guided the dragon's hands into the soil and helped him to gently place it. Together they covered up the hole and Nova was left with this feeling of child-like glee.

"I… I did it..." the dragon breathed a sigh of relief. "And it didn't spontaneously combust!"

Tai laughed, "See told you it's not that hard. Come on and help me with the rest of them."

"Really?!" Nova asked with boyish wonder, and Tai felt a twinge of emotion in his heart. Perhaps it was because he'd never had a son, or maybe it was because this boy grew up without a father, but for some reason, he instinctively knew to fill this role, even if it was temporary.

"Most definitely." Tai enjoyed every moment he spent outside with Nova. The boy had taken interest in something he'd wanted the girls to pick up, but he could never get them to.

The more the two worked together and chatted, the more Tai began to feel like Nova was the son he'd never known he wanted.

* * *

The evening was closing in now and the work was coming to a close. "Gardening for me has a lot more to it than just the craft…" Tai said suddenly raising Nova's attention.

"You know about what happened to Yang's mom right?" Tai asked curiously.

Nova shook his head, "I… only know about Summer…."

Tai looked solemn, "Yang's mom… Raven Branwen… Qrow's sister. She was my first love. When she left us, I was honestly, not as depressed as you'd have thought. I'd seen it coming a mile away but it was impossible to stop her. Still... it hurt more than anything else at the time and left me empty and unable to properly function."

Nova said nothing just listened in.

"Summer, taught me how to garden… she picked up the pieces of our broken family and… when she… " he couldn't bring himself to say the word. "I finally broke apart after that… Gardening was the only thing I really had left of her besides Ruby. It became my way of coping with her being gone…"

Nova didn't know why but he wanted to hug the older man. To provide some form of comfort. Before he could make a move, however, Tai inhaled sharply. His gaze rising to meet the dragon's and Nova could see the semblance of a tear forming in his eyes.

"What I'm trying to say is… Nova… Ruby is one of the last things I have of her. She's my precious daughter and I want to know… how serious are you?"

Nova was completely thrown for a loop. He wasn't expecting such sincerity from the older man, but he knew this question would come and without a doubt, in his mind, his answer would never change.

"I love her. I know I'm young, and it's a little strange for a sixteen almost seventeen-year-old to say this but… with every fiber of my being, with every inch of my soul… on the blood that runs in my veins and the feelings, I have in my heart. I love Ruby Rose and I'd go to hell and back again for her." The fire in his eyes lit up like a thousand suns and Tai could see into him like clear glass.

Nova's words held more truth in them than that of a saint who'd never lied in his life.

Tai couldn't have asked for a better answer, he doubted even the world's most renowned playwright could have conscribed such a perfect combination of words. They came from the heart of a dragon.

"Thank you… You… have my approval… and my blessing…" Tai choked out, though no actual tears shed, Nova could tell that the man was not only relieved but also… overjoyed.

"Tai I… don't know what to say," Nova said getting a little emotional himself. Tai smiled, walked up and did something incredibly unexpected. He hugged Nova, tightly.

The dragon awkwardly returned the hug, completely thrown off guard by that sudden display of affection.

The older huntsman knew he would eventually have to give away his daughters, and that thought terrified him, especially when it came to Ruby. She'd chosen the same life as her mother, and knowing the dangerous life of a huntsman, he was afraid that he wouldn't be around to be the father he so dearly missed out on being when she was a child.

"But!" Tai suddenly said releasing him. "That doesn't mean you can go around giving me grandkids. You're both still underage… wait until marriage. That is provided everything goes well until marriage… I certainly hope they do because I actually like you…."

"POPS PLEASE! I Do _NOT_ need to hear this right now!" Nova squirmed trying to get away but the man held him in a bear hug and forced him to listen to the world's most uncomfortable lecture.

* * *

From the girls' bedroom, hidden from the view of the two men, Yang and Ruby were silently watching them, hearing everything.

"Wow… dad's really taken a liking to Nova, and that little speech he did… wow, that was impressive and incredibly sweet… looks like you got nothing to worry about sis…" Yang said turning to her sister. "Ruby?"

The red reaper just looked up, tears flowing from her face.

"Oh gosh are you okay?! I thought them getting along would be a good thing…"

Ruby sniffled, "It is a good thing. I'm not sad… these are tears of joy…" she wiped her face.

"Ruby, are you crying because of what Nova said?"

"Y-Yeah… he's just so sweet!" she sniffled again, this time with a bright smile on her face. In truth she wasn't just overjoyed, the tears were a result of her bottled up emotions. She was terrified that her dad wouldn't approve of Nova, and probably force her away from him. Not that it would stop her, she'd still find away… but the mere thought was giving her so much anxiety that when the situation solved itself, the emotions just spilled forth.

Yang laughed, "Looks like dad found the son he never knew he wanted… Imagine how he'll react if he finds out Nova's also a girl to."

* * *

**-Later that evening-**

Ruby had been giving her boyfriend a nervous look, and he couldn't figure out why. Even during the dinner table, their banter was a little stiff as if she was holding back something, though nobody could tell except for them.

Once dinner cleaned up and the Xiaolongs were out of their hair, Nova and Ruby found themselves alone on the front porch of the house, staring up at the night sky.

"You know… you don't get this kind of view from Vale… or in Beacon. Last time I saw a sky this clear was when I was hundreds of miles off the coast of Menagerie on a boat heading to Mistral." Nova said admiring the endless starry sky. It was breathtaking to say the least, how the darkness of the forest and minimal light allowed for one of the greatest skyscapes in all of Remnant.

Ruby sighed deeply, "It truly is…" she said airily, she'd never truly had the ability to appreciate the beauty until now.

Nova eyed her curiously, "Alright, now that we're alone… you wanna tell me what's been plaguing you? 'Cuz I've got some pretty good news and I don't wanna get the mood all mixed up…"

Ruby turned beet red, "I… I know you got dad's approval…"

"Well shit… there goes the surprise…" he joked, eyes scanning her for any traces of worry. It bothered him when she wasn't feeling her usual bubbly self because that usually meant that her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of a deep nature.

"I… also heard what you said…" she continued.

"What I said…? Oh…" It dawned on him, she'd heard his little speech. "You heard me huh… jeez it's embarrassing now…"

Ruby practically leaped to his side, "I can finally speak my mind now that they're gone..." she said almost too quietly.

"What do you…"

She shot him the most beautiful smile in the world, "You cavity-inducing, sweet-talking, adorable, sexy, amazing dragon you. I absolutely, positively, three-hundred percent, love you!" She vented finally getting her feelings out of her chest. Though she still felt like she needed more.

Nova blushed deep red, "O-Only three-hundred percent?" he joked again.

"Shut up and kiss me you, dork." She smashed her lips against his and in an instant they melted into each other's arms. She climbed onto his lap and pulled him closer, his arms wrapping around her waist as she just sank herself deeper into his lips.

He held her close, gently caressing her face as they broke for air, staring into each other's eyes, illuminated only by the light of the night sky. "I've been holding that back for too long..." she said with short breaths as she went back in to devour his mouth. They savoured every moment of their time alone, getting drunk off each other's company.

"RUBYYY HAVE YOU SEEN MY HAIRBRUSH?!" Yang called out from inside the house forcing the couple to freeze mid-kiss. They carefully… and unwillingly removed their lips from being connected.

"W-We should probably head back inside…" Ruby said awkwardly, giggling as she kissed Nova's cheek.

"Y-Yeah… Good thing Yang stopped us otherwise I think we'd break Tai's rule about keeping things strictly PG…"

Ruby turned her namesake, "Oh my god… we totally crossed that PG line so, any more and…" she couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence.

"… I'd be getting yelled at for leaving marks on your neck…" he smirked

"NOVA!" She gasped in fake shock, lightly hitting him as they walked back inside.

* * *

The days were passing quickly with Nova and Tai becoming quite the pair. They were often seen outside in the garden or sparring since the dragon wanted to learn how to handle himself without a weapon.

"You know..." Tai began as he dodged a few blows from Nova, "You said your powers use your aura right? I wonder how much of it you can use before it drains?"

The young dragon had to pause for a moment, "I'm... not entirely sure... I know that I can generate a decent amount... last time I used all of it was to melt a giant Atlesian Mech..."

"I'm not sure I want to know how that situation happened..."

"We could give it a test?" Nova offered, "But on what?"

Tai rubbed his chin, "OOOH, just send a spiral of fire into the sky for a long period of time..."

"Brilliant idea..."

Nova extended his palm toward the sky and began drawing upon his inner heat, channeling his explosive flames into a column of contained fire that bathed the environment in a bright orange glow. "Holy shit look at it go..." Tai said as he used his palm like a visor, trying to see the end of the tall spire of fire.

Yang and Ruby burst outside the front door, "WHA?! FIRE! What's going on? Is there an enemy?" Ruby said clutching Crescent Rose.

"Oh hey, girls. No enemies, we just wanted to test to see how long Nova can keep his fire going before his aura runs out." Tai said cheerily, his face the embodiment of giddy.

Yang felt her sweatdrop, "You just wanted to play with fire didn't you..."

"I'm not an arsonist..." Tai said holding up double peace signs. Yang facepalmed, well Ruby _did _get something from him after all...

The family sat together watching Nova burn out his fire for a while, which was more like thirty seconds of intense heat before it abruptly stopped. "Oh hey, it looks like I ran out of aura, that clocks about forty seconds of constant output..." The moment Nova's aura broke, he was enveloped by an orange glow of scales and bright light that caused the others to flinch. Tai was a little unnerved.

"Nova are you okay?" he called out scanning the area for signs of the boy.

The girls were completely calm, "Chill out dad he's probably experiencing a side effect of his power..." Yang said recognizing the situation vaguely, where had she seen this happen before?

"How do you expect me to calm down, what if he's hurt or something... what if I just killed my future son-in-law..."

Ruby just went crimson and tried to hide under her hood, while Yang who finally realized what happened to Nova started laughing.

"You might want to rethink your choice of words dad..." she said in between her laughter.

Once Tai finally got a good look at Nova, he almost fainted.

"Seriously... Remind me never to do that again, I feel kinda sick..." once the words left Nova's mouth he was ready to off himself. "It happened again didn't it..." he sighed as he bunched his clothes up around him and moved into the house to change into more suitable attire.

* * *

Tai couldn't believe what he was seeing, or rather, he didn't want to. There, standing before him, _was _the son he never knew he wanted... emphasis on _was._ His primary shock was due to the fact that Nova was now clad in a black skirt and loose black t-shirt, with much longer hair, a beautiful feminine face, and body.

"SO... Anyone wanna explain what's going on here... before I check myself into a psychiatric ward?" Tai asked looking at the... girls...

"Long story short, an accident happened when Nova protected us the first time and now he's more or less half girl," Yang explained, while Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly.

"Half a girl? What... so you like... transform into a girl whenever?" The elder Xiaolong sought more explanation.

Nova just shrugged, "I'm not exactly sure, this thing," he pointed to his wrist, "is supposed to regulate my transformation so I stay a boy... but it looks like overusing my powers set the nanomachines into perma-wake mode... I should be fine once my aura comes back..."

"So if we break your aura again you'll go back to being a girl?" Ruby asked now curious.

Again, Nova looked unsure, "Maybe not... I think this really only happened because I overused my powers to the point where I think I overloaded mom's regulator." He tapped the armlet on his left for emphasis, "It should, in theory, be fine once I regenerate my aura, and I'll only regress if I overwork the nanomachines again."

"Huh..." Tai said dazed and confused, not fully comprehending the situation.

"Does this mean Nova gets to sleep in my bed now that he's a girl?" Ruby asked with puppy dog eyes. The elder Xiaolong's face was distant.

"Sure... whatever... I think I'm just going to go lay down for a little while..."

That night Nova and Ruby lovingly curled up in each other's arms in the comfort of Ruby's bed. Yang opted for the couch that night...

* * *

**-Last Day in Patch-**

"It's the final day before you guys head back for the Tournament... anything special you wanna do? I could drive you anywhere in Patch... not that there's much to do around here but..." Tai offered as he sat at the table in the kitchen with everyone as they ate breakfast. Nova hadn't remained a girl very long and did transform back once his aura returned, much to the relief and sanity of Tai Xiaolong.

Ruby made a high pitched, "MMM! Mmm! Mmm! mmm..."

"Ruby, love, please swallow your food before you choke," Nova requested lightly, offering his girlfriend a glass of milk so she didn't suffocate from too much food in the throat.

The reaper took the glass and drank it gratefully, swallowing the contents of the glass, like she was a vacuum. "I was actually thinking of taking Nova to... go see mom..." she finally said.

Tai and Yang looked at her incredulously, "Are you sure? Would you like me to come?"

"No it's probably better if it's just the two of us... and yeah I'm sure... I think it's time they were introduced..." she explained. Nova just looked at her confused, wasn't her mom gone? What did she mean by meet her?

* * *

Ruby tugged Nova through the dense forest that surrounded, he followed her wordlessly as they pathed through what clearly looked like a frequented walkway. You could only tell it was often walked due to the grass being permanently flattened in its wake.

Eventually, they broke into a clearing, at the end of the forest, facing a sheer cliff. The golden glow of the daylight bathed the scene in a warm and tranquil atmosphere, yet... there was an underlying feeling of sadness.

"We're here," Ruby said guiding him out into the open. He was about to question exactly where 'here' was until he spotted it.

Sitting neatly, a few feet away from the edge of the cliff, was a headstone engraved with the words, "In Memory of Summer Rose, A mother, A huntress, and a good friend."

Nova was at a loss for words, "Ruby is this..." she just shot him a sad smile. He instinctively knew to hang back while she approached the stone.

"Hey mom..." she began, "I know I haven't been around in a while... it's just things have been getting pretty hectic at school... Dad wanted to come but I kinda wanted to see you alone... He's still teaching at Signal, though he says he's going to be going on some missions soon..." she said with a fist pump, her words and face were nothing but pure happiness.

"I think he misses adventuring with you... I miss you too...I haven't gotten kicked outta Beacon yet! So that's cool..." She began again, awkwardly. "I think being on a team with Yang helps... I keep her in line..."

Nova snickered quietly at that last part.

"She's a really great fighter, you can tell she's learned a lot from dad. She's a really great teammate to, so are Weiss and Blake. OH! They're my teammates to... together we form team RWBY! Aandd yes before you ask this does cause a lot of confusion... well at least it did until Ozpin merged my team with another to form team ASHNRWBY... I always wondered why he let me into the school early... guess he'll tell me one day... you know the more I get to know him, the more he sounds like Uncle Qrow..."

Nova quirked his brow, now that he thought about it, Ozpin _did _kinda sound like Uncle Qrow... almost... Qrow was definitely cooler.

"Anyway... I... uh brought someone I think you should meet." She said at last, gesturing for Nova to come and stand with her. He felt oddly embarrassed and nervous as if he were actually meeting Summer in person. "This is Nova, he's the leader of that other team that was merged with ours. He's a dragon Faunus, can you believe it? An actual Dragon... and he's a prince... and um... " She turned very red, feeling incredibly self-conscious as to what she was about to say.

"He's also my boyfriend. Well, he turns into a girl sometimes but most of the time he's my boyfriend, the rest of those times he's my girlfriend... that sounds weird when I say it out loud..." Ruby explained sheepishly.

Nova reached down and squeezed her hand, entangling her fingers in his. "Um... Hi... Ruby's Mom... Mrs. Rose? Summer? I'm not really sure how to address you but, I'll stick to Summer. I'm Nova... though you just heard that..." he was just as awkward as his girlfriend.

"I uh... I know it's probably a little strange meeting your daughter's boyfriend and all but... um... Tai approves of me, if that means anything... he gave me his blessing to... whatever that means... I'm really bad at stuff like this so I'm just going to get straight to the point. I love your daughter, and I just want you to know that she's safe with me. I'll do everything in my power to protect her and keep her safe, though she doesn't really need it because she kicks serious butt herself." he was afraid to swear in front of the gravestone for some reason.

"I know it probably doesn't say much but... she means the world to me, and I just hope that... you can give us your blessing to?" He finished awkwardly, looking to Ruby for approval. Her face was practically beaming with pride and joy.

"See mom, he's a sweetheart. It's um... getting kinda late and the Tournament starts soon, so... wish us luck!" She finished, taking Nova's hand in hers and hugging him tightly. The two stared silently at the grave for a few more moments before eventually tracking back home.

* * *

**Last filler chapter is done, Next Chapter, the start of Volume 3.**

**Author Lore time (COMPLETELY IGNORABLE): **

**One thing that plagued me for a while was that Nova and Ruby instantly jumped to saying they loved each other, and not doing the whole 'like-like you' thing where they aren't particularly sure it's love. **

**I wanted to make them more of an awkward innocent couple at first but the way I ended up writing their development was over the course of the entire fic up until their confession. **

**Their relationship had developed from mild attraction to innocent crushing and admiration, that eventually developed into a hard crush that they were dancing around each other's feelings for so long, that by the time they finally confessed, they were already sure in their minds that they were in love. **

**It felt strange for a sixteen, seventeen-year-old characters to just outright declare they were in love because real life doesn't actually work like that.**

**But... after seeing all the sides of someone, the good, the bad and the in-between, and then spending almost every day of your life in the same living space as them, and having a crush on them, that only grew stronger even _after _going through multiple life and death situations, I'd say you'd be pretty damn sure yourself that you're in love with them.**

**Their romance was actually spawned from roughly two years ago when the first girl I'd ever actually been serious about dumped me. It was the first time I think I would have genuinely considered as being in love, I was willing to commit to her for the long haul but she realized she didn't actually love me so she left me. **

**I ended up taking my experience and deciding to expand on the good parts, feelings, and introspection and spin it to my version of a perfect romance.**

**Just figured I'd explain how I took the romance aspect of this story in case anyone was ever wondering why I didn't opt for the usual innocently awkward romance like most other fics.**


	31. Chapter 31: Vytal Tournament Round 1

**Apologies if this took long to get out, had mid-terms this week. To make up for it, here's a super duper long chapter this time, I could've split this into maybe two chapters but... after considering the crazy amount of stuff I'm going to be doing for volume 3, I might as well just start lengthening each chapter. Unless y'all actually want volume three to take up like a whole 15 chapters or so...**

**It also occurred to me that my brain has been spelling Pyrrha wrong this entire time on multiple occasions so I'll be going back through the chapters to fix that. Don't know if you get notifications when I do update the old chapters so sorry if it spams you. **

**Also scrolling through the reviews I realize I forgot to address this one from AurelLor,**** from way back when,**** about Adam being too OP. I think the reason I forgot about addressing it was that I thought about how to answer it without having to spoil anything for so long that I forgot? Idk if that makes sense but yeah, in this volume. Trying to stay spoiler-free for you as possible but Adam's situation was always going to be 'addressed' so to speak.**

**Also, link to my twitter is on my profile Twitter name: NovaFlareheat. It's not really for like gathering followers or whatever, it's like, if u wanna hmu and talk about the fic or something, I'm always happy to do so.**

* * *

**Chapter 31: The Ghosts of Our Past**

* * *

Team ASHNRWBY's temporary vacation was finally over, and after a couple more days of rigorous training, it was time for the Vytal Tournament.

The esteemed tournament was held at the glorious floating arena of Amity Colosseum, a grand structure shaped like a funnel, hovering miles in the air, held aloft by the power of Dust, over the city of Vale.

Amity was a symbol of unity between the Four Kingdoms and serves as the sole venue of the Vytal Tournament, where students from the kingdoms' greatest academies could compete against each other, regardless of age, academic year or experience. It is the most esteemed tournament where the winner is revered amongst the greatest Huntsmen of their generation.

The tournament was broken up into three stages, first being the teams round, where trainee huntsmen teams worked against other teams to make it into the second round. Only the designated teams of four were allowed, no more, no less. Teams that made it through the first round were allowed to elect two representatives to enter into the doubles round, where partner pairs squared off to determine the ones eligible for the final round.

The singles round, where the true test began, the winners of the duos round would elect one person to fight in the final round, to declare the ultimate champion.

For the teams and doubles rounds, the arena would randomly be selected, ranging from a myriad of possible environment combinations. The state-of-the-art arena would simulate environments for each team, ranging from Ice and Lava to Forests and Beaches, challenging the Huntsman's nature to adapt to every environment.

"OOOOH I wonder what our opponents are like!" Ruby squealed as she bounced up and down in anticipation, their debut match was the first of the tournament, so she was hyped to make it a show stopper. ASHNRWBY had been split into ASHN and RWBY just like Ozpin had said they would be. They still retained their joint team status but operated under separate banners for the event.

As much as they would've liked to do otherwise, Ozpin insisted out of fairness, that RWBY be only allowed to use RWBY members and the same for ASHN.

The red leader's boundless energy was both adorable and wearing on everyone else. Nova flicked his girlfriend's forehead, "Red, chill, if you psyche yourself up too much you might choke, so just try to breathe for me okay?" he said trying to calm her down, much to no avail.

"I know but this is just all too exciting!" She responded practically flying off her rocker. They were standing at the entrance for the colosseum, having just got off the bullhead together. Staring down the grand gates that separated spectator from combatant, ASHN were slightly nervous for their friends.

"I'm not going to be out there on the field so I'm banking on ice princess to keep you in line." Nova pinched Ruby's cheeks lightly before turning to the heiress.

Weiss strong-armed Ruby, "Don't worry… I'll make sure she doesn't crash and burn." She sent him a friendly smile. She enjoyed being his partner in keeping their favorite hyperactive Rose in check.

"Kick as much ass as possible, right babe?" Hex said kissing the blonde quickly, only for her to be dragged closer for a deeper kiss.

"That was my good luck charm~" the brawler smirked as she left a rather dazed purplette, who just stood there dizzy and blushing.

"Make sure you don't lose before we get the chance to kick your asses in the next round," Nitro smirked tauntingly. Luna just smacked him for being a pest.

"Pay no attention to our village idiot, what he means to say is, good luck and we'll be rooting for you from the stands." Luna amended with a light smile, giving all of them a big good luck squeeze, and Blake an ear scratch, which was comical since Luna was so short.

The cat Faunus purred unconsciously and everyone snickered, "Classic Blake, I remember that from when we were kids so I told Luna to try it for herself." Nova said folding his arms smugly, proud that he was right.

Blake flushed in embarrassment and pouted, "We do not speak of this again…" she glowered making the two dragons flinch.

Ruby looked a little jealous, and Nova saw the semblance of a frown forming on her brow and he chuckled. "Don't worry Red, I can scratch behind your ears anytime… or prod you for a better sweet spot when we're alone~" he said with a deep growl into her ear, which made Ruby's entire face turn bright pink.

Yang's eyes widened, quite impressed with him, "Daaammnnn, first you sweet-talk our old man and now you're upping your teasing game? I think I might be rubbing off on you…"

Weiss made a gagging noise, "Bleh, you two can flirt _after _the rounds are over. I need her to concentrate!" she said picking up her red leader and dragging her inside.

"Yeah we should leave you guys to it, see you when you win," Nitro said high fiving the blonde. ASHN split off to find their seats, they'd asked Oz for reserved box seats away from the rest of the crowd, where the dragon family could relax without any unwanted attention. It was easily provided since the academy did owe the ASHNRWBY team a great deal, so this was just some small way of repaying them.

* * *

Inside the VIP box was a lot more luxurious than Nova had expected. Air-conditioned with what he hoped to be imitation leather, covered seats, and a fully stocked bar.

"When Beacon does posh… they really go all out don't they…" Luna marveled as she planted herself down on one of the chairs. "Toss me a bag of chips?"

Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Really? You could've done that _before _you sat down…" he grumbled while fetching her confections.

"Oh good you kids are already here," a female voice said as the person came through the doors. It was Elain, clad in a dark blue cardigan and orange undershirt, with black dress pants. She was actually wearing casual clothing instead of her lab coat for a change.

"MOM!" Luna squealed reaching up and hugging her, "I thought you'd be working in your lab today?"

Elain smiled and sat alongside her kids, "Couldn't miss the girls' first match now, could I? Besides, that skin-regeneration factor formula is going nowhere…"

"I told you that using the bio-toxin mix as your first test was too extreme. If you want to limit test the capabilities you need to ease the cell tissue into it and let it adapt over time, don't just toss the most volatile mix you can think off and hope for the best…" Luna responded shoveling some chips into her mouth.

Elain groaned, "I know that but the nanomachines should be able to handle it, it's just the epidermal organic tissue that's the problem…"

Nova had no idea what they were talking about and he didn't intend to try to understand either. He was a man of machinery and circuitry, not the anatomy of the organic body. He was just happy that they'd managed to grow close over that week-long vacation. Luna had taken a severe interest in her mom's work and the elder Flareheart was more than happy to entertain the young genius.

"Where's Uncle Qrow and Mast- I mean Uncle Randolf? Haven't seen either of them in well weeks..." Nova said, he still hadn't gotten over the concept that Randolf was indeed his uncle, even if he was mom's half-brother.

Elain rolled her eyes and lit a cigarette, "Qrow's still on his mission from Ozpin and Randolf's gone to pick him up. They should be back by tomorrow at the least."

"Are you allowed to smoke in here?" he asked curiously, batting away a few tendrils of smoke. Elain just shrugged, she didn't care.

"Shhh quiet you two… the match's about to start…" Luna said drawing attention to the arena.

* * *

"Today we have team RWBY of Beacon versus team ABRN of Haven!" The announcer that sounded way too much like Professor Port to not be him said.

"And what an exciting match it's expected to be! Two rookie contenders from their respective schools. It is certain to be a good fight!" The secondary announcer, which sounded like Oobleck, said.

RWBY had taken up positions around the map with ABRN ready to counter them on the half lava, half ice arena.

RWBY had gone with their initial strategy of divide and conquer. Blake used her shadow clone to deceive ABRN as she snuck behind and singled out Reese, the aquamarine haired girl in a blue hoodie, from her team.

"Well… that's an interesting weapon…" Nova observed. Reese was wielding… or rather riding on what looked to be a bladed hoverboard that held kinetic properties to return to its wielder.

She rode in and launched the board at Blake who effortlessly deflected it and shot a few rounds from Gambol Shroud at the girl. Reese easily blocked them with the board and made a few swipes at her opponent but Blake's reflexes just fair outclassed hers.

In almost an unfair instant, as Reese made a move for Blake again, she smashing into one of Blake's shadow clones, completely disorienting her, giving the cat Faunus enough of an opportunity to knock her into the air. Mid-flight, Reese morphed her board into a pair of guns and tried to get some potshots at Blake only for them to be dodged. This poor choice of actions resulted in Reese not being able to balance herself and fell flat on her butt, the impact looked painful enough for Blake to wince.

On the other side of the map, Yang was in heated combat with the enemy leader, Arslan, a dark-skinned girl with white hair, clad in a yellow and brown monk outfit. She wielded no weapon other than her fists making it the perfect matchup for the two brawlers.

They traded blow for blow in a blinding flurry of punches, each either connecting or dodging the other and as if to end their trade, they punched each other, connecting at the fists, the force creating a massive explosion of air pressure.

Yang, being Yang, lost her cool when her opponent refused to go down and in a rage launched herself blind at Arslan. The girl was prepared and caught her off guard with a deflecting guard followed by a hidden string that seemed to extend out of her sleeve and wrap around Yang, effectively disabling the blonde. Arslan used this opportunity to send a powerful kick to the side of her head and sent her spiraling into the ice of the map.

Yang tried to get up but her legs were shaking from the slippery ice and disorienting blow. Arslan capitalized on that moment and dealt a blow to her face sending her crashing face-first into the cold floor.

Arslan's teammate, Nadir, a dark-skinned boy with pink hair in a white jacket with gold accents, black undershirt, and pants, spotted the downed blonde brawler. This was his opportunity to take her out since her aura was already in the yellow, all it took was one more shot from his railgun.

He charged the blast only to be blindsided by a shot of ice dust from Crescent Rose. He groaned in exasperation at being completely disabled while Ruby just looked smug at hitting the shot.

"I got your back!" the red leader cheered to her sister.

"Yeah? But who's got yours?" The remaining member of team ABRN, Bolin, said appearing behind Ruby with his staff. He was wearing a yellow monk outfit similar to Arslan's.

He was ready to strike but easily smacked away when a black glyph appeared on his left and a certain heiress sending a flying kick to his face.

"I do." She said icily, then helping Ruby up.

"MY BFF!" Ruby squealed with a fist pump. Weiss deadpanned, "No."

"YES!"

The next series of events was Ruby and Weiss turning on the downed Bolin. He easily dodged Weiss' white glyph strike, but it was a distraction to set up for Ruby being launched into the air and slamming her Scythe down onto the man.

"NICE SYNERGY!" Nova cheered from his seat only to see Bolin turn out completely fine as he'd blocked that strike effortlessly. "Damn that guy's got power…"

Ruby grunted in frustration and shot him point-blank with Crescent Rose. He wasn't expecting that and ended up taking the full blast, however, he was far from being down for the count.

He dodged Weiss' ice attack and made a faint attack at Ruby, except instead of attacking her he faked to the left and went for a patch of Fire Dust crystals.

"OH COME ON!" the red leader yelled in frustration but Bolin was just smug. He broke off a piece of the fire dust and tossed it to Reese who caught it with a smile.

She looked at Blake winked and then injected the dust into her board, turning it's colour from blue to red. At that point, the catgirl had an idea of what was about to happen.

Reese got onto her board and rode over to Nadir and defrosted him, making him mobile again, before turning back to Blake and attacking her, this time the board had an explosive effect making it much harder to deal with compared to the last time.

Blake struggled against it for a bit only to realize she was no match for the power head-on. Deciding to opt for a new tactic, she threw Gambol Shroud into a corner of the arena pulling herself to safety.

Reese followed shortly behind and spotted a standing Blake, staring with her back turned. One would have assumed by now that Reese had learned how to handle Blake, but she went in for the attack anyway. The moment she reached Blake, the clone disappeared surprising her just enough for Blake to toss her ribbon across like a wire, effectively knocking Reese off her board, then swapped places with the shadow and sending her flying out of the arena with a kick. Knocking her out of the fight both in terms of aura and ring out elimination.

Meanwhile, Weiss was juggling both Bolin and Nadir simultaneously with her semblance. Trapping them in a gravity glyph sending them hovering into the air with no control over themselves. She then instantly changed it to a white glyph, summoning a hand made entirely of ice that grabbed the two men and locked them in a cold grip, in what was an incredible display of power.

"Holy shit… I didn't know Weiss was even capable of that!" Luna gaped at the monstrous power.

Nova just looked on in awe as the hand now solidified into a ball and began rolling the two disoriented males away.

"Indeed... the Schnee family semblance is a force to be reckoned with... especially in the hands of one as talented as Weiss," Elain said making note of the impressive skill.

Arslan groaned in exasperation, rushing forward and punching the ice-ball in a great feat of strength.

Weiss noticed the opportunity during the ball's explosion. "YANG NOW!" She called out to the blonde who was using her gauntlets to fire off rounds that allowed her to skate on the ice.

Weiss erected a wave-like ice wall that allowed Yang to use the skating momentum to ramp up onto. Blake, noticing the opportunity ran alongside Yang and tossed her the ribbon from Gambol Shroud, then running up and jumping onto Ruby's back, who then used a shot from Crescent Rose to launch Blake into the air, carrying Yang in tow.

The members of ABRN could only watch in horror as Blake effectively tossed a meteor in the form of Yang's semblance empowered punch, sending the three simultaneously crashing out of the arena.

"AND THAT'S MATCH EVERYONE. THE WINNER IS TEAM RWBY!"

* * *

The moment team RWBY exited the stage, they were bombarded with the greatest round of applause on the way out. Faunus and Humans alike from the four Kingdoms cheering them on as they exited the arena, and, standing ready to greet them were the most important people of all.

"You. Were. Amazing!" Nova said hyperactively, rushing over and picking Ruby up and spinning her around. The red leader was still disoriented from the fight, her aura quite low, so she looked a little dizzy.

Nova set her down gently and began scanning her for any signs of injury. She was, thankfully okay.

"Great fight out there babe, you punched the shit outta them." Hex commended giving Yang a tight squeeze. The blonde opted for a caring hug, just letting her body relax in Hex's arms. The purplette noticed her tired demeanor and smiled, gently caressing her face.

"D'aww, I guess you must be tired…" she smiled. Yang nodded silently nuzzling her face into the crook of her girlfriend's neck.

Suddenly a quiet growl came from Ruby causing her to blush, "I am starvingggg…." She groaned much to everyone's amusement.

"Ugh same," Luna complained with a growl of her own stomach.

Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Didn't you just scarf down three bags of chips?"

"Yeah but… I'm a growing girl, I need more sustenance!" she exclaimed raising a finger to the sky.

Elain laughed, "I agree, potato chips are not a viable source of nutrition."

Nitro gasped, "You dare undermine the power of the potato chip?! HEATHEN!"

The wolf Faunus just rolled her eyes, "I could really do with some real food myself. I've been eating nothing but boxed lunches for days… not that the cafeteria is bad...just that it's hard to take the time off to actually go eat you know?"

* * *

They all headed down to Vale to grab food while the remaining fights for this bracket were going on. They opted for the festival grounds on campus, where most of the concessions occurred. It looked like a standard fairground, equipped with various tent stalls loaded to the brim with goodies and overpriced accessories.

"Come on, I know just the place to grab some good food. Been frequenting here a while now!" Yang said gesturing for their band to follow her.

"It might be kinda hard to eat without this," A familiar voice said causing everyone to turn around. It was Emerald, holding what looked to be Ruby's wallet.

"WAH!" Ruby began frantically checking her person only to come up short. Emerald chuckled and handed her back the wallet.

"Good to see you Ruby!" she said with a smile.

"Yo! What's up Emerald?" Yang asked coming up by her sister.

"Just comin out of the stadium after seeing your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!" She complimented.

"Oh stop it!" Ruby said clearly enjoying the praise, "Shut your stupid face…"

Nov watched in amusement; Ruby's bashful side was several hundred levels of adorable.

"How'd your team do in the fight?" Nova asked, hoping to get some information. He didn't like Emerald… well, it was more like a very… very uncomfortable feeling. She showed no reason _for _him to feel this way… but he couldn't shake this instinct to enter fight mode.

Emerald, completely oblivious to his suspicion, stuck her head in the sky, "They did… really well…" she said as if that was putting it mildly. Come to think of it he'd never seen their other members, he knew Cinder but he'd never actually met her directly, and their fourth member was never seen.

"You know I've never actually met your fourth member… who are they?" He asked as innocently as possible.

"OH, she's… an enigma… you'll get to meet her if you make it through your match…" She said reply as vaguely as possible. Nova didn't like that… not one bit.

"Where'd you guys say you were from again?" Hex asked curiously.

"Haven." Came the short but instant reply.

Nitro's eyes narrowed, "Really? We went to Haven too… before we transferred here… how come I've never seen you before?"

Emerald had to bite back the urge to curse, "Ohh… it's because we're uh… first years… we only joined up last year…" she said with the world's fakest smile, knowing full well they did _NOT_ look like first years.

Nitro was not buying it even slightly, "Well… that explains it…" he said trying not to start a conflict.

"Why don't we all go out and get some victory food together?" Ruby asked, completely ignoring the signs of Nova practically mentally screaming 'DON'T YOU FUCKIN DARE!' while he was making an 'abort mission' signal with his hand crossing his neck repeatedly.

Emerald looked pensive, "Oh uhh… my teammates are… really… introverted…" she explained, head gesturing to Mercury who stood a few feet behind her… sniffing a boot.

"Hm?" He looked like a deer caught in headlights.

They all felt their sweatdrop. "Understandable, have a nice day." Nova ended the conversation dragging his girlfriend off.

"I really don't trust those guys…" Nitro said as they walked off.

"You and me both brother…"

* * *

Yang led them across the green fairgrounds to a stall run by a rather familiar-looking old man.

"Hey isn't that the guy that owns From Dust Til Dawn?" Ruby pointed out looking at him closely. Yang squinted her eyes. "I don't see the resemblance."

Nova was quite baffled, "No… I'm with Ruby… hey, Mister don't you own that dust shop in uptown Vale?"

The man looked at him, and said "Hmm! Ugh!"

Nova felt his sweat drop, "Can someone translate, not sure if those were even words…"

"He said that it's his brother and he finds it offensive that you mistook him." Blake confirmed sitting down on the stools, "Didn't you hear him?"

Nova again looked bewildered, "How did you understand what he said?". Luna quietly uttered an apology to the man on behalf of her brother.

"What are you talking about he was speaking plain English to me…" Hex confirmed studying her leader.

"Nova, honey, do you need me to give you a check-up?" Elain asked prepared to use her semblance at any point.

Nova looked about ready to lose his mind, "Ruby, tell me you heard him grunt a series of noises too?"

His girlfriend just looked at him like he was crazy, "… It's okay Nova, I'm sure it's just the stress getting to you…" she reached up and pet his head.

Nova sat down next to her, utterly defeated, "Everyone's fucking crazy… I'm the only sane person here…" he said muttering to himself.

"Ookaayy… moving on… I'll have a bowl of the regular." Yang said confidently. In an instant, a giant bowl of noodles, too big for traditional human consumption appeared before her.

Ruby gawked, "I'll have the same…" another bowl.

"Do you have anything with a low salt-" Weiss was cut off when the exact same thing as Ruby and Yang popped out.

Blake just silently nodded, the man, understanding the non-verbal communication, also returned the nod. Instantly he zipped into the back and a series of strange unorthodox sounds could be heard.

"Did that sound like a drill? And… a chainsaw?" Nova asked completely horrified. No one else paid him any mind.

In just a short second later a bowl filled to the brim with fish and noodles sat in front of Blake. Her mouth-watering and Nova could swear he heard her heartbeat.

"I'll take the spicy triple deluxe," Nitro smirked and what appeared was a regular bowl topped with what appeared to be a mountain of chicken soaked in hot sauce. "This is going to be good…"

"I'll take the regular to…" Hex said not wanting to delve into the monstrosity that was whatever her brother was having.

"Gimme the beef special with the works," Elain said as if she'd been here a hundred times before. A bowl with a steaming pile of Mistralian styled beef came out. (Think Chinese beef)

The man gave Nova and Luna a serious stare as if analyzing them.

"I'll have ah…" he was about to say regular but instead the man came out with two bowls of the exact same thing as Blake, except the fish was filleted and sashimi-style, as if he knew exactly what they wanted.

The dragon siblings looked just as enamored as Blake.

Weiss smugly handed her card to the man.

"Aww Weiss, what's the occasion?" Yang asked.

The heiress smiled, "Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Just as the words left her mouth her card came flying back at her, wedging itself into the table like a throwing knife.

"WHAT?! How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance…" she said distraught.

The man instantly took away the fishbowls making the two dragons and cat collapse onto the table comically.

"Maybe I can help?" a familiar voice said showing up onto the scene. It was the red-headed champion and the rest of Team JNPR.

"PYRRHA!" Ruby squealed.

"Nah you don't have to…" Yang responded with a smile.

"BUT SHE COULD!" Blake, Nova, and Luna simultaneously said. Elain felt her sweat drop, these kids and their obsession with fish was… ungodly.

"Well, I think you all earned it after that crazy battle." She returned.

"Pfft if I let you kids pay for my meal, I'd have failed as an adult. Shop-keep, my good man, here." Elain said tossing the man a card. In the instant the fishbowls left, they re-appeared, much to the overwhelming happiness of the other three Faunus.

"Mind if we join you?" Jaune asked as he and his team propped up next to ASHNRWBY.

"They're food's on me as well," Elain called out earning some wide stares from JNPR.

"What? Really? We couldn't possibly impose on you, Miss…" Jaune started, searching for the name of the kindly stranger.

"Doctor Elain Flareheart. Mother of these two trouble makers." She smirked gesturing to the two dragons who were so far into their meal they were completely oblivious to the world. "Thanks for taking care of my kids."

"Oh! You're Nova and Luna's mom? It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Jaune, this is Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora." He explained.

Pyrrha smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Doctor. Your son's the greatest rival I could ask for. I'm hoping we meet in the finals."

Elain smirked, "That's if he makes it through the first round." She said ruffling Nova's hair, who just looked at her curiously.

"Yeah we need to prepare for ours as well," Ren said calmly.

"We've trained our weapons and skills so much, but no need to worry. The worst thing is we lose… there are just a few more years of us walking around with everyone in school knowing that we're failures. Then our friends will abandon us to preserve their social status… we won't be able to show our faces in class and no one will sit with us at the cafeteria. Ren and I have no parents so we have no home to go back to and we'll be officially renamed team LOSE-IPER! AHAHAHAHA…." Nora had started off strong but her speech eventually devolved into the most depressing thing anyone had ever seen. Nova and the others visibly flinched as she banged her head against the table.

"Uhh… Don't worry Nora… even if you lose we still love you?" Luna offered with a smile and the orange-haired girl practically tackled the blue drag, squeezing her.

"I knew I could count on you blue!"

"ACK! THE PAIN! I think… I see… the light…" Luna gasped for air, her face slowly turning blue.

"LUNA NOOOOOO!" Weiss said shaking her fist to the sky.

Elain watched in amusement at their theatrics.

"Team JNPR Please report to the battlegrounds immediately! Followed by team ASHN!"

Nova and the others finished up their food quickly and turned to JNPR, "Looks like that's our queue, our fight's after yours so give em hell." Nova flashed them a thumbs up.

* * *

JNPR's fight against team BRNZ was quick, it was to be expected since they had a hammer-wielding powerhouse, a ninja and the known world's greatest fighter. They practically didn't even break a sweat.

"Are we tagged in now?" Nova joked as he high fived Pyrrha as the teams swapped out.

The red-head laughed, "I guess so, try not to lose. I really wanna fight you in the finals."

RWBY sat in the stands, front row, amongst the rest of the teams.

"That was incredible!" Ruby squealed high fiving Nora, and shaking Pyrrha.

"Yeah, you guys were pretty awesome out there… even Jaune." Yang said.

"Thanks…HEY!" Jaune responded.

"Oh quiet down you… ASHN's about to start their match." Nora said pinching her leader and pulling him to sit down.

Nova and Luna had opted to don their old hoods and facemasks for this fight. Now was not the time for the reveal.

"Any idea who our opponents are?" Nova asked, turning to Hex. She was usually in charge to keep that type of information in check.

The purplette just shrugged, "Some guys named team TRKR**(Tracker)**. Last-minute entry so we don't really have much on them other than they're supposed to be from Atlas."

Nova quirked his brow, no information? That didn't usually bode well…

"AND NOW PRESENTING TEAM TRKR FROM ATLAS!" Port's voice announced over the speakers. ASHN looked over to the opposite side of the arena to see a team of all guys showing up. Two Faunus, one had what looked to be large red and blue macaw-like wings on his back. He was clad in a bright blue jacket with a red undershirt and black jeans. His hair was a mess of blue and red and his eyes were a startling emerald green.

The second Faunus a pair of black ears, shaped like a fox. He wore a black trench coat with deep violet underclothes. His eyes were a piercing pink which contrasted to his midnight black hair.

Next to the fox, Faunus was a man with dark blue hair, brown eyes and wearing a white and black Atlas uniform. His face was covered by a mask that only showed his eyes… but Nova felt like he knew those eyes.

The man's partner was a pale man with rust-colored hair. His face was also covered by a similar mask but his eyes shown through, a bright gold. Again, those pairs of eyes sent shivers down Nova's spine.

"Combatants, Step onto the arena!" came the announcement, making the two teams step forward facing each other.

"I hope we have a good fight!" The macaw Faunus said cheerily, flashing Nitro a wink. He looked like the embodiment of purity, a trait that very few possessed.

Nitro blushed a bit, "Uh… same to you… May the best Huntsman win…" he clearly found the man attractive.

"Krome, stop trying to flirt with the enemy, we all know that we're going to kick these guys' butts and be onto the next round in no time." The other Faunus smirked, and Nova wasn't sure if the man was purposely trying to be an ass or if he was just that cocky.

"Ragnar! Krome! Stop your fraternizing and focus…" The golden-eyed man spoke, he must be the leader.

Nova narrowed his eyes at them but said nothing, he could feel the two masked persons glaring daggers at him and Luna and he didn't know why.

"We will now let the random stage selection begin," Port said pulling up a screen that rotated through the different combinations of environments.

"Please not deserts or rainforests, please no sand or rain…" Hex chanted with her fingers crossed. She hated cleaning sand out of her equipment and rain meant mud and mud meant getting her clothes dirty. She did not like that idea.

The screen eventually settled on Mistralian Forest and Swamp.

The arena shook violently and the floor opened up under them changing the area to a greenscape of trees behind team TRKR and a thick murky swamp with very few solid patches of ground behind ASHN.

The moment mud touched her shoes Hex began swearing violently. "FUCKING BULLSHIT! I WOULD'VE PREFERED SAND FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

Nova really hoped the live broadcasts would censor out that ungodly strong of words.

"Mistral Forests… that's ironic..." The brown-eyed man said with a light chuckle.

"Just like old times… right?" The golden-eyed man returned, this time he directed the words at Nova.

The dragon had no time to ponder the meaning of those words when Port announced, "MATCH… BEGIN!"

The moment Port finished his exclamation Krome took to the skies with his wings, distancing himself from the others, while Ragnar got down on all fours and tackled Hex to one side, pushing her into the murky swamp.

This left Nova and Luna squaring off against the two masked people.

"You know, I thought this was going to be a team battle, not four people going one on one…" Nova said sarcastically earning a pair of rolled eyes from his sister.

"You've turned into quite the joker, Nova." The golden-eyed leader said with a tone of voice that was a mix of seething hatred and laughter.

Nova was startled, completely shaken that this man knew who he was, "Who are you? How do you know me?!" he asked.

"Well now… That would spoil the surprise!" the man cackled before bringing out a pair of nunchaku, that looked ominously familiar. He ducked low so fast that Nova barely had time to bring up his guard before a palm was slammed into his chest sending him careening into the forest.

He crashed through a few trees before eventually catching himself onto one. The dragon stood in the center of a make-shift clearing created by the destruction of the environment.

Disoriented and dazed he dusted himself off, glancing rapidly at his surroundings, trying to find the location of his enemy, but the man was nowhere to be seen. His enemy had hidden himself in the treeline.

"Hehehe… Doesn't this feel… familiar?" The mad voice taunted. Nova turned his head just in time to see a shadowed dip through the trees so fast he could barely keep up.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Nova yelled in anger, bringing up Asura, ready to strike at any moment. The enemy was incredibly fast and concealed themselves easily within the treeline… as if they were experts in this type of environment.

In an instant, the figure dashed from the trees aiming for Nova's blindside. The dragon was prepared for this attack and just as fast as his enemy, reacted by pulling the trigger on Asura, sending the ninjato blade directly in the patch of the man's strike, easily deflecting it. In that instant, Nova spun around, caught the blade and swung diagonally catching the enemy leader and sending him spiraling back into the treeline.

"OOohhh so quick, SO FAST! This is good! GOOD! Killing you Is going to be so much fun!" The voice called laughing maniacally from the shadows. He sounded like an absolute psychopath.

"Kill me?! Under tournament regulations, the match is over once our auras go below 15%" Nova called back, readying himself again.

"Do you really think they can see this far in the forest? Do you think I pushed you to this spot by chance?" this time the enemy's voice was like a seething whisper, raspy and deadly as if a demon clown was trying to speak English.

Nova bit his tongue, "They'll never let you walk out of here if you kill me!"

The response was dark and serious, like the man's personality had done a complete one-eighty, "I have nothing to lose hehehe…."

Nova was furious, "What have I ever done to you?! Why do you want me dead?!"

"Silly little dragon… if only your memory wasn't as bad as your temper…"

* * *

Outside the arena, RWBYand JNPR watched with nervousness as they witnessed Nova get knocked into the forest with the force of Nora on supercharge.

"WOAH! That guy packs a serious punch!" Yang pointed out, almost impressed.

"Pfft nothing our boy can't handle, the number of people on Remnant that could contest him are probably less than ten." Nora said with a dismissive wave.

Pyrrha bit her lip, "I'm not so sure… did you see their masks?"

Jaune tilted his head in confusion, "Yeah but… what does that have to do with anything? Nova and Luna are wearing their masks…"

"Call it a hunch but… those guys have something up their sleeves." Her hunches were never wrong.

Weiss made a humming sound, "Ruby… what do you think? You know him best…"

The red leader stayed silent, gripping the seat of her chair nervously. The fact that she didn't respond made them all unsettled.

* * *

Back in the arena Hex was playing a game of chicken with Krome. The winged boy was chasing her down left and right, the tech wizard could only dodge by a narrow hair.

Every chance he got, Krome would swoop down and attack, slicing through the air with his weapons, two pairs of blades that were attached his the lengths of his forearms, and the heels of his boots. He had complete control of every attack angle, since he was in the air, it allowed him to move his body any way he wanted without having to balance or angle himself.

He swooped in again but this time Hex was ready. She dived to her side and threw Loki by its chain, grabbing hold of Krome's leg and slamming him into the ground with a hard tug.

The bird Faunus was completely disoriented by the attack and was grounded. Hex used that opportunity to anchor Eres to the floor preventing him from flying away.

"Alright birdy… now that you're grounded… let's see how well you fair…" Hex smirked, tossing a few small cubes on the ground behind her back. She then rushed toward the startled Krome and began beating him senseless with a barrage of punches.

"OUCH! What an amazing rush of attacks from Team ASHN's Hex Magenta! How will Krome get out of this?!" Port announced.

Krome smirked, "I'll show you…"

In that instant, a bright red aura enveloped him, as Hex punched she found herself taking damage as well. It felt like she was punching broken glass. In a panic she instantly backed off, rubbing her fists tenderly. She didn't take any physical wounds because of her aura… but it felt like her fingers were cut to shreds.

The bird Faunus used this opportunity to wrap his right leg around the chain anchoring him down and fly into the air since his blades wouldn't cut through, he had to try another way. His aura transitioned over to his wings and he did a complex air summersault allowing his wings to slice the chains, freeing him.

"HOW?! BITCH YOU CUT MY BABY!" Hex screamed in frustration, backing up a little.

"Semblance, I can wrap my aura around my body transforming any part of it into a sharp edge, allowing me to cut through anything like paper. You just got a bad matchup." Krome laughed, though his face was pure joy. He wasn't taunting her, rather, he was wholesomely enjoying the competition, and Hex couldn't bring herself to be mad at him.

"Sorry about your weapon though… no hard feelings?" He offered with a slight smile before dashing toward her at blinding speeds, prepared to body slam her with all his might, combing the sharpness of his semblance with the momentum and speed of his flight.

Hex just stood stock still.

"HEX GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Weiss yelled from the stands, "Why isn't she trying to dodge?"

Yang and Blake simultaneously smirked, "Just watch… my girl's got a plan." Yang said giving Blake a knowing look.

The moment Krome thrust his hand out to hit Hex, the fist touched nothing. With the sheer momentum and speed of his dive, he was unable to stop himself before he crashed right through the hologram of Hex, into the swamp floor.

"Ughh… what happened…" he groaned barely getting up.

"Ultra-realistic holograms. You got duped, kid." Hex said with a smirk picking up the cubes she'd tossed onto the floor earlier. It always helped to have a contingency plan, a play she took right out of Blake's book.

* * *

On the other side of the arena, Luna was fighting down the golden-eyed masked man. Unlike his counterpart, he was mostly silent. He swung around a pair of Gunsen, which were bladed fans. Luna had to use Galaxia in its staff form to keep up with the speed of the man's combos.

"Who are you? How do you know my brother?" Luna asked as she ducked under him and swiped at his legs with her staff only for him to dodge it by jumping and slamming the fans down onto her head. Thankfully due to her semblance she took very little damage.

"I'm quite surprised you don't recognize my weapons by now little girl… they certainly did a number on your friends…" he said cryptically as he backflipped to gain distance before locking the fans together to form a large bladed disk, to which he tossed like a frisbee at her. Luna deflected it and it came spinning back to him.

"I guess… the _winds _of change really do have an effect on a person's memory… wouldn't you say? Princess?" Luna's eyes widened. That nickname, those weapons… only one person in her entire life ever matched these features.

"GALE?!"

* * *

Meanwhile Nitro was fighting his own battle against Ragnar. The hyper-speed boxer was spending all of his time dodging blasts of ice, fire, and blades. The fox Faunus Ragnar was using what looked like mechanical claws and waistband that emitted three elemental tails from his hind. Nitro assumed the tails were powered by dust since he could change their elements on a whim with the flick of switch in his wrist.

Nitro blinked and threw few uppercuts at the fox but he was too agile, easily dodging at the last second even if he couldn't see the fists coming. The Faunus fought on all fours, a style of combat Nitro had never seen before, it was incredible. Combining fist and leg attacks with his built-in fox's agility made for a seamless series of chainable combinations.

Nitro barely dodged as a flaming claw came smashing down, followed by a swift and deadly leg kick, and using the momentum of the kick, Ragnar transitioned it into a backflip that allowed the tails behind him to swipe upward and launch a barrage of fire, like a spinning wheel.

In a desperate attempt to gain distance, the red-headed boy used his rocket jets to push him backward, narrowly escaping the fox's range.

"Your… fighting style… is… unbelievable…" Nitro said in between bated breaths.

"Thanks… it's completely original!" Ragnar replied, switching to ice dust and bounding toward the brawler. Nitro inhaled deeply and concentrated. If the fox was on the attack… then maybe he wouldn't be able to dodge…

The moment the ice-claws were mere inches from his face, Nitro put his thruster s on full blast, sending his armoured fist crashing into the fox's jaw within a microsecond.

Back with Nova, the dragon had just about enough of this game of hide and seek.

"If you won't come out… then I guess I'll have to force you out…" Nova seethed, eyes still trained on his surroundings.

"And how pray tell do you hope to accomplish that? Hm?" The madman responded.

"How else do you force an animal out of the forest?" he paused for effect, "You set it on fire!" Nova then sheathed Asura and concentrated on his surroundings. If the audience couldn't see inside then it was safe to turn up the heat. In an instant, the temperature of the immediate surroundings rose and the grass began to dry up. The trees began to turn brown and suddenly there was fire igniting itself all around him.

"ARGH! YOU INSUFFERABLE…" The man was now forced into the open, as the forest around him burned. The heat was unbearable to any normal person.

"Incredible! The forest has caught fire! What an unexpected turn of events!" Nova could hear Port announce over the roar of the blaze, confirming that no one had seen him channel the heat.

"Now that you're out in the open…. I can finally shut that annoying mouth of yours…" Nova said with a dark smile.

The man laughed madly, "YOU CAN TRY! AHAHA-" His laughter was cut short by the feeling of scorching steel in the form of a scythe slamming into his jaw, sending him skyward, far out of the forest.

"Our combatants have finally exited the dense forest, it looks like the ASHN leader, Nova, has the upper hand!" Oobleck announced as everyone spotted the rising figures of the two team leaders.

"HEY LUNA! I GOT A HOT ONE INCOMING!" Nova yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping high into the air following the ascending enemy. At the moment they achieved maximum altitude, Nova reared Asura and smacked the man like a ball, sending him flying into the center of the arena, crashing into Luna's opponent.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Ruby cheered, finally looking more like herself, relieved that her boyfriend was safe.

Everyone else breathed a similar sigh of relief. The scoreboards showed that Ragnar and Krome were almost below the knockout threshold while the other two were still in the yellow.

Team ASHN barely suffered any damage with their least healthy person being Hex who was also close to the red stage.

"Nice shot brother, I think I'll do the same!" Nitro yelled tossing Ragnar at the center, Hex also followed suit, piling Krome with the rest.

* * *

They all regrouped, dusting their hands as if they had just finished doing chores. "I'd say we cleaned them up pretty nicely," Nitro said with a smile. Even though Krome and Ragnar were still above 15%, they were barely moving due to the damage. It made no sense to kick a man while he was down.

"GUYS BACK UP!" Luna yelled trying to move them out of the way.

"What's wrong sis? We totally just kicked their asses, Port just needs to announce that we wo-" Nova was cut off when the man he was fighting got back up from the smoking crater. His aura still in the yellow.

"IT SEEMS TEAM TRKR'S LEADER IS NOT OUT FOR THE COUNT JUST YET!" Port announced causing Nova to flinch. Were these guys normal students?

"This is bad… this is really bad…" Luna continued to chant, switching Galaxia to its axe form.

"What's got you so on edge sis?"

"Nova… the man I was fighting… was GALE!"

The dragon leader felt his entire body shake. Like a resounding quake had rocked him to his core… if this man was Gale then the one he was fighting…

"Gale?! As in Gale Rogue?! But we left those fuckers back in Mistral!" Nitro exclaimed.

The two masked members of TRKR rose from their downed states, their masks falling off and ASHN could clearly see now, the faces of Gale Rogue and Thorian Callus.

"You've finally recognized us… it took you so long I was beginning to feel very hurt…" Thorian said in mock sadness. His face was maimed and half torn, burn marks on his right eye dragging down over his cheek like a bad scar. "Even after you did THIS to me! TO US!" he gestured to Gale who was now standing beside him. His face was also torn up and scarred grotesquely.

"You two… how…" Nova was at a loss for words. He'd hoped never to see these faces again.

"Well after you left us out there, running with our tails between our legs… we scampered off to Atlas. Couldn't show our faces back at Haven, our benefactor at Haven gave us the necessary resources, all we had to do was disappear…" Gale said with a grim look, his fists trembling with rage.

"We _were _just waiting on the day our mistress, our queen, called on us again!" Thorian cackled with a clap.

"Your queen?" Nova asked eyeing them. "Who're you working for…" he didn't get to question further as Thorian let out a blast of aura knocking ASHN backward.

The TRKR leader then gave a silent nod to his partner and they picked up the downed Krome and Ragnar and viscously kicked them off the edge of the arena.

"What's this?! Team TRKR has turned on itself? After eliminating two of their own, how do they expect to fight two on four now?!" Came the announcement over the speakers.

Nova cursed as he helped Luna off the ground, "Turning on your allies again? What happened, you run out of use for them too?"

Thorian cackled madly again, "What can I say? Old habits die hard…"

"Those two were just pawns in our scheme… they didn't know who we were, sucks for them." Gale finished, the two of them now dashing toward team ASHN, but the quartet was prepared.

Hex was first, countering their dash with a shock from a line of electrode nets she'd dropped on the floor during the impact of the previous aura wave.

"This is for stabbing us in the back!" Nitro yelled as he let a fist connect with Thorian's face sending the unprepared man sky high.

"AND THIS IS FOR LITERALLY STABBING ME!" Hex yelled grabbing Loki and Eres and thrusting upward, embedding the blades into Gale's torso, though they didn't penetrate due to his aura.

ASHN expected the two to be way below the 15% mark but... unfortunately, they were still in the yellow.

"UGH FUCK YOU TWO ARE LIKE COCKROACHES! YOU JUST WON'T DIE!" Nova roared, his anger rising to the point where he was getting really pissed.

Thorian laughed maniacally, using the momentum of the fall to come bearing down a strike. Gale had thrown his chakram disk at Nova, but the dragon leader was far too pissed to be bothered. He let the disk hit him directly in the face and he didn't even flinch, the fiery scales of his body appearing only on the struck portion of his face.

Gale's eyes widened as both he and Thorian struck Nova simultaneously, only for him to receive no damage. Nova, on the other hand, gripped both weapons, refusing to let his enemy move. The dangerous look on his face was terrifying, it even scared Luna.

"I have just about had it with you spineless snakes... you gravely miscalculated by thinking you could take us down…" Nova said darkly as he forcefully kicked the two into the air, hooked Thorian with Asura and Gale with his right claw, and sent them crashing out over the arena. The last thing they saw was the dark smiles on both the enemies' faces.

"Our job wasn't to kill you…" they said simultaneously before they crashed.

"AND THAT'S MATCH! The winner, Team ASHN!"

* * *

"That was crazy! How the hell did you set the forest on fire?!| Nora exclaimed jumping up and down excitedly. "I always knew you were a born arsonist!"

Nova felt his sweatdrop, "Um... sparks from clashing blades?" He offered in some failed attempt at concealing his powers... and everyone bought it, except RWBY who already knew what happened. Nova's face was, tired... even though the fight didn't take much out of him physically... he looked mentally drained, the sight made team RWBY lose any vigor of excitement they had on congratulating them.

"We're kinda exhausted from the fight so we're heading back to the dorms..." Luna said brushing past her overly excited friend. Nova, on the other hand, made a gesture with his head to Ruby who got the silent message to follow them.

Once they were safely back in the confines of their dorm, Nova collapsed onto his bed. "FUCK!" He screamed into the pillow, alarming team RWBY who'd followed them in.

"What happened out there? Who made you use your powers?" Ruby asked worriedly, sitting on the bed next to her boyfriend, rubbing circles on his back. For someone to push Nova to use his Aspect powers, they'd have to be really strong...

"Yeah I don't think I've ever seen you guys this shaken up before... are you okay?" Yang asked looking to Hex. The tech wizard just rubbed her arms and leaned back against her own bed.

"The ghosts of our past come back to haunt us..." she replied earning a wide-eyed look from team RWBY.

Nova sat cross-legged on his bed, "Remember when we said that our old teammates betrayed us back at Haven?"

Everyone nodded. "Well turns out... they escaped to Atlas. Those two masked guys were Thorian Callus and Gale Rogue. I'd really hoped never to see them again..." he said almost terrified.

"What are they doing here? Aren't they like, wanted criminals?" Blake asked completely baffled.

Nitro shook his head, "They were supposed to be... but they said that someone at Haven gave them the resources to disappear... we're not exactly sure what they meant by that..."

"And they mentioned their queen... whoever that may be..." Luna finished, running her hands through her hair.

Ruby took Nova's hand and squeezed it for comfort, the dragon looked at her sweetly and squeezed back. "I don't know why they're here... or how they made it into the tournament... but what I do know is that we need to be ready... and someone needs to inform Ozpin that there's a traitor in our midst."

Hex nodded, she was already on the case, typing up a short report and emailing it to the headmaster.

"Is this going to affect you guys returning to the public scene?" Weiss looked at them curiously. Now that threats were rearing their ugly heads, maybe making themselves more known wasn't a good idea.

Nova shook his head negatively, "No... if anything it means we need to do this now more than ever. Our enemies know we're here, they've somehow managed to infiltrate this highly secure tournament. We need to fight back."

* * *

**Round 1 of the tournament is over... and the chaos has only just begun. **

**Don't forget to leave a review and stay awesome. Next chapter is already in the works.**


	32. Chapter 32: Compromised

**Sorry if this chapter took a while to come out, I had 2 midterm exams this week so I was pretty much up to my neck in work.**

**To answer Guestdxd: Yeah I do actually intend to do some OC arcs later, especially for Hex and Nitro, and I have something planned for Luna but they come in later. In terms of RWBY's actual characters, if you haven't guessed already, I am going to be developing Adam, and I am mad hyped for when I eventually get to Oscar cuz I had this ludicrous idea for an arc for him that actually makes him into more than who he already is.**

**I love the idea about the cult for the Apathy in the cellar, I'll definitely look into that because I figured those particular Grimm had loads of potential.**

**(Spoiler alert for those who haven't watched Vol 7 yet do not read this author's note any further, just go on to the chapter)**

**My thoughts on Volume 7: **

**It was honestly the best-written volume since Volume 3, then again we don't have alot of comparison given volume 4 and 5... I think the whole concept behind the fall of Jaques Schnee could have been handled with alot more drama and flair, Willow needed more screen time because I think her character has some serious potential. I feel like the fight between Clover, Qrow and Tyrian could've also gone completely differently had Clover actually been reasonable and Qrow not be an idiot and work with Tyrian, and there was the whole concept of Robyn Hill being completely unnecessarily dumb and acting without a hint of subtlety, I literally see why Ironwood didn't trust her. **

**James is sort of right to trust his own judgment considering it's either him, an experienced combat general, or the ideas of justice fueled teenagers who went behind his back and lied to him at the start. He wasn't correct in his actions either considering he let fear rule him and allowed it to drive his decisions, and pushing him to the point of insanity. Also with Penny now being the Winter Maiden... well how does that even work exactly? She's an android, even if she's more human and has more personality than some of the characters in the show, can robots even use maiden powers? And don't even get me started on the hinting that Ruby and Oscar might have a crush on each other, like holy shit that came out of absolutely nowhere, my boy is literally 14, he's a kid, Ruby's practically 17 in volume 7. Not that 3 years age diff is that big but, like OSCAR IS A BABY! I was like, I love White Rose, but you gotta make me approve of Pine Rose first, cuz, well HE HAS OZPIN IN HIS HEAD, The idea of Ruby being together with the incarnation of Ozpin creeps me out a little, even if Oscar is his own person. Bumblebee wasn't even handled well for this volume, it felt like the majority of the time spent was Blake pointing out all the flaws in Yang's rationale and moral outlook. ****I predict dope redemption arc for Neo in the future but I'll be damned if I don't write my own first.**

**But yeah, I intend to work magical wonders with that stuff ESPECIALLY the Schnee family drama... god I can't wait to work on that part of the story because I have a few things cooked up that are borderline insanity driven conspiracy theory, and with the revelation of Willow Schnee, it literally gave my creativity its own level of justification.**

* * *

**Chapter 32: Evil Begins Rearing its Ugly Head**

* * *

"Ozpin!" Nova said barging into the headmaster's office, behind him were the members of team ASHNRWBY.

The headmaster who'd been peacefully reading his documents and filing records of previously done missions had barely managed to stop himself from dropping his coffee mug when the interruption came.

Carefully, he composed himself, placed the cup gently on the table and folded his hands under his chin and propping his head up.

He breathed a heavy sigh, "Considering that the matches are still ongoing and that you _never _barge in here just to say hello… I'm assuming something's happened…"

Nova raised his finger in the air to refute, "I…" his poised index drooped and a comical face of concern washed over him. "Wait where are you attempting to be humorous?"

Ozpin raised his eyebrow, "Is it really that hard to believe?"

"Yes…?" Weiss was the one who responded, her face also layered in confusion.

Ozpin moved to take a drink from his coffee.

"Sir, we… or rather Nova has reason to believe that there's a traitor working amongst us," Ruby said causing Ozpin to choke and sputter on his coffee. His entire form racked with the cough as he patted his chest trying to calm himself.

"Excuse me?" he offered hoping he hadn't heard that correctly.

"Sir our team's last battle… against team TRKR from Atlas. Our opponents were Thorian Callus and Gale Rogue Ebons, they were our old teammates back at Haven." Nova continued as if the reasoning was as plain as day.

"Yes, the ones who turned on you correct?"

"How…" Nova didn't ever remember telling Ozpin about this… though he doubted it would've made much of a difference. "Never mind…"

"What could they possibly be doing at the tournament. They're wanted criminals by Mistral, how would they even enter an Atlesian team?" Ozpin questioned. Atlas was even tighter on security than any other kingdom was. "Are you sure you were not mistaken?"

"Sir… faces may change over time but my scars never forget…" Hex said clutching the scar on her left side where she'd been stabbed by Gale all those years ago.

Ozpin inhaled deeply, "Alright… assuming that you aren't mistaken… do you have any evidence to back up the accusations you are making? Where would the traitor even lie?"

"Sir there isn't a shred of doubt in our minds. They were the fiends of our past." Luna started but Nova held up his hand. He understood why Ozpin wasn't just outright trusting their words. It was because the headmaster didn't want to believe he'd been compromised.

"They said it themselves. Their 'benefactor' from Mistral, whoever that may be, got them the resources they needed to get into Atlas. From this information, and the fact that they managed to hide their identities in this highly secured tournament, I believe that there's a traitor with a high level of administrative power." Nova explained.

"And what makes you believe that exactly?"

"Well in order to sneak two unidentified persons into an event with several trained professional huntsmen _and _Atlassian military security, they'd need high-level clearance with almost no questions asked." He explained further. Ozpin already figured this but, voicing these assumptions out loud was something his position prevented him from doing.

Ozpin's face was stoic but Nova could see the twitch in his eyes. "You will speak of this to no one. The traitors must not know we are onto them."

Everyone else nodded in understanding.

"Sir, the team from Haven, the one with Emerald and Mercury. They claim to be first years from Haven but they're most definitely not. There's a lot that doesn't add up with their story and the fact that we've never even met their fourth member." Nitro spoke up now, relaying what he'd gained from his interactions.

Ozpin quirked his eyebrow, "First years? Their transcripts say they are third years."

"Third years? Sir if they were, we'd have known about them since we did, in fact, attend Haven." Hex said folding her arms.

"The evidence is stacking up further and further… two teams with unknown information… a traitor in our midst and all evidence is being directed to one place…" the headmaster looked concerned. "I don't like where this is going…"

"Sir we should make our move. Stomp out the enemy before they have a chance to proceed with their plans." Blake said, all the fire inside her burning.

"No… with the way things are… we can't take direct action. They can easily spin this situation out of control, especially with the Four Kingdoms gathered here, it's all too easy for them to label it as an attack against their kingdom, especially when we have no physical proof. If they do that, even if it's all a lie and they can't bring anything out of it, the drama they'd cause would be enough to stall the tournament, and with attention being diverted they'd be in the perfect spot to enact whatever plan they have." Ozpin explained.

"And with all the drama, comes worry and panic. Panic brings Grimm..." Yang rationalized.

"Essentially, our enemies are right under our noses and we are powerless to move against them? There _must _be something…" Weiss pondered, placing her hand on her chin.

Nova smirked, "Well maybe not Ozpin, but who's to stop a couple of students from enacting their own, information gathering?"

"A solid idea no doubt, but with the chaos of the event, there's no consistent way to police our suspects. Just… keep a watchful eye on them." Ozpin said, leaning against his armchair, trying to drink in all of the information.

ASHNRWBY nodded in understanding and made their way out.

Just as they were about to leave Nova turned around, "Sir… I almost forgot. Thorian mentioned that they were working for… a 'queen'. Any idea who that may be?"

The moment the word left Nova's moth Ozpin froze, the look of shock on his face did not go unnoticed. "It couldn't be…" he said under his breath.

"Oz?" Nova noticed the look on his face, but just as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

"It's nothing. I don't know who this queen is… but if you find out… be sure to tell me." The ghost of a pained expression was hidden behind his eyes and Nova could tell. The headmaster knew exactly who that queen was but whoever it was, terrified him to his core.

* * *

**-White Fang Outpost, Vacuo-**

Onyx reclined in his leather armchair, sitting in the training room of the facility, observing his pupil, Adam Taurus, train.

The high commander looked on intently as Adam drew on the power of the Aegis gene, resonating with the gemstone around his neck. The red-haired boy's body began to glow a deep red aura that eventually was being consumed by underlying black, which eventually overtook the red until it was only an outline. The black crystal began to levitate around his neck as the boy drew more power, his skin slowly being covered in luminescent darkness that looked like the night sky.

Once it covered his entire body, pressure began exerting around him, rattling the room.

"Good… hold that form…" Onyx instructed as Adam rose to his feet. The boy held the power at what seemed to be his maximum output, his face pained and struggling.

"Release the energy, full force at the target." Came the bear's instruction. Adam silently gripped his blade, still struggling through the pain, and drew the katana in a slash.

To the normal person, the movement looked as though he were standing still as a blast of dark energy shot out like a slash, decimating the ground as it passed through the air and crushed the dense steel wall like it was paper.

Onyx was pleased, "Very good… now again…"

His instruction went unfollowed as the power immediately left Adam's body, his skin returning to normal and dark aura disappearing quickly. Adam collapsed onto his knees, his breath ragged and laboured as though he'd just run three marathons.

The High Commander slammed his fist onto the chair in frustration. "ARGH! YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A FAUNUS! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO ACHIEVE PROGRESS IF YOU CAN'T HOLD THE ASPECT FORM FOR MORE THAN THIRTY SECONDS!" the room shook with his deep voice and Adam could feel the crushing weight of his master's aura.

"My apologies Master. I will do better." Adam said through harsh breathing, struggling to his feet but his knees would not move.

Onyx calmed himself down, releasing the pressure, "I don't want your remorse. I want you to perform." He spat. "Though… I guess it's not entirely your fault. The artificial genes you were injected with were… incomplete prototypes…" he cursed. Adam wasn't an Aspect of Remnant, he held no real power, nor was he chosen by the Fragment. At the end of the day, this was all they could manage with some false prototypes and training.

Just then the room door burst open with a disheveled looking deer Faunus in a lab coat.

"High commander Onyx sir!" The deer-man said.

Onyx turned around with a deadly look in his eye, "I specifically ordered no interruptions…." He glowered, his black miasma-like aura constricting the man.

"We… succeeded…" he choked out.

Onyx released his hold with a stoic expression. "Explain, make it short."

The deer Faunus straightened himself and made a few grateful gasps of air, "We've perfected the formula sir. We've successfully created a fully functional artificial Aegis gene serum."

Onyx folded his arms, "Well… now… show me." He instructed, following the Faunus out of the room

They made their way to the lab, a beautifully mechanized room, dozens of monitors on a wall, depicting different graphs and information. A large control panel sat neatly with a giant wall of clear blast-proof glass, separating the equipment from a large white area.

A few scientists were in the white room, working on various steel tables, chemicals and different machinery associated with biological testing were located throughout.

"Doctor Remus, I've brought the commander." The deer Faunus spoke into a microphone on the control panel.

A doctor clad in a blue lab coat and mask with black and white streaked hair popped his head up from a table.

"Ah! High Commander. Just in time, I'd like to show you what we've achieved." He said.

"Make it quick, this better not be a waste of my time or you'll find that you'll sooner get a life cut before a pay cut." The high commander threatened, folding his arms and staring through the glass.

"Y-Yes s-sir. If you would look at the screen to your left, you will see the cell structure of Maiden DNA, courtesy of our business partner." He gestured for Onyx to observe.

On the screen showed the complex cell structure observed in real-time from a microscope.

"We've used this, and combined it with the nanomachine serum left behind by Doctor Flareheart to produce the artificial gene."

Onyx rubbed his temples, "Last time I checked the serum was worthless, only that bitch had the knowledge to perfect it. You mean to tell me you've fixed something that the greatest Medical genius of our time has failed to?"

Remus chuckled, "Some great genius she was… After extensive analysis of her notes, I came across several inconsistencies with the combination of DNA to serum and various other formulae that… while made sense on the surface, had very minor flaws. These flaws added up in the long run and were the reason why our progress had been hindered for so long." He prided himself on surpassing his senior.

Onyx was quiet for a moment, then suddenly burst out in a roar of laughter, "Remus you fool, get your head out of your ass… she didn't make _mistakes_ if what you're saying is correct… then the more likely explanation is that she purposely hid these mistakes so we wouldn't notice them She was trying to sabotage us from the inside…"

Remus sputtered in embarrassment, "Well… it matters not. Behold." He held out a vial of dark black liquid that held tiny sparkles in it, like a galaxy in space.

Onyx's eyes widened as he stared at it, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Indeed, sir. This is the artificial Aegis gene that responds to the Lunar Fragment. This serum will give you the power of both nanomachine and command over the Aspect of Lunar."

Onyx roared with laughter, "And what's the catch? These things always have some side-effect to them."

Remus nodded, "Yes actually, the person drinking this would have their entire DNA code restructured from the ground up… in other words, it would be enormously painful and taxing on the body that only someone with extreme fortitude could handle it."

Onyx contemplated for a moment, "And can we produce more?"

"Not currently, it'd take us at least three months and a batch of maiden DNA to create more."

"We don't have that luxury of time… you said this would be painful yes? And you are sure it will work?"

"I'm willing to bet my life on it, sir." The scientist confirmed.

"Then I'll hold you to that claim if it doesn't…" Onyx opened the door and stepped inside the room, grasping the serum from the man who stood twice as short as he was and held it to his face.

"Sir what're you…"

Onyx opened his mouth and downed the entire vial. _Looks like your usefulness is at an end boy…_ he thought as his mind drifted to his pupil before his body became wracked with violent pain.

* * *

**-Some island off the coast of Vale-**

"And that's match! The Winner? TEAM ASHN!" came the sound of Port's voice over the television in a sea sidebar.

"That was some fight wasn't it?" the bartender, an average looking man with a mustache, said as he poured a glass of whiskey on the rocks.

"Fight? That looked like a mess to me…" Qrow said as he took the glass and downed the entire thing in one go… even though it wasn't a shot.

"Qrow you really shouldn't be drinking on duty…" Randolf said as he motioned the bartender to pour him a drink too, why stop at just Qrow.

"Oh get that stick outta your ass Wulf, gotta drink to our nephew and niece's first tournament victory~" He slurred happily.

The grey wolf just shook his head, "As if there was any doubt they'd win."

"True, but did you catch the look on charcoal's face when he kicked that kid off the rails? The shit was dark. I don't know what he said to him but something's goin' on back at Beacon." Qrow said, that one glass of alcohol already wearing off. It was good booze but it wasn't as strong as the stuff he usually carried around.

"All the more reason for us _not _to be hanging around some bar. We should have been back at Beacon yesterday." Randolf said drinking down his own glass.

"Head back sure… but with what transport?"

"This one?" came the instant reply as the roar of an airship was heard just outside the bar.

* * *

**-Beacon Academy-**

"Remind me again why we're out here? I should be back at the lab helping mom with her work…" Luna complained as she trudged alongside her brother, Ruby, and Weiss.

"Firstly I'm glad you found something you're passionate about, and secondly… ask Weiss, she's the one that dragged us out here…" Nova said ruffling the girl's hair.

It was afternoon now, Luna had spent the majority of her time with Elain in the lab and Weiss thought it would be a good idea to drag her away from the fun.

Nova, on the other hand, was just stressed out, with all the crazy stuff going on he was beginning to get a migraine from all the scheming and planning. Any excuse to _not _be doing that was welcome.

"You'll see…. Oh, look, the ship's arriving!" Weiss said as she suddenly picked up a running start, heading toward the airship landing zone.

A large Atlassian bullhead pulled up and out came a conglomeration of soldiers, most of them arriving as extra security, probably called in by Ozpin, but, soldiers weren't the only persons on that ship.

Striding proudly with her head aloof was the one and only Winter Schnee, looking just as prim and proper as the day she first met them.

"WINTER!" Weiss practically gushed as she ran up to greet her sister, followed by the others. "It's so good to see you! I mean… your presence honours us." Weiss curtsied. Nova rolled his eyes.

"Sister, friends of my sister… how… pleasant to see you…" She said with the word pleasant-sounding anything but its meaning.

Nova chuckled, "Ice queen, you're looking good. Haven't seen you since the Breach, you didn't even come to check up on us, I thought we were friends?" he said in mock emotional hurt.

Winter grimaced, "Need I remind you that I am an Atlas Specialist and a professional Huntress. I'd suggest you address me accordingly."

Nova snickered, and leaned to Ruby, "That's her way of saying it's nice to see we're okay." The red leader and Luna also chuckled.

Weiss punched all three of them and they all comically fell over. "Please don't mind my rude friends, they're just glad to see you as much as I am."

"Indeed…" Winter stuck her nose in the air but there was a hint of embarrassment on her features that only the emotionally attuned could detect.

"Come on Winter, you can drop the icy charade, you make Weiss-cream look like molten lava, I know what you're really like." Nova smiled with a quirked eyebrow.

The specialist glanced around at the number of Atlassian soldiers, then back at him and raised her own eyebrow in question.

"Oh right… business." Nova realized she had to act as properly as possible when in the face of her subordinates.

"So… what brings you to Beacon? The festival?" Weiss asked curiously, and overly cheery, no doubt trying to butter up to her idol.

"Classified." Came the short and swift reply.

"And how long will you be staying?"

"Classified."

Luna groaned, "Of course it is…"

"Well… this has been fun…" Ruby said awkwardly.

Winter opted to move but one of the soldiers also followed. She turned around and held up her hand, "Leave us."

The soldier nodded and it was understood that from here on out things would be 'off-record' so to speak.

"Why don't you take me to your quarters? I'd like to catch up," She gave a light smile that barely looked above her normal frosty exterior.

Weiss looked practically bursting with happiness, "OH! WONDERFUL! Follow me!" She said and began marching forward. Nova, Ruby, and Luna looked at each other and shrugged, deciding to follow.

* * *

As they were moving onward, there was a distinct sound of crushing metal and sparking circuitry. The party instantly stopped moving and turned around to see none other than Qrow Branwen holding up a decapitated android soldier.

Nova, Luna, and Ruby all looked positively elated, and then there were the Schnee siblings, looking mortified.

"HEY ICE QUEEN!" Qrow called out slurring. "I'm talking to you!" He tossed the robot's head at Winter's feet.

The elder Schnee looked positively livid, grabbing onto here saber and marching forward. All soldiers had their weapons trained on Qrow.

"Saw your gaudy ship in town… figured you might be here." He slurred again, wobbling on his feet and squinting.

"I'm standing right before you." She responded coldly.

Qrow leaned over and narrowed his eyes, "So it would seem…"

"You do realize you just destroyed Atlas Military Property…" she glowered.

Qrow looked around and faked a guilty expression, "Ohhh… I'm sorry. I mistook these for some sentient garbage."

"I don't have time for your immature games Qrow." Winter walked up and stared him down.

"Wait you two know each other?" Weiss was confused.

Ruby, Nova and Luna looked on from the sidelines, "Oh this out to be good…" Nova said side leaning to the two girls. "How does Uncle Qrow know Ice queen anyway?"

Luna pondered for a moment, "Well... they are professional huntsmen, both working for their kingdoms and top of their class, I'd be surprised if they _didn't _know each other." she said waving her hand around, gesturing between the two.

"Geez you Atlas Specialists think you're so special, don't you… you know what you really are? A buncha sell outs! Just like your boss…" He said looking rather angry.

"I don't know what you think you're implying but I've heard enough."

Qrow smirked, finally getting under her skin, "See I heard Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin…"

"Ozpin? What's he talking about?" Weiss was again caught confused. Winter just pushed her back.

"Weiss you should step back, I'll handle this… If you have any shred of dignity I'd suggest you hold your tongue... or I'll remove it for you.." Winter glowered at Qrow.

"Oooooo" Came the simultaneous sound of the trio in the backline.

Qrow smirked, "Come take it then."

"Was that a taunt or a flirt?" Nova asked his sister and girlfriend.

"Both?" Ruby answered, quite unsure.

* * *

Winter drew her saber and rushed him with blinding speeds, and the drunk Qrow just effortlessly dodged everything with mock grace.

He blocked her head strike with his blade and drew it on her, swiping horizontally with fury while Winter gracefully backflipped to dodge all of them.

"Oh shit, he's already started…" A new voice said pulling up alongside the teens. The quartet turned to see Randolf Wulf looking rather annoyed and his glasses off.

"Mas… Uncle Randolf, you're back!… What's the old man doing? Egging on Frosty the snow-woman?" Nova asked folding his arms.

The older man huffed, "I left to pick up your uncle only to find him lounging on the beach on some tropical country off the coast of Vale. Said he'd finished his mission early… we were supposed to be back yesterday."

"And why weren't you? You missed our first match!" Luna berated, lightly hitting him.

"He… may or may not have used strong persuasive methods to let him stay another day, saying he wasn't done investigating the town."

"And by investigation, he meant drink the local bar dry of all its liquor?" Nova opted, piecing it together.

Randolf sulked, "I'm ashamed of myself… At the very least we did get to see your match on tv… you did pretty well out there."

Nova snorted, "If by pretty well you mean emotionally distressed, then yes, we did fine…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'll explain later…"

* * *

Winter and Qrow were now duking it out from the top of Beacon's cross-building hallways. Eventually, Winter had gotten tired of playing nice and swapped her saber to dual sword mode, now dangerously clashing with Qrow in the courtyard, just in front of the teens.

The quartet's eyes darted back and forth between Qrow and Winter going at it from all angles.

"She's really not holding back is she?" Luna pointed out as Winter used the signature Schnee family semblance to launch her self in a flying attack to which Qrow easily blocked.

"Yeah but Qrow certainly is…" Nova said bringing attention to the fact that Qrow still wasn't using scythe form.

"My money's on Qrow…" Randolf said making everyone stare at him incredulously.

"Aren't you supposed to be the voice of reason?" Weiss asked looking appalled.

Wulf quirked his eyebrow, "I said nothing of the sort. DEFROST THAT BITCH QROW!" he yelled making Nov and Luna fall over comically.

Weiss was flustered, " TEACH HIM SOME MANNERS WINTER!"

"KICK HER BUTT UNCLE QROW!" Came Luna and Ruby.

Nova refused to take part in this.

Winter readied her semblance to fire off living ice, and Qrow clicked the gears in Harbinger, ready to swap it to scythe form until he noticed something behind Winter. Instead, he unclicked the gear and sheathed his blade much to everyone's bafflement.

He made a mock bow and gestured with his hands to 'bring it on'. To which Winter gladly obliged, rushing forward with her saber aimed right at him, stopping mere inches from his neck when a loud "STOP!" echoed.

Winter froze, more than she already was, and slowly turned around to see Ironwood and Penny closely behind.

She instantly straightened herself, "Sir!"

"Specialist Schnee, what is the meaning of this?" He asked angrily.

"Sir! He started the altercation."

"Not true, she swung first," Qrow said with a smug look.

"Is that true?" Ironwood was livid.

"I…"

"Alright enough is enough everyone… There's a sanctioned fight just around the corner in our colosseum, with better seats… and popcorn." Came the voice of Ozpin entering the scene and dissipating the fight.

Ironwood huffed, "Let's go…." He said gesturing for everyone to walk off. Penny gave the brightest smile in the world and waved to her friends.

Ruby and Nova happily waved back since they were the only ones who really knew her, Ruby more so than Nova.

* * *

**-Amity Colosseum, after dark-**

It was dark at night now, most people were inside the colosseum watching the last of the team battles. Security was tight, but nothing warranted too much concern for the members of Cinder's team as they lurked around the back spaces. Emerald and Mercury constantly on alert, trying to find breach points in the massive stadium. The moved with stealth and precision, being careful not to alert unwanted attention yet simultaneously being aware of all of their surroundings. It came as a complete shock when they bypassed a pair of persons sitting on the rails along their path.

"Our Queen sends her regards…" the ominous voice of Thorian says from his perch atop the outer rails of Amity Colosseum.

The team spun around to see him and Gale sitting comfortably on the rails that separated them from the sheer drop to the ground below as if the thought of plummeting thousands of feet to certain death was entertaining.

"Who're you?" Emerald asked aggressively, her eyes narrowed as she stared down the two of them, prepared to enact combat should the need arise.

Gale chuckled, "Is that any way to treat your comrades? Well… I guess in our business loyalty is a matter of perspective."

Emerald, Mercury, and Neo looked rather confused, their expressions warranting amused looks on the two men's faces. Cinder motioned them to leave, "Leave us, I'll find you later." They reluctantly complied.

"I see they aren't aware… well, it's not my place to tell, even though I could go all night about the wonders of our queen." Thorian said with a sly disposition, earning a death glare from Cinder.

"Stuff it Callows, you and your brother are both crazy. Spare me the theatrics and tell me why you two are here? I have this under control." Cinder seethed. She despised Thorian Callus, or rather Callows, as was his real name. Both brothers were deranged and psychotic, so far gone she'd feel more comfortable talking to a war criminal.

Thorian feigned hurt, but laughed madly after, "If you call knowing the glory of our queen madness, then yes… Tyrian and I are both crazy."

"Our Queen thought you'd need backup once all hell breaks loose here. Not to keep you in check but rather… to monitor your… other reinforcements." Gale said leaning backward until it looked like he was practically falling off the railing.

"What _other _back up are you referring to?" she asked now feeling a twinge of murderous intent in her brain. Her patience was wearing thin.

Thorian made a look of fake shock, "What? Were you not aware? Your so-called business partner, that flea-bitten sorry excuse for an Ursa, sent his own team in as well… I believe you are familiar with the members of Team BLDE **(Blade)**?"

Cinder's eyes widened, "They're here too?" She wanted to curse herself for not thinking about it. Onyx wasn't exactly one to trust humans to do his job, he always had his special operatives tailing them on any mission. In short… she should've seen this coming a mile away.

Team BLADE, minus Adam Taurus, was the perfect infiltration for this tournament since every member was a ghost to the world. No one knew who they looked like and they were never caught. Their names never show up under any criminal records and they could just as easily slip away before things got… messy. They were good at what they did after all, that she could not deny.

If they were here then it just meant their plans would go even smoother, and the fact that she couldn't find any reason to push them away made her furious.

"Alright, what's your plan?" Cinder asked calming herself down.

"Observation. We only act if necessary or if asked. We've used our… connection on the inside… to wipe our evidence from the records. Thorian and I were never here. On the other hand, we did gain some interesting information on our resident lizard problem." Gale looked amused.

"And that is…?"

"We've field-tested their powers, the little girl is still a mystery… but the boy… he's got the serum in him." The golden-eyed boy said with a little laugh. "His powers are a threat to be sure… but it's no longer just heat, he can manifest fire… you know what that means correct?"

Cinder was piecing it together, she smiled devilishly, "That's music to my ears…" if he controlled fire, then her Maiden powers could potentially override his control. In theory, she might be the only one who could stop him.

Thorian chuckled, "At the end of the day, you're here to sew the seeds of fear and panic. We're here to guide those seeds so they break open the shell from the inside. BLDE's job is to eliminate as many threats as possible to ensure the smoothest of operations."

"And one more thing." The blue-haired one said earning a look from Cinder. "We believe the Flarehearts are going to 'reveal themselves' so to speak in one of their upcoming fights… most likely the doubles round. The resurrection of the Dragon family might spark a large mix of both hatred and joy in the Faunus population. Either way… there'll be a lot of chaos."

Cinder smiled devilishly, "It's like they're working for us and they don't even know it… If they keep this up I might have to start paying them."

* * *

**-Beacon Academy Infirmary-**

Krome woke up, groggy and in pain. His head felt like it was smashed in with a hammer and his body felt like it'd been passed through a pile driver. He glanced around, trying to understand where he was. Considering his last fight, combined with the multiple medical equipment, this place must be the infirmary.

"Oh, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border right?" A voice said through his hazy mind. He saw a woman with a mess of wild blue and orange hair staring at him and he had to shake his head to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"Excuse me?" He asked disoriented, shaking his head to rid himself of any hallucinations.

"I asked if you were okay. Feeling any pain? That last fight looked pretty rough." Elain scanned his features for any sign of pain.

"Oh… that's what I thought you said… Yeah, I'm fine where's…" He was about to ask where Ragnar was when the door bust in revealing the black fox.

"Krome! Thank Oum you're alright… when those two shit stains tossed us out of the arena, your aura was already low so your head took a bad hit. I was worried…" Ragnar hugged his friend.

The macaw-Faunus winced as the fox accidentally squeezed his wings, "I'm okay but can you like, not crush my wings?"

"Oh right sorry…" Ragnar instantly released his friend with embarrassment.

"Your allies… Thorian and Gale, I believe were their names correct?" Elain asked bringing back their attention.

"Yes, how did you… Oh, you must've looked at our team record right?" Ragnar looked annoyed.

Elain's brow crinkled, "No… your records are blank, only your names show up and even then it's just basic information. I have no idea who your teammates were… nor would anyone else."

The two looked shocked, "But then how…" came Krome.

"Because I happen to know some people who are familiar with the two in question. How they managed to slip through our securities and change their record is beyond me…"

"You're not just a doctor are you?" Krome looked skeptical.

Elain nodded, "Indeed, I work for Beacon, now… tell me everything about those two." She interrogated.

The two looked at each other and then back at her. "There's not much to tell, Atlas apparently needed a second team to fill a spot, we were roped in with those two as a makeshift team. We'd never actually met them before a few weeks ago, we didn't even know what they looked like…" Ragnar explained and Krome nodded in agreement.

Elain was intrigued, "Interesting… is there anything else? Who issued the command for the team's formation?"

Both faces were a complete blank, "Sorry Doctor… we have no idea. It wasn't the General and as far as we know… it was just an order from the administration." Krome said.

Elain sighed, it was useless. These two kids were just victims of circumstance. "My apologies for the interrogation, it was mandatory. The two members of your team, Thorian, and Gale, were wanted criminals by Mistral. We don't know how they managed to get into your system, but we are working on tracking them down."

She reached over and grabbed both of them by the shoulder, using her semblance to remove any minor residual injuries they may have had.

"What was that?" Krome asked, his disorientation now completely gone and his wings and muscles feeling good as new.

"Think of it as compensation. My son and his team did quite the number on you." She smiled.

"Son?" Ragnar questioned but it went unanswered when they were ushered out of the door leaving them confused.

"So what now?" Krome asked his partner.

"I guess we stay and watch the rest of the matches until Atlas issues transport for us. In the meantime maybe we can help find those two?" Ragnar offered.

Krome smiled and pounded his fist into his palm, "Yeah, I'd say we have a few bones to pick…"

* * *

**The plot continues to thicken and Nova might find himself digging deeper into the rabbit hole than intended.**

**Chapter 33 is already in the works so hopefully I get that finished soon. **


	33. Chapter 33: Dragon's Fury

**This Chapter is massive for me. The basis of the entire fanfiction, the first idea I'd ever come up with, before the fic was even realized, before I made the plot, before the history, even before the characters were even named, is written in the lines of this chapter.**

**It may not be my best chapter, but it sure as hell will go down as one of my favourites to write.**

* * *

**Chapter 33: This Dragon is one Dangerous Hippie**

* * *

**-Amity Arena, Day One of Duos Round-**

ASHNRWBY were settled in the stadium VIP box, watching Emerald and Mercury face down Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Did Oz really allow all of us to crash here for the matches today? 'Cuz this place is really sweet!" Yang said spinning on one of the chairs like a child. Hex smiled and placed her hand on her girlfriend's head stopping the rapid rotation.

"Maybe? maybe not. What he doesn't know won't hurt him right?" the tech wizard smirked.

"That's part of what I love about you. Devilishly crafty when you put your mind to it." The blonde leaned up and pecked her.

"Ugh please, if you're going to eat each other's faces, find somewhere else…" Weiss said with pure disdain marring her features.

Nova laughed, "Weiss-cream, you're just jealous that you don't have a boyfriend. Pro tip? Be less frosty."

Weiss turned pink, "I AM NOT! I just think that there's a time and place for everything…"

Luna reached up and patted Weiss on the head, "There, there… you'll get a boyfriend someday Weiss…"

The heiress deadpanned, "Not you to…"

"Oh, guys, it looks like the stage has been set," Ruby said pointing at the arena. It was half savanna with tall grass and half Mistralian forest.

They all turned their attention to the arena, where as soon as the battle started. Emerald and Mercury disappeared into the tall grass.

"Is that some kind of evasion tactic? Like hiding and ambush? If that's true then they picked the wrong duo to try that against…" Nitro said as he munched on some popcorn.

Sure enough, Coco whipped out her minigun and sprayed the tall grass, leveling it from a side until it was clearly gone.

Everyone blinked in surprise, "Where did they go?" Luna asked looking around. Emerald and Mercury had essentially disappeared.

"LOOK OUT!" Blake yelled as Mercury's foot came crashing down onto Coco only to be blocked by Yatsuhashi. Everyone just looked at her. "What?"

"You do realize we're in a box seat… and they can't hear you right?" Yang pointed out.

Blake blushed in embarrassment, "Sorry… instinct,"

* * *

Mercury expertly dodged Coco's rain of bullets and was easily taking on both of them at once, blocking with his hands while expertly maneuvering himself to counterattack.

"His skills are impressive… but where's Emerald?" Nova pointed out eyeing the arena.

Just then a chain sprung out of the forest and wrapped around Coco. dragging her into the depths of the canopy, leaving Yatsuhashi to Mercury's mercy.

The fight was over in seconds after that with both Coco and Yatsuhashi downed by aura level.

"That was… honestly crazy. How did Coco get outed so easily? And that tank of man got knocked around like a pinball." Hex observed.

"Emerald was missing for most of the fight, we had aerial seats and even we didn't see her disappear. I think it might be her semblance… invisibility maybe? Cloaking?" Nova voiced his analysis.

"Well… we can't know for sure until we fight her so… I guess we'll just have to win our next battle right?" Ruby offered with a cheer. Nova kissed her forehead.

"Bless your innocence, Ruby."

* * *

Back at the RWBY Dorm, Nova and Luna were relaxing with Ruby and Yang while the rest of the battles were ongoing. They would have stayed to watch but hanging out with a certain Qrow was more important.

"I'm gonna kick your butt old man!" Ruby screamed as she vigorously tapped on her game controller. The two dragons watched in amusement as the sisters battled their uncle in a fighting game. Nova knew Ruby was good, at least from the times he's played with her, but he didn't expect was that the old man was better.

"KICK HIS ASS RUBY" Yang yelled back.

"In your dreams kids!" came Qrow as he viscously sent a deadly combination of buttons that claimed the red leader's life.

"NOO! NOT AGAIN!" Ruby yelled her fists to the sky as she fell over from being pushed away by Yang.

Ruby stood up and clung to the front of Nova's shirt. "NOVAAA! Uncle Qrow is bullying me!" she gave the world's most adorable pout.

"Red, I am not going to exact revenge on Qrow for you…" this caused the girl to fake cry. "But… I am going to exact justice for his evil!" he declared war as Yang also fell victim to Qrow's skill.

"Oh, you wanna go smokey? I just beat firecracker you'll just be the leftover fumes." Qrow taunted holding his head high.

Nova was livid, "Oh I'll show _you _fumes…" he grumbled picking up the controller. Five minutes of button mashing later…

"SOARING NINJA WINS!" came the game as Nova groaned in frustration, rolling on the floor.

"Sucks to suck! Come on that's three down! Who dares challenge me!" Qrow roared with laughter.

It was at that point Luna's head peaked up from Blake's bunk, where she'd taken up residence since the gaming began. "Did someone say… challenge?"

"Oh blue pipsqueak, wanna take a crack at it? I'll go easy on yah." Qrow waved the controller.

Luna felt her brow twitch, "Are you looking down on me?" she glowered.

"Technically he's looking up since you're on the top bunk…" Yang couldn't resist, but Luna paid her no mind.

The blue dragon hopped down from the bed and snatched the controller. "It can't be that hard…"

* * *

"Challenger wins!" the screen showed that Luna had won.

Qrow felt his jaw drop while everyone looked incredulously, "Beginner's luck. I was just goin' easy on you. One more."

"Someone's a sore loser~" Yang sang as she squished Luna in a quick hug of congratulation.

"Trust me... it won't happen again..." famous last words.

'Challenger Wins! Total Annihilation!" Again Luna was victorious.

"Face it, gramps, your time has come. Washed up! Washed up! Washed up!" Nova chanted causing everyone to join in.

"Oi who's idea was it to bully the old man huh?"

"So Uncle Qrow, what were you doing so long out there that you couldn't come back and see your kids hm?" Nova asked resting an elbow on his head smugly.

Qrow sighed, "Ozpin had me going out to the other kingdoms to check on the-… err never mind that's classified. What I can tell you is that Mistral's pretty much a death trap right now. Grimm activity has risen to an all-time high and Lionheart's been sending Huntsmen on missions to clear out the place."

"What does this mean exactly?" Nova opted, trying to squeeze out some information, he didn't understand why he was being kept in the dark about this since they were all in the same boat. Ozpin knew his secrets, so why is he keeping secrets from him.

Perhaps it was due to Nova's basis of cooperation, that Ozpin withheld some of the information. But they know about the Maidens, RWBY and ASHN all know about their existence, they know about the Aspects of Remnant… so why was Ozpin keeping secrets?

Nova didn't have a lot of time to muse over it when Qrow's scroll beeped, it looked to be a message from Ozpin.

"Looks like I gotta go, good luck in your fights tomorrow, I'll hopefully be watching."

And with that, he was gone.

* * *

**-Amity Arena The Next Day-**

The continuation of the duos round, Team RWBY vs Team FNKI.

"So… a team from Atlas… what do you think we'll be up against?" Yang asked as they awaited their opponents.

"Well considering their Kingdom's armed forces, school and military are all merged into one… I'm betting they'll be strict fighters with advanced weaponry and…" Weiss was cut off when a whoosh of rainbow appeared behind her. "Or whatever that is…" she gestured to the pair before them.

A dark-skinned man in sunglasses and a fedora stood next to a cat Faunus with bright orange hair with blue streaks, pulled up in twin-tails.

"You're Weiss Schnee, right? The 'heiress'? " the man asked earning her attention.

"Yes, I am."

"And that must mean you're pretty good with dust right?" he continued.

"Sure I do try my best…"

"You know my dad had his own little dust shop too… til your dad ran him out of business!" He said darkly earning a flinch from Weiss.

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

"I'm sure you are…"

"Hey what's that supposed to-" Yang tried to defend Weiss but was cut off when the girl next to the man spoke.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean~" she mimicked in an annoying voice, "That's what you sound like."

"Um excuse me?" Yang opted now very confused.

"Nice hair extensions by the way."

"This is just my normal hair…" Yang was getting annoyed.

"Ugh really?" She said with a face that was the definition of bitch. "You should try roller skating some time… you might have some trouble though since you're so… top-heavy…"

Yang glanced down at her chest then flared with fury, "EXCUSE ME?!" Yang was now very mad.

Ruby looked on from the stands, "Oh boy… here we go..."

"HEY! MY GIRLFRIEND'S RACK IS PERFECT I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW!" Hex was practically leaping from the seat only to be held down by Nitro. The poor red-haired boy desperately trying to keep the violent violet fury from strangling the competitors.

The moment the match started Neon pushed Yang to one side and forced her to chase after her while Weiss was left to fight Coal.

The man used what looked to be a trumpet that used dust as an amplification source to send out powerful sound waves capable of physical damage. A strange yet effective weapon that went against everything the heiress knew about fighting, resulting in her being unable to figure out how to counter it.

Coal's powerful sound waves blasted Weiss with tremendous force, pushing her back and threatening to blow her off the arena completely. It was like facing down a typhoon, except it wasn't wind that was causing the knockback. The heiress barely clinging on by gravity glyphs.

Slowly but surely she made her way up through the wave of sound only for it to stop and find herself launched at him. Coal easily sidestepped it and kicked her away sending her crashing into the ground.

* * *

On the other end, Yang was struggling to catch Neon as she zipped passed her in circles, taunting her the whole way. Yang would fire off several shots only for them to sail harmlessly through the air, hitting nothing.

"Never miss a beat. Never miss a beat." Neon chanted as she skated circles around Yang until she eventually pulled out her dust powered Nunchacku and froze Yang's leg.

"Oh look now you're bottom-heavy too!" She taunted again getting Yang even angrier.

Neon then rushed just as Yang broke the first set of ice and froze her arm, sealing off one of Ember Celia's gauntlets.

"You know… you should cool off… get it? Cuz you're mad?" Neon teased. Yang was not impressed.

* * *

Back with Weiss she now caught Coal in a circle formation of white Glyphs, sending out barrages of ice at him, striking from all angles. In order to break it, Coal activated his semblance summoning three clones of himself.

Weiss could only watch helplessly as the four clones sent out one massive wave of sound that blasted her far away.

While Weiss was on the floor, Coal turned to aim at Yang. Weiss noticed the lava on the floor about to erupt and, using her quick thinking, tackled herself and Coal into the burning spire. Coal barely had a chance to register what was happening before searing heat shot through the geyser, roasting both him and Weiss to an ash-covered crisp.

"AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A DOUBLE KNOCKOUT EVERYONE!" Port announced as he observed Weiss' aura drop to zero.

"Wait… what's this?!" came Oobleck as the steam cleared, to reveal, against all odds, Coal standing groggily. "IT SEEMS MR. COAL IS STILL IN IT!" Coal's aura stood barely above the knockout margin, sitting at a dangerously low 16%.

Weiss was now out for the count, leaving Yang to fight both Coal and Neon at once.

* * *

The blonde brawler unleashed her semblance at full power, amplifying her abilities several times, allowing her to juggle both opponents at once.

Neon continued to play on Yang's anger but what she failed to account for was… that the angrier the blonde was… the more powerful she became.

Eventually, Coal's sound waves were of no effect to the blonde and she easily stopped his trumpet blast and sent him flying. The one punch was all she needed to eliminate him.

On the other hand, Neon was feeling shaky now, seeing as her partner was just so easily batted aside.

"Never miss a beat… Never miss a… beat?" It was at this moment her skate got caught on one of the rocks and sent her flying into a steam geyser, that launched her skyward.

Now that she was off the ground and immobile, Yang had the perfect opportunity, sending a direct shot of Ember Celia knocking the cat girl right out of the ring.

Yang picked up the blackened Weiss, cradling her in her arms, "That was one hell of a risky play…" she pointed out.

The heiress coughed into her hand, "It worked out didn't it?"

"And the winners are, Yang and Weiss of Team RWBY! Don't go anywhere folks because we have another match right up."

The roar of the crowd followed the blonde brawler and heiress out as they clung to each other for support.

* * *

"That was one hell of a move Weiss-cream, I'd say it was cool but it looks like you might be burnt." Nova chuckled as he ruffled the heiress' hair. She smiled and brushed off his hand.

"I'm too tired and sore to deal with your lame ass jokes right now, just kick some ass for us okay?" Weiss grinned.

Nova and Luna shared a look that said 'classic Weiss'.

"So… we ready for our big debut?" he looked at his sister for confirmation.

The blue dragon inhaled deeply and looked at him with piercing eyes, "More than I'll ever be…"

Ruby looked at the two worriedly, "Are you sure this is a good idea? It's not too late to…"

Nova silenced her with a kiss. The red-leader melted instantly, gratefully accepting the warm feeling, as if he was transferring his own confidence to her.

"It's now or never, love. Wish me luck?" He asked caressing her face with his thumb.

She smiled and leaned into his palm, "You don't need it, but, good luck out there."

Blake walked up and placed a palm on his shoulder, and nodded silently after their eyes met. Blake wasn't much for words but that silent gesture said everything. Hex and Nitro gave them a quick fist bump before joining the stands, this time opting for the seating with the other competitors.

* * *

"AND NOW FOR OUR FINAL MATCH OF THE DAY!" Port announced as Nova and Luna stepped onto the field, clad in black cloaks with the hoods pulled up, and their signature face masks.

"Our opponents are again an informationless team, this time from Vacuo," Luna said without a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Nova sighed, "Seems like trouble finds us like a magnet regardless of where we go…"

"For the last battle today we have Nova and Luna of Team ASHN vs Bell and Edan of Team BLDE. As per special request, from previous matches, we'll turn up the input volume on the arena's camera bots so our audience at home can hear the banter between competitors." Oobleck continued for Port.

The moment the two dragons heard the names of their competitors they flinched, "Of fucking course it's them. I mean, who _else _would it be? There isn't a single team on the face of Remnant that wants to kill us other than them… well, I guess we need to consider Thorian and Gale… but you get my idea…" Nova groaned exasperatedly.

The audience gasped a little, and Nova blushed, "Oh right, didn't realize the mics were on yet, my apologies…" one of the camera bots that was circling him shrunk away. He really hoped they had some form of real-time audio filter that censored his swearing.

"Ahem yes… well on to the match…" Port coughed into his fist.

* * *

On the other end of the arena was Bell Wings, clad in what looked to be a spikey black jacket and pink undershirt. She wore black jeans and combat boots that matched, making her look like some kind of metalhead or goth. Behind her swung the massive cross-shaped shield that she used as her signature weapon.

Next to her was a man in a similar outfit except he wore a long black, open-fronted, coat with gold linings. His undershirt and pants matched his midnight black hair. His eyes were dark red.

The camera bots circled to the outer rim signaling that they were basically out of earshot, though Nova didn't particularly care who heard him.

"I should've known you two would be here… all things considered, I'd be surprised if you weren't." Nova folded his arms and nodded his head to Bell.

"Why are you even fighting in the tournament hm? You're certainly not trying to win, and now that we _know _you're here it would be easy for us to call security on you." Luna pointed out.

Bell laughed, "We're fighting you because…. Well, there's no point in telling you when you could just ask our previous opponents." She smiled looking at her nails.

Nova grimaced, piecing it together, "And you're not afraid of this information getting out?"

"Please, we have the security of Vacuian students. If you threaten us without basis then it's just a crime against the kingdom that breaches our treaty… you wouldn't want a world war, now would you?" Edan said with a laugh, the overconfidence clear as day in his voice.

Luna sighed, "Ugh I've never met you before today and I already hate you…"

Edan made a devilish smile, "The pleasure's all mine princess."

"Combatants prepare yourselves… The arena will now be chosen…" Port said.

The arena around the four changed as the system cycled through choices… it finally settled on a very… interesting combination.

"Well this is an unpredicted turn of events, a never before seen environment combination. Vacuoian rocky cliffs and magma! It's a dangerous perilous environment with little cover spots and deadly terrain, it looks like we're in for a bloody brawl everyone!" Oobleck explained the statistics of the terrain.

Behind Nova and Luna were a series of sheer pointed rocks and taller columns of stone, nothing large enough to warrant cover, just brown and grey stone as far as the eye could see, occasionally a gust of wind could be felt blowing through the stone formations. It looked more difficult to fight on than anything they'd seen before.

On the other side, behind Bell and Edan, was the standard fiery magma field that Weiss and Yang fought on previously.

"Well now… looks like you won't have anywhere to hide?" Edan said gesturing his arms widely.

Nova looked unimpressed, "What makes you think we'd be losing?"

Bell chuckled, "Call it a hunch…"

* * *

"Well, this is interesting..." Hex said earning everyone's attention.

"What do you mean? What's interesting?" Weiss didn't like it when there was information she wasn't aware of.

Hex folded her arms, "This environment, the rocks... I believe those are..."

"The Vacuoian Wind Spires?" Ren said recognizing them as well.

"Vacuoian what now?" Ruby asked out of the loop.

"Oh, I've read about these while researching the history of the tournament!" Weiss propped her finger in the air, feeling smug. "This environment hasn't been selected by the system in over four Vytal tournaments."

"Why's that?" Yang asked now curious.

"Something to do with the coding of their stage selection systems. There was some small bug that caused the system to bypass this stage whenever it did a random selection. To think it would make its appearance now... ironic..." Hex mused.

Blake's brow furrowed, "What do you mean by 'ironic'?"

"The Wind Spires are revered as Vacuous most sacred and symbolic location. To the locals, it's supposed to be a place of overcoming adversity and beginning anew. In reality, it's just a giant canyon covered by dense fog and rising stone spires that have rushing air pillars around them. The valley itself is teeming with Nevermore..." Ren explained surprising everyone with his knowledge.

"How do you even know that?" Jaune asked baffled.

"Renny likes reading all those boring ritualistic places... it's like his thing." Nora explained brushing it off as normal. Well, for Ren at least, it probably was.

* * *

"BEGIN!" The moment Port called the start of the match, Edan blinked out of existence sending alarm bells off in both dragons' minds. In a mere split-second, Edan was in front of Nova, a black fist came soaring upward, Nova barely reacted to the lighting fast movement.

As the fist soared past his face, Nova caught a glimpse of the weapon. It was a black steel dagger attached to a grip that doubled as spiked knuckles, a style of blade known as a Trench Knife that boasted its effectivity in close-combat with a reverse grip fighting style. Edan seemed to wield two simultaneously.

Nova's trigger system activated and Asura came soaring into the air, blocking the other hand. Nova caught the blade and made a horizontal slash at Edan who backflipped out of the way. Mid-air, the man threw knives at Nova, which were easily deflected and stabbed into the floor at his feet.

"Cute knives. I don't have any butter for you to spread so I don't see much use for your cutlery." Nova taunted eyeing Edan.

The black-haired boy smirked, "These are state of the art you know… at the end of the day… they were made to carve meat!"

Nova was not prepared for the attack when Edan pulled on invisible strings, causing the knives at Nova's feet to fly upwards and smack him directly into the jaw sending him careening into the rocks behind him. He jumped in and began trading blows with Nova in rapid succession. Ninjato clashed with Dagger as the two swung at each other.

The dragon leader was a firm believer that the only way to know the truth about a person was to trade blows with them. The feelings of a person speak through their blades without lies or flowery words, yet... when he clashed with Edan, all he could feel was contempt and scorn. A hatred that ran so deep that it tainted the man's very core.

Nova resisted the urge to lash out in violent assault, such was the sheer venom that was flowing behind Edan's blade. He needed to know why. What drives a person to be fueled by such hatred and anger. Adam's blade held anger, but it also held sorrow and pain. Bell's held no emotion other than helplessness. He'd never clashed with the other members of Team BLADE but it seemed they all held a common distinct fear, not of him or of death, but of Onyx. Yet Edan feared nothing, and even if he did, the saturation of his emotions was so dense, like mud.

"Why are you doing this?!" Nova seethed as he ground the blade of Asura against Edan's dagger, he needed to understand. If he wanted to change the world, to make it a better place for his family and friends, then he needed to understand what drove people like Edan to do what they did.

"Doing what? Fighting you?" Edan asked a little confused.

"Working for Onyx! Why are you fighting for him? Why are you trying to subjugate the human population? The White Fang was created for Equality not this!" Nova pushed Edan's blade back.

The man laughed and Nova could see in his eyes, a coldness that held no compassion, "Is that it? Well if I had to say… it's because Onyx is a revolutionary leader. He's the one who will usher in the new Era of Remnant. An Era where humans are nothing but inferior insects.

The dragon was thankful that none of the camera bots were in the audible range of their conversation.

Nova should have expected as much, yet he pressed on, "But there _are _good humans out there! And the Faunus aren't perfect either. We're just as capable of hate and evil! Onyx's vision is nothing but violence and tyranny!" The look on Edan's face said that his statement was pure ludicrous.

Edan looked furious, as though Nova had just insulted the very thing he held dearest to him, "AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VISION?! YOU FALSE PRINCE OF DIRT!" his body glowed a bright gold before he swung his fist. Nova would've easily blocked it had at that very moment, a gust of wind whip by, carrying sand from the broken rocks, temporarily blinding the dragon and allowing Edan to overpower Nova and sending him buried under a pile of rubble.

Ruby and the others gasped in shock at Nova being overpowered like that. They'd never actually seen someone do that before, even if it was a cheap shot.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luna was in heated combat with Bell. Shield clashed with a great battle-axe in a spectacle of power. Bell would block Luna's heavy blows with incredible difficulty, she was not prepared for the raw strength that resided in that tiny blue dragon.

Luna swung rapidly keeping Bell on the defence. Her swings were becoming repetitive and predictable, Bell was beginning to be able to block them easier. This was exactly what Luna wanted.

"Bell, that's your name right?" Luna spoke, trying a similar tactic to her brother.

"What do you care? You royals never cared! About any of us!" the blonde thrust her shield forward only for Luna to easily step aside.

"I care because I can tell, you're different from him," she gestured to Edan as he was dueling Nova. "You're not driven by hatred as you claim to be... understand, please! Onyx is just using you! When he's done he'll just toss you aside like used garbage. That man can't be trusted!" She implored.

Bell grimaced, "And what do you know about that huh? You've never worked for him! He's a revolutionary!"

"Call him what you will but you don't believe that. He's done nothing but lie to you. Whatever he's told you our family has done, do you really have any proof that we did? Other than his word of mouth?"

The blonde cursed under her breath. Luna was right, ever since she'd gotten back from Mount Glenn, she'd been having doubts, yet every time the idea of rebellion surfaced in her mind she was wracked with intense pain, which only got worse after her... enhancements...

Bell wanted to respond, she really did, but the moment the thought formulated she let out a blood-curdling cry of pain," RAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Instead of coherent speech, she devolved into berserk swings. Striking left and right with reckless abandon, her newly enhanced cognitive system, implanted in her nervous system by Onyx's lead scientists, was working overtime to boost her reflexes.

Luna gasped at the state that Bell had driven herself to. One minute she looked to be reasonable and calm, yet a second later she was a mindless berserker with no self-awareness. Bell had wings, as from what Nova's told her, beautiful monarch butterfly wings... so why wasn't she using them?

The blue dragon grimaced and swung hard. Bell moved her shield to the rhythm ready to block but was caught off guard when the axe became a staff and sailed right by her head, unblocked. The moment the pole passed her defences, Luna switched the handle again and brought out the battle-ax, hooking Bell behind her head and slamming her hard into the floor like a hooked fish.

* * *

"OUCH! Brutal display by the blue titan, Luna!" Port exclaimed.

"Blue Titan?" Oobleck was confused.

Port coughed into his hand, "Ahem yes, it's the name that most of Beacon's students have taken to calling her…"

"Seems oddly fitting…" Blake pointed out reclining on her chair.

"Titans are usually massive creatures with enormous power and defense, she's exactly like that, even if she is tiny." Weiss cooed, cheering on her favourite person in the world.

"Are none of you concerned that the enemy is that blonde girl from the White Fang?" Ruby asked incredulously.

Hex and Nitro looked at each other, then back at Ruby. "Not really… I mean… we pretty much already knew they were here…"

Ruby felt her sweat drop.

"Have our enemies devolved into a joke?" Weiss asked now realizing who Nova was fighting.

"No… just that… what are we gonna do about it? Wage war? Just let them handle things," Nitro explained folding his arms.

"I'm worried… I've just got this really bad feeling about the future…" Ruby rubbed her arms.

Yang brushed her off, "Ruby, you're being paranoid. Whatever the future holds, we'll stop it."

The red leader's expression softened, "I hope so…"

* * *

Back in the arena, Edan left Nova in the rock piles and launched himself at Luna. The blue dragon was blindsided by a powerful punch from the black-haired boy, sending her barrelling into the magma part of the map.

Luna didn't take a lot of damage from it due to her semblance but a blow to her temple still disoriented her. She groggily got up, rubbing her eyes.

Bell gave her no opportunity to recover as the moment Luna got on her knees, a shield came slamming down from the sky, smashing hard into the ground as Luna barely dodged out of the way.

"Ganging up on a little girl… Have you no shame?" She asked coughing a little and brushing the dust off.

Edan smirked, "I don't see any little girls… I only see pests that need exterminating." With that, he blinked under her and sent a right uppercut.

Luna dodged back only to hit Bell's shield. Together, the two simultaneously attacked the blue dragon.

Luna so desperately wanted to use her powers but she couldn't reveal them. In the midst of the assault, she spied Weiss looking on worriedly from the stands, and she got an idea.

"Weiss you're a bad influence…" she muttered under her breath as she ducked low to avoid a simultaneous hit from Bell and Edan. She rolled away, dodging the attacks they made, just barely. She couldn't avoid getting hit by some due to her lack of speed but she made do.

Slowly but surely she was guiding the two to one very familiar steam geyser. The moment they were in range Luna used her powers to subtly change the forces of the air around them to gradually pull the two into the geyser. They didn't even notice the change before it was too late.

"Oh fuck…" Bell said as she tried to use her shield to cover the hole. The only problem with that was… the more you try to bottle up the rising amount of lava, the greater the pressure… and with all the gasses swimming around in there, all it took was a little spark…

Luna watched the two struggle helplessly against the building pressure.

"Sorry guys, if it was any consolation… I'd say this was a _blast_!" The moment she said that she slammed Galaxia onto the ground creating an eruption of sparks that ignited the building gas pressure below Bell's shield.

The result was a massive explosion that covered the entire arena in a cloud of thick black smoke.

"INCREDIBLE! Luna has used the environment to her advantage and sent her opponents sky high! However, it looks like they aren't out for the count yet!" Oobleck announced.

"HELL YEAH LUNA!" Weiss cheered from the stands and everyone facepalmed.

"Is being self-destructive a White-haired royalty trait?" Blake asked with disdain only for Weiss to flick her on the forehead.

* * *

Nova groaned under the rubble. The weight of the rocks bearing down on him and he couldn't bring himself to stand up yet. One thought kept plaguing his mind as he lay in the darkness.

These fools in the White Fang, who were working for Onyx. Some were reasonable but men like Edan were why the world was as bad as it was. They only lived for destruction, fighting, and war. They didn't want peace, they lived off the blood boil of terrorism.

Yet he and his family were the monsters? Under whose claims? Onyx? Villainized and defamed for a crime they didn't even commit? Nova was getting sick and tired of this bullshit.

If both he and Onyx were monsters from different perspectives... and people listened to Onyx because they feared and respected him. Then all Nova had to do was become the bigger monster...

"Alright... no more Mister Nice Dragon..."

* * *

The smoke began clearing slowly, the dark grey clouds that obscured the arena's vision began slowly parting, displaying Bell and Edan covered in soot, barely a scratch on them while Luna stood anchored to the floor.

Bell's shield blocked most of the damage and slowed their fall, their auras were just in the yellow while Luna's was close to red, even though her aura wasn't below the 15% mark, she was still pretty banged up from that explosion.

"Fucking hell Weiss, I am never doing that again!" She cursed to herself, trying to stand only for her legs to feel like jelly and fail her.

"Nice try kid, but it wasn't enough," Edan smirked as he stood brushing himself off.

"If you want to blow someone up, make sure they don't have an indestructible shield first…" the blonde smiled evilly.

"You know… you two are worse than those cockroaches from last battle…" a male voice said dragging all of their attention to the other side of the map.

"What did you say?" Bell glowered, her eyes scanning the smoke.

A gust of wind blew through clearing the scene. Everyone could see it now, Nova sat on one of the rocks, his right leg propped up so his arm was resting on his knee while the other leg was flat, leaning over the edge. His cloak flapping in the wind behind him as he gazed at the rock in front of him, not bothering to look at the two, Asura sat in its scythe form in his left hand, resting against his shoulder, making him look like a cloaked reaper.

"You know Edan, or whatever your name is. I gotta thank you for burying me under those rocks…" Nova said looking at his nails for any signs of dirt.

"What's that supposed to mean?" came Edan.

"See I had a lot of time to think down there… I realize I've been going about this all wrong." Nova said looking up at the sky in thought.

Bell felt her sweat drop, "What's this guy on about?"

"I've been thinking." Nova gestured for one of the camera bots above to come near him so the audience can hear his voice input. Once it was within range he began again. "Humans are pretty awful. They're greedy, mean, self-important and quite a number of them are racists." His words made the audience gasp.

"But Faunus aren't perfect either. We're just as awful if not more than they are. Instead of being the more mature people in the face of conflict, what do we do? We revolt, start wars, spread propaganda, steal from the Humans. We're just as greedy and racist as they are." He explained now causing the audience to murmur.

Blake visibly flinched, having been one of those perpetrators of conflict herself... she felt the guilt rise in her from Nova's words.

" At the end of the day, we're all living creatures, we're all people, neither species perfect. We both have our flaws and I've personally been victim to all of them. I've seen the worst in both human and Faunus." Nova stood up looking around at the audience, they were all fixated on him now.

Edan moved to attack but Bell stopped him, "What are you doing?!" he seethed.

"Let him talk, we might gain some information out of this..." Bell responded and Edan calmed down, reluctantly holding back. In truth, Bell wanted to listen because the dragon's words were true, and she needed to find a new perspective.

"But!" He raised his hand. "I've also seen the best in them. Humans and Faunus alike have shown me kindness, warmth. I've found a place of belonging and I'm proud to say that the people I have with me are like family to me. They've taught me friendship, the meaning of comradery, and… what it means to love." He said that last part looking at Ruby. The red leader felt her heart skip a beat when their eyes met.

"I believe that regardless of whether you're a human or a Faunus, you need to set aside your differences and see yourselves for who you really are on the inside. And that's living people. Only when we learn to accept ourselves and accept each other do we truly achieve peace…" He said with a peace sign and a calm, yet powerful smile. It didn't radiate joy or happiness, it radiated unity and comradery.

Luna stared at her brother in awe, she wasn't sure how he managed to rally an entire stadium of people without them even seeing his face, but the proof was standing before her.

There was a short moment of silence followed by a round of applause all over, with Human and Faunus both looking at each other, and sharing a moment to understand. Nova had single-handedly dissolved the border between species in that stadium with his words alone.

* * *

"ENOUGH!" Edan roared as he witnessed what was going on. "HUMANS WILL NEVER BE EQUAL TO US! WE ARE SUPERIOR TO THEM IN EVERY WAY!" With that anger, he lunged at Nova with blinding speed, this time Nova was prepared. He easily blocked Edan's dagger this time, with his bare hand.

Nova's aura flared up around him, the heat viscously increasing and Edan could feel himself beginning to sweat. In a mere instant, Nova's mood had changed from righteous leader... to burning fury. His smile gone, now replaced with a look that reminded the black-haired man of Onyx, dark and deadly.

The cloak Nova wore slowly burnt up until it was completely gone, revealing his shining white and orange hair, and his black horns. Nova reached up and ripped his mask clean off revealing his face to the world.

"You know one thing that I hate Edan?" Nova asked as the temperature around him continued to rise. Edan squirmed in his grasp but his fist was held firm by Nova, so his only option was to flail around helplessly.

"I hate the irrationally violent." Nova reared Asura in its scythe form and smashed Edan into the ground where Bell stood, erupting a dust cloud.

Nova calmly strutted over to the two, his scythe in hand resting against his shoulder.

Edan struggled to his feet, that one blow took a tone out of his aura. "BELL DO SOMETHING!" He cried as Nova casually and calmly approached them, not a single shred of hurry in his pace.

Bell couldn't move. Her feet remained anchored to the floor and her words died in her throat as she gazed upon Nova's form.

With every step, Nova took, flames began gathering around his back until it reached a stage where they formed massive dragon wings, made entirely of fire. The dense embers packed together making it look like a solid mass. The horns of Nova's head had grown in length, now no longer just small black stubs, they were full-blown Dragon horns that had curvature to them. Nova's black eye was now burning fiery orange, and his pupils were slit-like a dragon's eyes.

Bell remembered the fear she felt all those weeks ago, back in the caverns of Mount Glenn. The feeling of staring down the fiery visage of the devil itself. A dragon born from an inferno that could turn the world to ashes in an instant. The embodiment of destruction.

Bell could only stutter helplessly as Nova reared his scythe, coating it in fire and extending it to three times its original blade. The flaming wings in his back reared in a menacing image as he swung his scythe. Bell raised her shield and Edan put up his guard to block but Nova burned right through him, his aura instantly dipping low.

Edan tried to recover from the blow as he skated across the rocky landscape. Using his sheer willpower, he gripped the earth beneath him and used his momentum to flip himself onto his feet. Nova was honestly impressed he managed to recover from that.

The black-haired boy grunted in pain as he brought up his twin knives again, this time throwing out several volleys of smaller daggers as if he had an infinite supply. Nova spun his scythe like a pinwheel, easily deflecting all of them.

"Where are you even getting all of these from?" Nova raised his eyebrow.

"Like you need to know..." Edan smirked, yanking on the invisible strings again, sending the swarm of daggers at Nova like a torrent of bladed rain, an unfortunate blonde girl in the line of fire. "BELL MOVE NOW!" Edan called.

The blonde girl, however, was frozen in place, staring down the dragon leader. It took her one moment too many to bring herself back to reality, as the moment she glanced up, all she could see was the darkened sky of pointed blades about to smash directly into her face. Her aura was low, her shield cast aside from the previous strike, taking that hit would not only deplete her aura, but probably turn her into swiss cheese. She closed her eyes and awaited her impending doom... but it never came.

Nova was quick to react, swiftly angling himself so he was defending her, the knives bouncing harmlessly off his scythe again. Bell couldn't believe what was happening. Her enemy was defending her. The man who stood against everything she believed in, the sworn enemy of her leader, her target... was protecting her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Nova picking her up by the scruff of her neck and tossing her out of the ring like baggage.

The moment Bell was out of harm's way, he readied Asura in a reaping form. Edan spared no time in redirecting the dagger swarm again, sending it flying toward the dragon leader.

Nova hopped onto the rock plateau and used it to launch himself at Edan, directly into the hail of blades, carving a path through the dense black swarm. The look on Edan's face when Nova's scythe made contact with his head was priceless. One blow was all it took to knock the man's aura below the threshold and send him careening over the edge of the arena.

* * *

"AND THAT'S IT! A DOUBLE KNOCK OUT BY BOTH AURA AND RING OUT FROM NOVA!" Port announced, but Nova wasn't done.

He gestured for the camera bot again and this time he pulled the dumbfounded Luna with him, helping her to her feet. She tore off her cloak and mask and stood next to her brother.

"Before we make our exit, you're all probably wondering what gave me the right to speak as I did," Nova said, causing a collective audience murmur.

"Well, truth be told we don't have any right to, but it was something that must be said. I'm Nova Flareheart and this is my sister Luna." The mention of the name Flareheart had a massive murmur now.

"Those of you who probably pieced it together already, if you remember. My sister and I are part of _those _Flarehearts, we are two of the last surviving members of the Royal Dragon Family." Now the audience had collective gasps from both humans and Faunus alike. From humans who didn't even know the Faunus had royals to the Faunus that thought they were dead.

"We survived, and we're not here to start a war. This is just a message to a very specific someone and his team. If you're listening, we're bringing the fight to you."

With that Nova and Luna walked off the stage. The moment they stepped into the open they were bombarded by news reporters and journalists eager to jump on the sudden reappearance of the lost prince and princess of Menagerie.

"What's your stance on the current White Fang and Human relations?"

"How did you survive the fire those years ago?"

"Did anyone else survive the fire?"

"How did you control those flames during that fight?"

These were all questions he was bombarded with left and right as he walked out of the stadium.

Nova brushed them all off with a single sentence, "The flames I controlled were my semblance, and I'm not here to start a revolution, I just want peace." He lied about his semblance, but what the audience didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

Luna offered a few apologies for Nova's rudeness as he shoved people out of his path and broke into the open to be met now by RWBY and JNPR.

* * *

"Hey, guys…" Nova waved sheepishly to his friends who all stood, staring at him. They all had bright plastered smiles on their faces, except Ruby who looked nervous.

"What you said out there… that was beautiful…" Blake said with a smile, she was the first to speak up.

"Thanks… I was just voicing my thoughts really…" Nova started but was glomped by Nora.

The orangette was practically leaping off the walls with her excitement, "THAT WAS CRAZY! So you're a dragon! Like, real fire breathing and everything! AND YOU'RE A PRINCE!" She was super hyper.

"So that's why you were hiding so many things from us…" Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Yeah sorry about that… but now that you know… do you still hold any hard feelings?" Nova asked sheepishly.

Pyrrha shook her head, "None. Just bring your all in the finals." She said with determination.

"Personally I still can't believe one of my good friends is actual royalty…" Jaune said absently and Weiss looked offended.

"Hey, Heiresses count!" She fumed and Luna chuckled.

"Yes, you do Weiss." The blue dragon smiled.

Ruby walked up to Nova nervously, "So… you're out in the open now…" she looked pensive and anxious as if Nova had suddenly become a different person. He guessed they were surprised after that spectacle he pulled with the fiery wings. What he didn't expect was his horns to suddenly grow out like that.

"Yup," Nova said popping the p. He noticed Ruby's downcast eyes, "Hey, are you alright?" he tenderly reached up and held her face so her eyes met his. She blushed and nuzzled into his palm.

"I'm just... worried about you. People are trying to kill you left and right, and now you've just told the world you exist."

The dragon leader's expression softened, "Ruby, the people that are trying to kill us already knew who we were, to begin with... and besides... with all of us together? I feel like we could take on the world..."

Her face broke into a light smile. His words never ceased to bring her comfort, as if he always knew exactly what to say.

"But what about... you know... wouldn't it be kinda weird if word gets out that the prince is dating a human?" She asked nervously.

Nova was taken aback, he'd never believed Ruby to be the one to worry about racial discrimination. He didn't even the term registered in her mind.

"Ruby... the world could go to hell. No one, not even the gods themselves can stop me from loving you." With that, he picked her up into a tight hug and planted a loving kiss on her lips. Ruby gratefully leaned in and pulled him closer, feeling all of her worries wash away as if they were just paranoia.

Everyone watched the exchange, "Awww you guys are adorable!" Hex squealed snapping a picture.

"Wait, I just realized something," Nora said causing everyone to focus on her. Nova and Ruby stared at her their faces side by side.

"YOU TWO ARE MATCHY!" The orange valkyrie squealed pointing at Ruby and Nova.

"What?" Came the simultaneous response from the couple.

Nora was giddily nodding, "Yeah! Look at it! Nova your eyes look like Ruby's hair and her hair looks like your eyes!" she pointed out and everyone's eyes went wide. It was true, Nova's white hair matched Ruby's silver eyes, and Ruby's black hair with red highlights looked like Nova's mismatched eyes.

"Holy shit you're right… how did we not see this before?" Yang asked in awe.

"IT'S LIKE YOU TWO WERE BORN FOR EACH OTHER!" Nora looked ridiculously happy. The statement caused the leader couple to blush. "Wait if Ruby gets married to you, does that mean she becomes an actual queen?"

All eyes glanced at Ruby and Nova, "Well… only if she wants to…" Nova blushed looking at the floor. Ruby also turned beet red and buried her head in his chest nodding.

"I'd follow you anywhere…" she said into his shirt.

Everyone made an 'awwwwwwwww'.

"I'm going to need a dentist for the toothache you're giving me…" Weiss noted feeling a little queasy from the public display of affection.

* * *

**The scene with Nova growing the dragon horns and the flaming wings and tearing ass was the literal base of this entire fic. I remember, two years ago I took a midday nap and this idea popped into my head. I saw it play out and it was honestly the coolest thing ever in my head. From this one scene, I spun the fic you know today. Believe it or not, this fic was intended to start from the just before the Painting the Town incident, but somewhere along the way, I was like... you know what? Let's start from the very beginning and rewrite RWBY my way.**

**But if you think things were already crazy now, it gets even wilder.**

**I've got a week off from university and like no assignments so... mini-vacation time means I get to write as much as I want!**

**I'll get working on Chapter 34 pretty soon.**


	34. Chapter 34: Reality has multiple Levels

**AH! I take too long to write this chapter and there's like an influx of people joining us for the ride on this fic, LOVE YOU ALL.**

**I took so long to upload this one because with all the COVID-19 drama, handling the awkwardness of online classes, and clearing up the midterms that changed into online quizzes, I got a little side-tracked.**

**On a side note, I got some interesting questions from The Silver-Eyed Knight in my inbox but one question really stood out to me that I figured I should tell everyone, and that's the power ranking of my OCs.**

**If I had to pin it in our current situation, out ruling Salem as the most powerful:**

**Team ASHNRWBY, minus Nova, are sitting around the same power level as team BLADE, minus Adam, this means that they are all roughly on Pyrrha's level of skill, with the only difference being training and experience. Between them and Randolf who sits just above Qrow in terms of power level, its a pretty sizeable gap, then there's Mortus Noir who will show off his skills in this volume, but he also has some decent fighting power, nestling himself just under Ozpin in terms of power.**  
**Above Randolf would be Adam, and I would say he and Nova are on par, but... well you'll see. Adam is greatly stronger than Randolf, Nova is roughly one stage weaker than Adam when he fought the first time. Onyx, after ingesting that serum, is sitting above everyone but still lower than Salem herself.**

**Luna could be a lot more powerful but she has yet to fully push the bounds of her power, so I'd rank her as just above the normal members of ASHNRWBY but that could very well change as she evolves. The interesting thing about these power changes is that it dramatically changes between the end of volume 3, and volume 5-6. **

**To TheRealRohan, you have no idea how happy it makes me feel to see someone actually wanting to draw my OC's. I was planning on doing it myself once the semester was over and I actually had time, but I'd definitely love to see your art. I actually have some visual references for Nova's hair, his clothing I'd have to write out in detail but Asura is a different story. Asura is extremely complex, I literally have a schematic in my head even how the inner mechanisms are supposed to work because, theoretically this sword scythe could be made in real life if we tried, albeit an imperfect form. For that one, you'd have to give me some time to do a rough sketch myself, but if you want details you can message me on twitter and I'll send you the visual references I have.**

* * *

Chapter 34: Tough Decisions and First Dates

* * *

The duos rounds were over now, giving way to a break period before the singles matches. This gave most attendees time to explore the various other activities the Vytal Festival had to offer.

For the combatants, however, this was their opportunity to polish their skills and plan ahead for the final round. Most teams had already decided who would be their representative for that aspect of the tournament. For Team RWBY it was Yang, for JNPR it came as no surprise that Pyrrha was their selection. ASHN went unanimously for Nova, even though the dragon leader himself would have preferred Luna to be their representative. Cinder's team had chosen Mercury as far as Nova had learned and, coming in as a serious wild card in the tournament, was none other than Atlas' own Android girl, Penny Polendina.

Nova had no clue as to who her team members were, he'd never seen any of their matches and as far as he was concerned, it didn't matter. Penny was a sweet girl, if a little strange, but he certainly was glad to see her making it through the tournament. Any friend of Ruby was a friend of his…. Except for Emerald and her team… they were the exception.

As much as the dragon leader wished to be either cooped up in his room working with Hex on the data they've analyzed throughout the matches, trying to gauge the angle for the inevitable chaos, he wasn't.

Where was he? Happily, snuggling up to his adorable girlfriend and taking a breather? Training hard in the simulation room to hone his skills? He was doing none of these things.

He _was_, unfortunately, making his way to the dorm apartment of one Glynda Goodwitch.

Why?

A question only his mother could answer.

* * *

Knocking on the blonde teacher's door, he found no answer., the sound of muffled talking alluded to him that the room was occupied. Sighing to himself, he tried the doorknob, it was indeed unlocked. Being the dragon of little time, he let himself in.

"Glynda, I've told you a thousand times, if the recipe calls for three tablespoons of sugar, we use _exactly_ three tablespoons…" The annoyed voice of Elain sounded as the dragon leader entered into the room, marveling at the decor.

The inside of Goodwitch's apartment was… fitting, to say the least. Her furniture were black, her rugs and décor were black but her wallpaper was a deep purple. Nova always pegged the lady as a professional aesthetic, not the world's biggest closet goth.

He made his way through the living room and into the kitchen where he found Elain and Goodwitch happily chatting away and apparently cooking. Which was odd considering his mother was not the cooking type… it was usually his dad who prepared household meals.

"Ellie, cooking isn't some lab experiment where your ingredients need to be measured precisely. It's about estimation and gut instinct. If you think it needs more of something then you add that something. You can't just base everything on paper printed words." The teacher chastised.

"And I believe instructions were meant to be followed. They are guidelines for a reason!" Elain argued back though the smile on her face said anything but angry.

"AHEM!" Nova let out a loud sound alerting the two older women to his presence.

Elain and Goodwitch both jumped, quite startled.

"OH! Mister Flareheart… I see you've arrived… how did you get in?" Glynda looked curiously. Nova took note of her casual appearance, an oversized white shirt, and shorts. Her hair was undone and her makeup wasn't there… not that she needed it.

"Sorry, Glynda. When I found your door unlocked I took the liberty of letting myself in since I stood at the door for a while and no one answered despite my knocking." Nova said folding his arms, looking rather annoyed.

The blonde woman blushed, "My apologies… your mother kept me in a heated argument."

Nova looked unimpressed, "Mhm… so… why did you call me here exactly?" he said looking to his mother.

Elain was wearing a blue shirt and shorts accompanied by her lab coat. Nova could swear she even went to bed with that thing on.

"Yes Nova, I've been meaning to speak to you about… what happened during your match yesterday." The moment she brought it up Nova flinched. He'd known this was coming, it just didn't mean he was ready for it.

"NOVA ALEXANDRITE FLAREHEART WHAT IN THE NAME OF REMNANT WERE YOU THINKING?!" all traces of her previous joy were gone, only the face of concern and worry.

Nova flinched at her tone, "I was _thinking _that it was about high time we made our move. Onyx is only getting stronger by the day and we _still _don't know where dad is. We need to stop operating in the shadows and take the fight to them!" he tried to explain himself though he saw little reason to.

Glynda quietly stepped back to avoid being caught in this awkward conversation, she could feel the inevitable emotional argument before it even properly spawned.

"I want your father back as much as you do! I just think that outwardly announcing our existence was a rash decision!" She fumed.

Nova felt a twinge of guilt in his heart, he knew she missed Flint. He did too, but that doesn't change the fact that something needed to be done.

"Rash or not, our enemies were out there from the start. They knew what we were doing, where we were hiding. It doesn't matter if we stayed in the shadows. At the end of the day, we need allies. We need people to know that what the White Fang is doing is wrong. Quell their supporters with words and actions, not espionage and bloodshed." Nova tried reasoning.

Elain was silent for a moment, "I understand that but I just wished you would've consulted me first! We could've found a better way! You can't just go around making decisions on your own!" Her tone was furious, the fact that she was fighting him down when his decision was clearly right, made his blood boil.

Nova felt his anger rising, "Consult you? I've been living my life without your help for almost ten years! It may not have been your fault, but you weren't there! I make my own decisions." The words were bitter on his tongue and he instantly regretted it the moment he said them.

Elain's face morphed from anger to pure depression, the lines on her face sinking and it broke Nova's heart, "I… I get that… you've been fighting the battle alone for years. You've had to make some tough choices, without a mother to guide you. So please, I'm here now… let me be that mother now!" She choked out, and Nova could see the tears forming in her eyes.

The dragon's anger had all but disappeared. He reached out and held his mother, "Mom… I'm sorry it's just… I'll consult you from now on before I do something like that…"

Glynda watched the two hug it out. She'd honestly figured it was high time they dissolved this awkward barrier between them. They'd acted like they were more friends than an actual parent and child and she was glad they'd finally bridged the gap.

*sniff sniff* "Is something burning?" Nova asked, both his and Elain's noses twitching.

"OH SHIT THE CAKE!" Glynda cried as she desperately tried to salvage the burning pastry.

. . .

"So, you mind telling me what's your plan?" Elain said placing her hands on her hips as she waltzed into the living room to find Nova reclined on the couch with his feet up.

"You assume I have a plan," Nova said with his eyes closed, smirking.

Elain huffed, "Really… you are my son so, you'd never make decisions without a plan. Unless you took after your father… in which case Oum save us all…"

Nova snorted and laughed, "Alright you got me. I have a plan."

"Which is?"

"Once this tournament is over. I plan to head back to Menagerie and gather some supporters, rally the cause. From there, Ozpin and I can start to make our move on Onyx himself."

"And what makes you so sure this will work? What about Menagerie? Isn't the main White Fang Headquarters there?" Elain looked concerned.

"Mom, you've been captured by them for so long and you don't even know?" He raised his eyebrow and she just looked confused. He sighed, "This may not work to gain supporters, but the White Fang HQ is not in Menagerie, contrary to popular belief. That's the branch run by Sienna Khan to be sure. The Faunus 'High Leader'. "

"What's the difference? Onyx is also just a High leader right?"

"No. High Leader and High Commander are two different things. See, the world doesn't _know_ Onyx exists, that much I've figured out myself. They all think Sienna Khan is the White Fang leader and their base is in Menagerie." Nova was now in a sitting position. "In reality, Onyx is the true leader and their base is in Vacuo."

Elain was startled, "On what basis did you figure Vacuo?"

"Bell and Edan's team. It was a dead giveaway. You can't fake their team's kingdom."

Again Elain was confused, "What says you can't? Didn't those ex-friends of yours fake their information?"

"That's the fun part about it. They faked their info, but they didn't fake their kingdom. Why?" Nova asked the rhetorical question. Both Elain and Glynda who'd come in from the kitchen gave him baffled looks.

"The answer is simple. They couldn't. Vytal tournament Team registration monitors the direction and flight pattern of your ships entering and leaving the stadium. Sort of like a giant floating airport. Unless Onyx's team made a detour route to Vacuo before coming here… Then they're from Vacuo."

"Where the hell Is all this coming from, are you a detective? What if they really did take the detour?" Elain's ears were perked showing she was interested in where this was going.

"I'm not done yet. We can out rule the detour because firstly, they can't come from Atlas or Mantle, you can't operate a large scale business there, even if it _is _underground without Ironwood knowing about it. They sure as hell won't be coming from Vale either. If they came from Vale then that means Ozpin did an awful job and given our experience so far, I'd say that's far from the truth. They can't come from Mistral, and if they did then they actually would have to make the world's longest detour to Vacuo to prove the flight patterns to the Tournament registrations. That'd take them several weeks."

"But there have been several weeks between the Breach and the tournament…" Glynda pointed out.

"See I thought about that… but something Bell said in our fight that really stuck with me. She muttered something under her breath, whether it was unconsciously or not. She said they made her go through enhancements. Enhancements mean technology implemented into the body. That requires adjustment and training."

"And on top of the time, it takes for the body to have the implants… so the essentially the time frames won't add up." Elain said figuring it out.

"Exactly. Onyx is hold up in Vacuo, and we're coming for him."

Elain breathed in deeply. "That's… honestly impressive… and here I thought Luna was the only one with brains…"

"Nice vote of confidence mom."

"Have you told the others about this yet? Does Ozpin know?" Glynda asked.

Nova shot her a glare, "Ozpin will know by the end of the day… the others, however, already are aware."

Glynda was impressed. For a student to make such deductions based on obscure information and still provide concrete evidence was incredible. His planning skills were impeccable and his plan held little flaws. No wonder his team and others respected him so much they'd blindly follow him… he was a born King.

Nova's scroll beeped. It was a message from Ozpin. "Speak of the devil… looks like I got a text from Oz…"

Glynda's scroll also beeped, "Same here… Ozpin wants to see us, and Ironwood in his office… concerning… Miss Nikos."

Nova blinked, "Well… I didn't get that part of the message.." he muttered to himself, waving goodbye and stepping out the door to allow Goodwitch to get ready.

* * *

Nova made his way to Ozpin's office elevator, unlike Glynda, he was fine walking around in his casual wear, even if it meant meeting General Ironwood while wearing a loose long-sleeved shirt and tracks.

The longer he walked the more his mind grew restless. His usually occupied thoughts were now drifting to what he'd said to his mother this morning. The feelings of guilt resurfacing, he'd never snapped like that to anyone he cared about and honestly, he was a little scared. His whole life he'd only ever get angry during fights, or against people like Cardin Winchester… but they deserved it. It felt as though, now that the chains holding him down had been shed, that his emotional state of mind was also on free roam. He could be as expressive as he wanted, say what he wanted, and no one would care.

While on the surface that seemed like a good thing, in reality, it wasn't. It also meant his brain was losing its subconscious control on his… more volatile emotions.

Being the Aspect of Fire came with certain personality traits, primarily a short fuse. If his anger wasn't in check, he'd probably explode his enemies with raw fury. Sure, he'd never bring himself to harm his friends or family, but the mere thought that his emotion might overwhelm him one day scared him.

There were only ever two people in his life capable of reigning him in like that. Two people he held above even his own well being, they were his little sister Luna and the love of his life, Ruby. The red leader was his emotional anchor, she yanked him out of that depressive and reclusive state and made him feel like more than just a leader or a protector. She made him feel like an actual person again.

_Ruby! That's it! I need to do something for her, maybe get her a gift, that's what good boyfriends do right?_ Nova's mind had latched onto her image like a clamp, refusing to let go. Thus, instead of making his way directly to Ozpin's office like he'd been instructed, he made a b-line for the RWBY dorm.

"Hello? Anyone home?" He asked entering slowly and looking around. Ruby and Yang were nowhere to be seen, only Weiss and Blake.

"Nova! Looking for Ruby, Luna or both?" Weiss asked perking her head up from her desk.

The dragon rubbed his head sheepishly, "Ruby actually, have you seen her around?"

"She and Yang are sparring in the training room," Blake answered from the top bunk, not bothering to look up from her book.

"And Luna left to go meet Elain in the lab a few minutes ago." Weiss finished.

"Right... well, I got a question for you guys now that I think about it." Nova looked embarrassed.

"For us? Well, this is new… what do you need?" Weiss asked turning around in her chair and Blake placed her book down.

"Ugh… how do I phrase this… I want to do something special for Ruby. She's the sweetest girl in the entire world and I feel like I need to repay her for putting up with my shit… any ideas?" He asked embarrassed.

Weiss blinked slowly, "Nova, you do realize that just being with her is the greatest gift you could give her, right?"

Nova blinked in surprise, "Wow, Weiss I never took you for the sentimental type. I figure you'd have said something like expensive jewelry or…"

"That being said I think you should give her something like the necklace you gave Luna." She finished.

"There's the ice princess I know. I've already out ruled that. It'd take several months to make one for her, considering the material composition I want to use." He opted.

"So you were already planning it huh," Weiss shot him a knowing smirk.

Nova shrugged, "What can I say, nothing is too good for her."

"Well if gifts are out of the idea… why not take her on a date?" Blake input.

Nova almost faceplanted, "OF COURSE! I completely forgot about dates!"

Weiss deadpanned, "I'm afraid to ask but, you two have gone on a date before... right?"

"Maybe?… well, we did hang out a few times, but that was before we were together… and we did go as friends… the dance probably doesn't count…"

"You are impossible. You will take Ruby on a date tomorrow and it will the best damn thing ever you hear me? Only the fanciest restaurant. No movies because that's cliché. If I was Ruby I'd want to be taken out and treated like a queen all day." Weiss jabbed her finger in his direction.

Nova rolled his eyes, "Fine fine, I got some connections in Vale. Fancy restaurant reservations won't be a problem. I think I can-" he was cut off when he scroll beeped again. "Shit that's Ozpin, gotta go. Thanks for the help girls!"

"Is it weird that he calls us girls collectively rather than guys?" Blake asked raising her eyebrow.

"Well… he is half-girl himself so…" Weiss answered with a shrug.

* * *

Nova came up the elevator to find Glynda and Ironwood already there, Qrow and Randolf as well. Pyrrha sat at Ozpin's desk looking somewhat mortified.

"Sorry I'm late, I got caught up on the way here. What's the situation? Why's Pyrrha here? No offence Pyrrha." Nova said earning glares from Glynda and Ironwood.

The red-haired champion was looking anything but her usual happy self, she looked scared. "What's going on exactly? Who are you people really?" Pyrrha asked looking around slightly panicked.

Nova felt his sweat drop, "Am I missing something here?"

Glynda placed her hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, ignoring the dragon. "We're the same teachers, headmasters, and students you've known since you arrived here at Beacon."

"We just have a little part-time job," Qrow answered in continuation.

"We are the protectors of this world," Ironwood said.

"And we need your help." Ozpin finished.

"Alright, can someone finally fill me in on what's happening here?" Nova looked rather peeved.

"Miss Nikos here is next in like to receive the Fall Maiden's power. As the Aspect of Fire, you are here because your powers are linked by the natural laws of the world, and it is your duty to see this through." Randolf explained.

"Wait, backtrack a sec, Pyrrha is going to be the next Fall Maiden?" Nova asked incredulously.

"Only if she so chooses." Ozpin said, "Come we'll explain further on the way."

* * *

They led the two students down a rather cramped elevator, a wonder how they managed to fit this many people in here without it collapsing. Nova had to give props to whoever designed this infrastructure.

"So… this is the longest elevator ride I've ever taken… anyone else?" Nova asked breaking the awkward silence.

"Where are we going?" Pyrrha nervously asked.

"The vault. Under the school." Ozpin curtly responded.

"WE HAVE A VAULT?!" Nova said incredulously. No one even looked in his direction.

Once the doors opened the party entered into a massive underground room. Polished marble floors, enormously tall halls, all bathed in a pale green glow.

"I'm sure you must have questions," Glynda said addressing Pyrrha as they walked forward.

The red-haired girl chuckled nervously, "Maybe one or two…"

"One or two? I have like fifty… oh right, sarcasm, my bad." Nova briskly walked forward as he'd been lagging behind from marveling at the grandeur of the place. For a vault under the school, it looked more like a grand tomb.

"You said I was next in line to receive the Maiden's power. What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha asked now gaining some confidence.

"The maidens have existed for thousands of years. And, like the seasons, they change. No two summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, their powers leave and seek out a new host, to ensure the seasons remain and no one person has the power forever." Glynda explained.

"How does the power choose exactly?" Pyrrha continued.

"Through a series of convoluted rules," Qrow answered back gruffly.

"Qrow!"

"He's right. Unlike the power of the Aspect, the Maidens are based on Magic. If the host of magic dies, then the powers move on. If an Aspect dies then the powers simply manifest themselves when the world needs it. No one is quite clear on how or when they manifest, but they always do." Randolf now input.

"And how exactly does an Aspect tie in with the Maiden's powers? You said we were linked… how?" Nova asked.

"Finally asking a good question…" Qrow said with a smile.

"Can it old man! Now, Answer my question." he looked to the wolf Faunus.

"Aspects of Remnant are people who represent the natural forces of the world. If the Maidens keep the seasons alive, then Aspects keep the natural world alive. They keep the waters flowing, the trees growing, the wind blowing and the fires burning. The world of Remnant only manifests your type when it needs to retain balance among the elements, otherwise, generations can sometimes pass without an Aspect manifesting." Randolf continued. Nova wondered how his master was such an expert on this when almost no one else knew.

"I believe you two are linked because if you're here to hold the balance over the element of Fire… and the Fall Maiden also wields the power of fire, then there's a reason you found yourself here at Beacon." This time it was Ozpin who spoke.

"Wait, Aspect of Remnant? What're you talking about?" Pyrrha asked.

"Aspect of Remnant. A Faunus born from the royal families of the original Faunus tribe. Like the Maidens, they also possess supernatural powers, the ability to control an aspect of nature itself. For our local furnace over here, it's control over Flame." Qrow responded. This time Ironwood quirked his brow. It seemed he was not overly informed on this subject and was gaining new information as they spoke. Nova didn't like that… not one bit.

"Fire? Is that how you controlled those flames back at the arena?" Pyrrha asked turning to Nova.

"Guilty as charged. The public thinks it's my semblance. We both know it's not. And before you ask, yes I was holding back that time we fought, though I did use some of the power in my attacks, you just didn't notice."

"And here I thought we were evenly matched." Pyrrha smiled for the first time since they were down here. That was a nice improvement.

"So, why choose now to do this? Why not waif for Pyrrha to graduate?" Nova asked though he knew why he just wanted to see what they would say.

"Honestly? We would've preferred that… but we've run out of time." Qrow answered.

"Is it for the same reason as I've guessed?" Nova asked leaving the reason unspoken, in case they wanted to keep Pyrrha from panicking.

"A little bit of that, and some more. You'll understand once we get to where we're going." Ozpin answered.

"For now all you _need _to know is that one of the Maidens was attacked, as you've guessed it was the Fall Maiden. And, for the first time in history, some of her power was stolen."

"Part of it? What? How?" Nova's question went unanswered as they arrived at a large mechanical casket. It resembled a cryo-chamber except, the person inside wasn't on ice.

"Is that?" Pyrrha looked scared.

Ozpin sighed, "Yes, the current Fall Maiden. Amber."

"She's still alive…"

"For now… we're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable. It's just… there's a lot about this situation that's… unorthodox." Ironwood said. "We won't know what happens if she passes."

"Won't it transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha asked.

"Look who's been listening!" Qrow said sounding rather irritable. "She is smart…" he whispered to Ozpin.

"Damn old man, what crawled up your ass?" Nova asked folding his arms. "Cut her some slack. This is a lot of information for her to take in. You basically told her, that he world as she knows it is a lie. It's amazing she's still mentally stable."

"I don't got time to be nice human torch, the clock is ticking." Qrow looked annoyed and Nova felt a vein in his head throb. He had to inhale a few times to resist the urge to punch his beloved uncle in the face twenty-seven times.

"With her current state, it's not uncommon for her last thoughts to be of her attacker. The powers could very well go to her. On top of that, we've never seen a power split like this before, her powers could very well seek out its other half." Ironwood explained calmly.

Pyrrha walked up to the half-dead Maiden. "If what you're saying is true then… why keep this a secret? Why hide it from the public?"

"Well… this used to be common knowledge." Glynda said.

"What?" Pyrrha was confused.

"How do you think all these fairy tales started? Legends have to come from somewhere. Back in the day, there were those who would hunt Maidens for their power in hopes of inheriting their powers. As you can imagine the ones who succeeded weren't the type of people you'd want with unimaginable power." Qrow said uncorking his flask and taking a swig.

"Thus, our brotherhood was formed to bury the Maidens as fairy tales, so the world forgot they existed and stopped hunting them." Ironwood explained.

"Ahem!" Glynda felt her brow twitch.

"Right, I meant this gender-neutral collective was formed to keep them safe..." he amended. Nova and Qrow both snickered at his expense.

Nova glanced at Pyrrha, the red-head was looking rather shaken up, "Might want to give her, or me, some of whatever is in that flask… this is getting too heavy for my liking."

Qrow raised his brow and offered the flask to Nova. The dragon reached out only for Glynda's riding crop to slap him across his hand, causing him to recoil and rub the red sore spot.

"No underage drinking on school compounds." She berated.

Nova caught Qrow's eye and shot him a look that said '_on school grounds she said nothing about off-campus'_. Which made them both chuckle.

"I'll do it," Pyrrha said making everyone turn to her now serious. "That's what you want right? For me to accept this job?"

Ozpin cleared his throat, "Well.. the thing is… you won't be able to inherit her powers by normal means…"

"What's that mean?" Nova asked.

"We at Atlas have been researching the boundaries of aura for years now. We believe we've found a way to capture it." Ironwood said as if he were giving a presentation.

"Capture it… and cram it into something else…" Qrow explained. "Or in your case…"

"They'd be taking her aura, storing and binding her life to yours. When she passes, her powers which are bound to her soul, will seek out it's original host, being her aura." Randolf explained.

"But that's…" Pyrrha looked startled.

"Classified." Came Ironwood.

"Wrong!" Both Pyrrha and Nova said angrily turning to him. "James that's unethical and morally perverse!" Nova said.

The general was taken aback, he was about to tell the boy off for speaking in that tone to an officer but he was interrupted by Glynda.

"I agree with you both, but desperate times call for desperate measures." She said though her facial expression said she'd rather not resort to this at all.

"You have an important decision to make Miss Nikos, just know that before the Vytal Festival is over… we will need your answer…" there was a collective silence following his words.

"Okay, this was a fun and heart-warming experience, "Nova said sarcastically, "But can someone explain why I was needed here?"

"Yes well… we believe that should Miss Nikos choose to accept it, we will need your communication with the element to ease the process in. As the saying goes, fire guides fire…" Ozpin explained.

"I… I'll think about it…" Pyrrha said nervously.

Once Nova and Pyrrha were clear of the administration, he spoke. "Pyrrha, are you alright? I know this is a lot to take in but… well… if it makes you feel any better. I've been stuck on this rope since I was born, I'll help you and guide you as best as I can. It's not an easy life, the powers are cool sure, but it's a heavy burden to bear. Just know that if you do decide to take this up, I'd be with you as your friend."

The red-head smiled nervously, "I… I appreciate it, Nova… I just… need some time."

* * *

Nova figured since he'd spent very little time with Ozpin, Ruby should still be in the training room. First order of business was acquire the date.

As he approached the room he could hear the sounds of clashing steel and one young female voice sounding off as she sliced through the air, attacking simulated Grim. Ruby stood clad in black and red gym top with shorts, sweating profusely after a round of attacks. Surprisingly enough, Yang wasn't there.

Nova watched her form gracefully sail through the air and cleave through a Beowolf like it was nothing. She looked so much different from her usual get-up. It was the first time he could see her exposed mid-riff… and boy was he enjoying the view. One would not expect that Ruby Rose would be sporting the nicest set of abs anyone had ever seen. Sure they weren't as profound as his or Yang's, but it was impressive nonetheless.

"Nice form out there Red!" Nova called startling her out of her concentration and causing her to fall flat on her butt.

"Owie…" She mumbled rubbing her sore behind.

Nova rushed over and helped her stand up, "Sorry love, didn't mean to break your concentration." The moment Ruby recognized who her distractor was, her face lit up like a thousand suns.

"NOVA! I haven't seen you all day…" She tackled him in a tight hug, before releasing just as quickly, "Ah sorry I'm sweaty."

Nova chuckled and brushed a thumb across her cheek, "Well I am not opposed to unlimited cuddles once you take a shower, you do kinda stink…" he teased.

She turned red and moved to bite his hand but he was too quick, "Rude! You never tell a girl she smells bad, even if it _is _true." She pouted adorably.

The dragon just leaned down in response and quickly pecked her on the lips, "I was kidding. Even if you're sweaty you still smell like Roses. I think it has to do with your semblance honestly."

"I've never heard of a semblance making someone smell good. Are you sure you aren't just lying to sweeten me up?"

"And why would I do that? You're already too sweet for me to handle." He pinched her cheek.

"Ugh, you're impossible. So… did you need something?" She asked now walking off and getting a towel that was on one of the benches to dry her face.

"Do I need a reason to come see my girlfriend?" He asked, placing a hand on his heart with mock hurt. She just raised an eyebrow and shot him a look that said 'Really? You know what I mean'

"Alright fine, you got me. I came looking for you because I had to ask you something… where's Yang by the way?" He asked looking around.

"Was that your question? She already went back to the dorm, I just hung back for some extra rounds… can't be getting rusty while she's the one fighting in the tournament."

"No that wasn't my question. My real question is… Ruby Rose, will you go on a date with me tomorrow evening?" He asked taking her hand in his.

She blushed, "Ah wah-… you don't even need to ask… of course I will… wait why are you even asking so formally we're already dating…"

Nova smiled embarrassed, "Sorry, figured since we never went on any official dates, that I had to proceed with all the formalities, you know?"

"What you mean to tell me saving Vale _wasn't_ an official date?" She asked sarcastically.

"Oh haha. Since when did you become so shrewd?"

"My boyfriend is the world's cheekiest dragon, and I live with Weiss." She returned with a cute smile.

"Point taken."

* * *

-The next day-

The day sped by with Nova wallowing in contemplation and borderline misery. As much as he wanted to concentrate on his upcoming date, his thoughts were plagued by the gravity of the situation around him. A storm was coming, and they needed to be ready. Hex was spending her time with Yang, and Nitro was hanging out with his new best friend Jaune, leaving Nova to mull over his distressing thoughts alone.

At least that was the situation until Pyrrha had come to see him again, she'd wanted advice on how to proceed. "I want to accept this, I really do… but.." she'd said to him.

"But you're afraid. You're afraid of stepping into our world and being caught up in a war that you want nothing to do with. Am I right?" Nova asked reclining on the armchair in his room as Pyrrha stood at his door.

She nodded in confirmation. "I'm terrified that by taking up this mantle of the next Fall Maiden, I'd… get my family, friends, everyone I love swept up in the crossfire." She rubbed her right arm sore. "How do you put up with it? How do you prevent Ruby and the others from getting thrown into this?"

Nova grimaced, "I didn't. All of them already know, even Luna, she's also an Aspect."

The red-head gasped in shock, "How could you?! You allowed them to put themselves in danger!" her words were harsh and filled with disbelief and anger.

The dragon was stoic, "Pyrrha, understand this when duty calls on you, your actions and responsibilities are no longer your own. The people you love will get caught up in it whether you try to stop them or not. I tried to hide my identity, to distance myself from those uninvolved. I _tried _to keep my problems to myself. Things… happened during our first mission that dragged them all on this highway to hell, but they chose to stay."

"What do you mean?" she said looking pensive.

"What I say in this room does _not _leave this room. Hex ensured that there was no remote way of monitoring what goes on in here so…" Nova glanced at the door as if expecting it to burst open at any moment, but it didn't. "This whole mess is Ozpin's fault."

Pyrrha was flabbergasted, "What…?"

"Ozpin sent us on that mission to the Vale coast all those months ago. He planned our partnership with RWBY. Sure he's been helpful, and our objectives are the same mostly, but he's a sly one. He could've sent us on that mission alone, but he chose to send in team RWBY as well. He's given us a place to stay, helping us where we needed it, at the price of being his pawns. Yes, we've been getting results, but I've never seen the reason why a team of trainee huntsmen was chosen to bear these burdens." Nova explained his thoughts.

"Isn't it because of time? He's had no other choice…" Pyrrha defended.

"Time for what Pyrrha? Ozpin hasn't told us what he's fighting to stop. It's not the White Fang, though I doubt our enemies are so different now… There's something, _someone _else he's fighting. A threat to not just him but the kingdoms as well, perhaps the fucking whole of Remnant. So, WHO are we fighting? Why is this information being kept from us?" Nova's emotions were spilling forth again.

"I…" She was at a loss for words. She'd just realized how quickly she was about to seal her fate, all for the purpose of responsibility. It never occurred to her that she'd be fighting without knowing what she was up against. She'd submit herself to the control of someone who didn't trust his own soldiers with basic information. Ozpin had somehow managed to word his charismatic lines in such a way that she was roped in without a shred of doubt, while simultaneously leaving out the biggest hole in his plan… the objective.

It was then she realized just how smart Nova actually was. He'd been seeing right through Ozpin since the start, he'd only been cooperating because it benefitted them both. He'd led Ozpin to think he'd crafted the perfect soldier when in reality, Nova was just as skeptical about the whole ordeal as an atheist in church.

Nova saw the look on her face, the gravity of her situation finally dawning on her. "Pyrrha, you came here for my advice, so I'll give you my two cents."

Her look of emotional disturbance was torn and instantly she was at attention.

"My advice is, don't take the offer. No amount of power, or responsibility, is worth tearing your own life apart. Keep to yourself, reject him, complete your training as a huntress and live out your days with Jaune, happily ever after." Nova said.

Pyrrha was about to speak up but was interrupted, "BUT! Should something happen, should all of this," he made a wide gesture, " End up going to shit. You'll live the rest of your life knowing that you had the option to make a change, and you'll regret it. Knowing the type of person you are, you'll regret it, the memory will haunt you and eat you alive until there's nothing left. At the end of the day, you and I are both leaders at heart, we both want to see the people we love safe and happy."

Pyrrha nodded, "I'd want nothing more than for my family, friends, even regular people safe from the threat of the Grimm… and I guess… whatever else is out there."

"Exactly. Pyrrha, I don't want you to take the role of the Fall Maiden. In fact, I hope to Oum that you reject him and never look back. But… you and I both know that's not something you can do so easily."

Her eyes were downcast, like a child being lectured.

"The choice is yours, I'm not going to make the decision for you. All I've done is laid out the stakes, the pros and cons of both ends so you can make your choice." He said ominously. He knew her answer, she already knew as well. It was because of who they were that the choice was already obvious.

She nodded, "Thank you… I'll… think on your words…" she motioned for the door.

Just as she was about to leave Nova called out, "Pyrrha." She turned around. "Just… remember what I said yesterday as well… if you really do choose to go down this path… As your friend, I'll guide you and stand with you every step of the way." He saluted with a raised fist.

She flashed him a knowing smirk and raised her fist in response as well then left without a word.

Nova collapsed on his bed, closing his eyes. It was times like these he wished he was a smoker, he'd have something to calm his nerves… but he wasn't.

"FUCK!" He cursed, slamming his fist onto the bed, glad no one else was in the room. He dragged his palms across his face. The world around him was practically collapsing. He knew he couldn't live the peaceful life much longer, still, it stung him in his soul to know that those days were coming to an end. He could feel it in his core, every instinct he had was telling him that life as he knew it would collapse, and the only thing he wished, more than anything else… was that his friends, and especially Ruby, stay the only consistent factors.

_RUBY!_ He checked his scroll for the time, it was three in the afternoon. He'd promised Ruby he'd pick her up at six.

_Thank Oum, I still have something to look forward to…_

* * *

Nova knocked on the team RWBY dorm, he was clad in a black denim jacket with a red undershirt, on it was a white burning flame. He had on matching black jeans and combat boots because he'd be damned if he wore any other footwear.

Yang was the one who answered the door, "Nova, she'll be ready in a minute… this gives _us _some time…"

The tone she held made the dragon roll his eyes, "Yang really?"

"Yes now, what are your intentions with my sister?" she asked eyeing him.

"We'll be back home by eleven, it's dinner at Chateau Noir, and from there we were heading to the fairgrounds." He explained.

The blonde sighed, "Fine. Seems decent enough… just no funny business alright?"

"Yang… are you for real?" He asked raising his eyebrow.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Still getting used to the whole, my sister has a boyfriend thing okay? Cut me some slack." She closed the door on him again.

The dragon waited a minute, exactly one, and the door opened again, this time revealing a rather shy Ruby Rose.

She was wearing a black jacket that went up to her mid-section, accompanied by a white shirt with a pink rose symbol and a white skirt that went to her mid-thigh. Her hair was done so it was parted down the middle with a single strand coming from the center of her forehead. On top of all this, she was wearing makeup.

"Ruby… you look… gorgeous… like, you usually look amazing but, now you're just stunning…" He gazed, mouth agape.

She turned crimson, "T-Thanks… you look... really handsome…" She twirled her thumbs.

"Is that makeup? Ruby, you know you don't have to wear that stuff, you're flawless without it." He reached up and held her face so their eyes met.

"It was Weiss' idea. Glad to see you think I'm a flawless Ruby." She snickered at her own joke.

"Oh, you've been infected by Yang. Guess you have _one _flaw." He smiled.

"Shut up, you dork," she reached up and pulled him down for a kiss.

The sound of a camera going off was heard and Nova had to mentally swear not to kill them.

"Come on Red, let's go before they take any more pictures of us." He took her by the hand and pulled her out.

The quiet sound of someone, possibly Nora, saying 'FUCK!'

* * *

"So…. Where are we going?" the red leader asked as they paraded through the uptown area of Vale.

"Can't spoil the surprise now can I?" Nova said, his armed linked in hers.

Eventually the two came upon a rather large building. The outside was all black, yet the fancy spotlights, various hanging banners and line of people practically flowing into the street said it was anything but a morgue.

"Chateau Noir? How did you…?" Her implied words were left unsaid. Chateau Noir was the most prestigious restaurant in Vale, even though it'd only popped up a year ago, it's business had been booming ever since, and with the festival going on, it was even tougher to get a spot here than it would be to break into a bank vault.

In a world where Huntsmen and Huntresses existed, and supernatural powers, those bank vaults had to be pretty damn sturdy.

Nova took them right through the front door, ignoring the lines, and the various angered stares of the people standing in them. Once they were inside, the contrasted interior made them gape in wonder. The inside was all white, with accentuated black tables and pristine furniture. Paintings and Photographs of various Huntsmen and their exploits hung on the wall across the room, and a live band playing jazz was perched atop a heightened platform, in the middle of the back wall.

"Sir, you cannot simply waltz up to our desk, you must wait in line like everyone else." A stocky and rather pompous looking man said from the front.

"Now that's rather rude... You didn't even ask me if I had a reservation?" Nova quirked his brow, mildly amused at the man's antics.

He sputtered, "Well, I only assumed since you're teenagers that…"

"Exactly. You assumed, emphasis on the 'ass'. I believe you have a reservation for a 'Mr. Flareheart'? Table for two at this hour?" Nova asked no longer amused.

The man checked his logbook and his eyes went wide. He glanced up at Nova once more to ensure he was looking at the right person. "M-My apologies Mr… I mean your highness, Prince Nova Flareheart…" the sudden change in the man's tone was very amusing.

_Prince? I don't remember telling them my status… oh right… I did tell the world during that one battle… shit…_

Ruby snickered at the man's flabbergasted expression.

"And you must be Miss Rose? My dearest apologies, sir. This way please." He led the couple to a special table with a fire symbol on the cloth, it matched the one on Nova's shirt. It was a wonder with all the fame the dragon prince held, and the matching symbol, did the man not recognize them instantly.

The moment they were seated and the waiter left, Ruby spoke up. "How did he know my name? Hell, how did you even get reservations at this place?"

Nova poked her cheek, "Think about the name of this place for a second, and then think about my… friends…" he made a hand gesture that looked like him twirling his hand in a circle.

Slowly it dawned on her, "This is _his _place?" She was referring to Mortus Noir.

"Yup. I've had a spot at this restaurant since that day I saved his life. This… is the first time I'm actually using it." Nova explained.

"Wait so… this is rat guy's place? Is the food even safe?!" Ruby asked thinking about the type of man Mortus Noir was.

Nova shrugged, "This is his legitimate business, and it's a damn good one. All organized criminals with high cash income need some way to prove their earnings, otherwise the banks start asking questions."

"And how do you know this?" Ruby asked eyeing him slyly.

"Because, my adorable little Rose, your boyfriend is anything but a saint." He pinched her cheek. "I might be royalty, and I might be a good guy, but I am the opposite of a law-abiding citizen. How do you think I get my spending cash?"

Ruby gaped, "Nova! Stealing is wrong!" she berated him, lightly hitting his arm.

"Hey, it was one time, and I really had no other choice. Life on the streets was tough, then Hex taught us a trick when we were on the run after our first year at Haven. We stole 1 cent of Lien from every single person in the four kingdoms, and maybe a couple hundred from every one of the SDC's… less than savory transactions."

"Does Weiss know?" Ruby asked eyeing him as he mentioned the SDC.

"No…. and you're not going to tell her, that's between me and her father. Besides, I only stole from their black-market stuff, as transaction tax on their deposits. Stealing from the rich and giving to the needy, the needy being me." He smiled shooting finger guns.

Ruby pouted, "Still doesn't make it right… but I guess it's justified."

"Exactly. I haven't done anything illegal since."

She eyed him, "Hmmm~, you better not or I'll arrest you myself"

"I'd probably like that," Nova winked, causing her to turn crimson.

* * *

They'd sat there chatting away for several minutes, occasionally Nova would say something cheesy, and Ruby would blush anyway because she knew he meant it. To the normal person, they looked like a happy couple, however, most of the attendees were what one considers to be society's upper one percent.

Ruby couldn't hear them, but Nova's dragon senses picked up on it all.

'Is that the prince people have been talking about?'

'A Faunus and a human… together! Has she gone mad?'

'Probably after his money, he is royalty…'

'Filthy Faunus, I bet she's into the whole… animal thing… filthy whore'

Nova had enough, he could feel his blood pressure rising with the sheer fury he was emitting. It took all his willpower _not _to set the offending table of people on fire.

He promptly got up, and glared daggers at the nearest offending table. It was a wealthy party, probably some rich folk from Vale's high society.

"Nova, what's wrong?" Ruby asked looking at him concerned. His expression was dark and furious, she'd never seen him this livid before, even though he didn't outwardly show all of his fury, she could feel the temperature of the air around them rising.

"Ruby, there's some things in this world I really can't stand." He said loudly enough so the entire room heard him. "On that list, include, racists, idiots, and closed-minded people." He was now staring directly at the head of the table of the offending party.

A middle-aged man, wearing what looked to be military uniform. "You can insult me all you want, personally words don't affect me. However, the moment you insulted her, you crossed the line." He pointed at Ruby who looked confused.

The man looked baffled that he'd been heard, "I've said nothing of the sort." he tried to deny.

Nova looked at him unimpressed by his pathetic attempt to save face. He tapped his ears, "Faunus hearing. Think about your lies carefully before you utter them you fool."

"Nova? It's fine, people like that aren't worth your time…" She said trying to calm him down. She didn't know what they said and frankly, she didn't want to.

"No Ruby." He turned back to the man, "You can say what you want about me, call me what you want, but do not drag her name through that filthy mouth of yours. Ruby is the kindest, sweetest girl in the entire world. She wouldn't hurt a soul and I'm pretty sure she'd adopt all the stray animals in the world if she could. She's out there, risking her life and fighting for the sake of all of you." He gestured to the entire room.

"What? You're just some teenagers who think too highly of themselves. What gives you the right?" the pompous man retorted. Nova had to fight every instinct in his body not to rush over there and strangle him.

Nova instead took a deep breath and continued, "She's several hundred times the person you'd ever be, so don't you dare disrespect her. I don't remember seeing you at the battle when the Breach happened, where were you huh? Because I can tell you where she was. She was directly in the middle of it, smack dab in the front lines, running herself ragged trying to stop the Grimm from killing everyone. She's done more for this kingdom than anyone else her age, so you better show some fucking respect."

"And what if I don't huh? You're just some Faunus royalty wanna be. What're you going to do about it." The man now stood up.

"You're not worth the effort." He spat before taking Ruby's hand and helping her to stand. "Come on Rubes, let's get out of here… go somewhere where we're wanted." People like that man lived off of the chaos they caused. They lived to be instigators of conflict, doing nothing in times of real hardship, yet reaping the rewards of those around them. Giving him any more attention would be like pouring gasoline on a fire.

Ruby was shocked, to say the least. She didn't know what that man said to make Nova so angry, but she felt warmed to know that he would willingly drop everything to stand up for her. The two exited without even bothering to order.

"Hmph serves him right. World's better off without people like him." The pompous man sat back down. A waiter came up to him.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave…" the waiter said.

"What? I'm a paying customer. Under whose authority?!" He was furious.

"By order of management. You've just insulted a member of the Menagerian royal family, not to mention a close friend of the owner of this restaurant. As of this moment, you and your offending family are banned." The waiter said calmly, not a shred of remorse.

"You can't make me. I demand justice!" He yelled only for two large men in black suits to come in from the backroom and manhandle him outside, tossing him and the offending guests onto the street.

* * *

The night air was crisp and warm, the night sky illuminated by the specs of stars amidst the city lights. Nova and Ruby were now well enough away from the restaurant, now entering the fairgrounds.

"Nova… are you alright? You got pretty heated back there…" Ruby said looking at his distressed face.

His expression softened and he stopped his furious walking, "Sorry for exploding back there… I just couldn't let that guy insult you like that. He called you a-" she cut him off by placing a finger on his lips.

"I don't care what he said. People like him aren't worth your time and energy. Let's just… enjoy the rest of the night okay?" She said with a grin that seemed to melt away his worries.

Suddenly both of their stomachs growled. "Right. We sorta left without getting any food…"

Ruby giggled, "Well I happen to know a certain noodle stand that's open this hour of the night~" she said earning an ear-splitting grin from her boyfriend.

"That's all you had to say. Come on my treat for ruining dinner." He returned.

The two sat at the noodle stall scarfing down two massive bowls. Talking with their mouths full, sauce covering both of their faces, burping without bothering to cover it. This was how they were meant to be, not in some fancy restaurant, it wasn't like them.

They say when you find someone who you can be completely open with, act as gross as you want without being judged, say what you want without worry, and just be able to spend hours talking to them about absolutely nothing, then you've found your soulmate.

They finished up their meals and began exploring the grounds, holding hands and just walking around.

"I feel fat, I think I ate two bowls too many…" Nova said patting his stomach.

Ruby leaned over and poked him in the abs, "Yeah, you're not as solid as normal. I'm going to have to cut you off from snacks." She teased.

Nova pouted, "NO! Not the snacks… please, Ruby, I'll do anything!" he said in fake distress.

She giggled at his antics, "Well… you could, I don't know… persuade me?" she asked looking into his eyes.

"Say no more." He smiled, leaned down and planted a tender kiss on her lips. "How's that for persuasion?"

"Consider me persuaded." She laughed.

"So the fairgrounds are fun and all but what exactly-" she was cut off when they passed a stall.

"TEST YOUR STRENGTH! Arm Wrestle for a prize!" A large muscular man with a mustache said. "AH the young couple, care to win a prize for the lady?"

Nova and Ruby glanced at each other, "Sure why not…"

"Nova, you know your semblance is cheating in this type of situation. I'll wrestle for your prize." She smirked and pushed him back, sauntering up the man.

"Alright, little lady. Win me at arm wrestling and you can pick whatever prize you want." He placed his arm in position.

"Hmph don't go easy on me." She smirked, taking his hand in position as well. A bell sounded and they both began to wrestle for dominance… sadly it was over in seconds as Ruby sent his hand crashing through the table.

"Oh sorry… I didn't mean to break your table…" Ruby apologized looking embarrassed.

The man stood flabbergasted, "UH…. It's…. fine… just uh… take your pick…" he wasn't expecting to be trounced by a girl almost half his size.

Nova watched in amusement as Ruby totaled the man's arm and stall and walked away with... a knife?

"Ruby… was the prize you chose… a knife? Why is that even a prize?" He asked analyzing the blade. It was a small dagger, about the size of a pocket knife, but the blade was energized by dust. Apparently the type of blade changed depending on the dust used, it was rather nifty.

"Yeah, none of the other prizes were as cool. Figured, you'd like whatever I thought was good…" she said placing the blade in his hands.

He took it gratefully and placed a small peck on her lips, "Thanks love. I'll treasure it always."

"Ugh you're such a dork sometimes…" she said as they continued on.

"Yeah, but I'm _your _dork."

"Touche."

"Is that a photo booth?" Nova said as they passed a box-like stall with a curtain.

"OOH Let's get some commemorative phots of our first official date." She squealed dragging him inside.

"Ruby these photos are…" he wanted to say weird.

"PERFECT!" She held them to her chest. Most of them were of Nova looking dazed by camera flashes or confused by the screen options. There was one normal looking one where they both had their heads leaned against each other, smiling like idiots.

"It's getting pretty late… we should head back." Nova suggested looking at his scroll. They'd spent so much time just enjoying each other's company that it was already ten o'clock. They had roughly an hour to make it back to Beacon otherwise Yang would explode on them.

"Yeah… don't want the mama hen to start attacking you when she finds out we're late." Ruby chuckles referring to Yang.

Nova grimaced, "Yeah I'd rather not have her forcibly turn me into a girl then stick gum in my hair and staple it to the door."

"That's oddly specific."

"I had a really vivid dream once… it was rough…"

Ruby giggled at his facial expression, which looked like he was having PTSD.

"How about you carry me all the way back hm?" Ruby asked.

"What's this all of a sudden? Your legs stopped working?" He asked mockingly.

She pouted, "No, I'm just tired. Carry me, servant!"

He rolled his eyes and smiled, "As you command your highness." He knelt down and allowed her to climb onto his back. Her head rested on his shoulder nuzzling him.

"Onward noble steed!" She pointed ordering him to march forward. He happily complied.

Eventually, he felt her head droop and rest lightly on his right shoulder, the sound of soft quiet snores could be heard. She'd fallen asleep.

Nova smiled and nuzzled her cheek, "You're too pure for this world Ruby. I hope you stay this way forever."

* * *

Well, I had to cut this chapter a little short in terms of what I wanted to write, because I ended up writing alot on Nova's introspection in the first half, I decided to scrap my initial plan for this chapter and just focus on building character.

Next chapter, tackling the singles matches and the drama that comes with them. Hopefully, I finish that in less time than this one.


	35. Chapter 35: Fall Phase One

**Okay so Update from your friendly neighborhood author:**

**I said I'd explain what happened, and usually, people just give basic details but, I think this whole incident was worth typing about. It's the type of situation that only happens to me, and I've never met another person who's probably as cursed as I am.**

**Basically, I woke up yesterday at like 8 am and I'm still drinking my coffee when my mom breaks in like "Go Help your uncle, there's an emergency."**

**So, I'm like half-awake in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and my goddamn rubber slippers, hopping into my dad's pick-up with my uncle, cuz word is my other uncle, and my grandfather are lost in the woods, pinned down by bees.**

**Yeah, I live in a pretty rural countryside, lots of forest and vegetation, grass grows taller than me and I'm like 5ft 10, anyway, so we drive the pick-up to the point where the dirt road ends and the car can't go anymore, so I'm hiking it on my own while the others try to get the car over this ditch. It's like 9 am, I'm literally in the wilderness in my sleeping clothes and slippers in bushes taller than me, trying to find my uncle and grandfather.**

**Eventually, we manage to get the car across and get cell-phone reception to them, my uncle barely utters like 2 words to us over the phone cuz his body is going numb from the bee stings. When we finally find them, my uncle is face down in the field curled in a ball, man isn't moving, my grandfather isn't anywhere to be found, there's like 700 bees around him.**

**Rescue ops time, we manage to carry him to the car but the bees attack me and I lose my glasses while fighting off the swarm. We find my grandfather at the bottom of the hill in a ditch, hiding in some bushes, the man can't talk or move cuz of the bee stings. It was actually scary as hell cuz the old man is screaming for us to leave him and get out cuz the swarm of bees was still attacking us, the entire hive was on a blood hunt. I can't see anything cuz I'm basically blind without my glasses and I have to carry my grandfather out of the ditch and into the pick-up, course I lose my slippers in that part cuz I tripped cuz I was blind.**

**Anyway, fast forward, my grandfather and uncle ended up in the hospital, my uncle got discharged today, he'll be okay, but my grandfather took somewhere close to forty stings, at least that's what the medics said, and he's barely conscious in critical condition. He's potentially suffering memory loss and they're not sure he'll make it, but his condition is slightly improving, if however small.**

**I get out with like one sting, several cuts and bruises, there's a stick or something lodged in my right foot, haven't managed to get it out yet cuz it's like really small and I can't see to get it out. I swear my life is a tv show, whoever writes the script is really mean.**

**On a brighter note, I'm getting new glasses tomorrow, just in time because they actually have my prescription in stock, so I don't have to wait like 2 weeks, which is great cuz the country goes lockdown from COVID-19 as of Sunday.**

* * *

**Chapter 35: That's One Way to Break a Leg**

* * *

There was tension in the air, around them, a hidden lining of danger that lurked just out of reach of Team ASHNRWBY. This day marked the beginning of the singles match. The final round of the Vytal Tournament, and a key time period in the plans of both Nova and his team at Beacon, and their enemies from across Remnant.

Both parties would be looking to make their move during this time, whether it be during their own fights, or sabotaging the fights of someone else. Since the elimination of Thorian, Rogue and the members of team BLDE, there has been no enemy activity, nor have the individuals themselves been seen since. Cameras have picked up hide nor hair of them and there haven't been any suspicious flights out, or in.

One could only assume they were well hidden in Vale itself or lurking about the colosseum, just out of view, every blindspot, every dark corner, Blake, Nova and Luna's heightened senses were prickling like wildfire, it was enough to drive anyone mad.

Nova awoke that morning and headed down to the fairgrounds with the rest of his team for some special good luck breakfast… it was basically just noodle bowls again, but they'd be damned if it wasn't the best food on campus.

"It's oddly quiet around here…" Nitro pointed out as they stepped into the fairgrounds. The shops were set up like normal, the only change being the severe lack of people.

"Well it is pretty early, most people are just gearing up to watch the fights and heading directly to the stadium." Weiss surmised, looking around for signs of people.

"Or it could be that the grounds aren't open to the public yet?" Blake said pointing at a sign that clearly said 'Open at 8 a.m'.

It was 7:45.

Everyone deadpanned, "Why are we even here this early?" Yang groaned, rubbing her eyes. She had no idea what order the fights were in so she needed to be ready at the first call, but it still didn't make waking up before noon any easier.

"Because 'Miss I sleep all day'. If you don't get a proper start, you'll screw up your match!" Weiss pinched the blonde. This jolted her awake. "OW!"

Hex pressed her forehead against Yang's back, "Great, now that you're awake… please carry me."

Yang smiled, "If I'm awake then so are you. C'mon, I'm sure some coffee will wake you up." She turned around and ruffled Hex's hair. The purplette just groaned in compliance.

Nova looked on amused, "I could do with some coffee too… what about you, love?" he turned to Ruby.

Before she could answer, Nova, Luna and Blake's ears all twitched simultaneously, there was a subtle drumming, of what sounded like a stampede of horses, coming their way. "What's that noise…." Luna said causing them all to turn around.

A large mass hazy in the distance, making its way toward them at breakneck speeds, the closer it got, the more they realized that it wasn't a stampede of horses, but rather, a rampaging mob of people. They all paled at the massive horde.

"Can anyone explain why there's a massive conglomeration of people swarming toward us?" Nitro asked looking concerned.

"No… Luna, did you steal anything?" Hex asked her young friend.

"Nope, not that I can think of…" her words barely had a chance to leave her mouth when the unsuspecting party was collapsed upon by the congregation, leaving them in a disorienting pile on the floor, dust clouds were the only evidence the crowd had even been there.

" *Cough cough* Everyone alright? What the fuck was all that about?" Yang asked looking around as the dust cleared.

"We're okay…" Weiss responded, dusting herself off. "Honestly I thought they were coming to interview a Schnee."

"Weiss not everything is about you…" Blake responded annoyed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uhh… guys?" Ruby said garnering their attention.

"What?" they all simultaneously asked.

"Where's Nova?"

"Fuck."

* * *

**-Meanwhile with Nova-**

"AH PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWNNN!" Nova yelled amidst the storming voices of the crowd.

The poor dragon was carried for what seemed to be miles before he was let down. The mob of people swarming him now surrounded him.

"Finally, yeesh. What the hell is wrong with you people?" Nova asked dusting himself off. He glanced around the silent mob. What he thought was a mass congregation of tourists and fair attendees was actually a mass of reporters… and random people?

They closed in on him wordlessly as he instinctively backed up until his back was flat against the cold concrete wall of a shop. He started getting nervous now, as he'd realized he was cornered against a shop wall. Masses of people around him at all sides, at all angles, like hunters finally cornering their prey.

"Um… guys? Can I get back to my friends, please?" He asked nervously.

"Prince Nova Flareheart. We'd like an exclusive interview." One of the reporters said, a woman clad in a brown trench coat and glasses.

"Interview? What is this?"

"Mr. Flareheart, now that you've let the world know of your existence, what do you plan on doing from here?" Another reporter shoved a microphone in his face.

"Other than your sister, are there any other members of your family here in Vale?" Another asked.

"Guys please…."

"Mr. Flareheart, is it true that you've come to overthrow the White Fang?"

"Wait what kind of questions are these?"

"Nova Flareheart, on behalf of the people. Are you single?" With that question, the majority of the crowd behind him erupted in a cheer of murmurs and questions.

Nova stood there baffled and confused, a hoard of Grimm, easy. An army of soldiers? No problem.

A mob of reporters and apparently fans, a different story.

"What's your blood type?"

"What type of girls are you into?"

"Or Guys?"

"What's your political stance?"

Nova had enough.

"Guys, please! I'd be happy to answer all of your questions…" He began looking around for an escape. "But I think my sister Luna would be more inclined to answer! Look there she is now!" he pointed behind them, and like the fools they were, all turned around.

"I don't see anyone, are you sure she's…" The coated reporter asked only to find him running down the streets at blinding speeds.

"AND FYI! I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!" Nova yelled as he made a mad dash away from them.

"AFTER HIM!" The woman yelled as the mob tore the pavement to shreds on their rampage toward the unfortunate dragon.

* * *

Nova had been running for some time now, and still, the mob refused to let up as if they drew their energy from curiosity and harassment. "Holy shit these guys are persistent…" he muttered to himself as he ducked and dodged over various trashcans to try and stall their progress… to little avail.

"Psst! Over here!" A familiar voice called out from the sidelines. Nova turned his head to see Pyrrha beckoning him from an alleyway. Mustering his incredible speed, he sprinted forward then made a sharp right turn into the alley, so quickly the mob didn't have time to react so they just barrelled past while he stood heaving his lungs out in the comfort of the alley's hideaway.

"Holy shit thank you…." Nova said, gasping for air as he leaned against the cool concrete wall. "What are you even doing here?" He asked turning to Pyrrha, only to find she wasn't alone. The rest of JNPR was there as well.

"We were out getting breakfast when we saw you being chased by the living incarnation of an undead army. What's up with that anyway?" Jaune asked looking concerned for his friend.

Nova placed his hands on his knees to steady himself. "Reporters and fans, they want interviews… or to date me… or worse…" Nova shuddered. He'd seen the wild look in some of their eyes, and he feared for his chastity.

Pyrrha giggled, "Boy do I know how that feels." she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Ugh, how do you deal with fame Pyrrha?"

"It just goes away after some time, you just gotta let the hype die down." She responded.

"Yeah but how long will that take? I'm starving now." The dragon complained, his stomach rumbled in response.

"Well, we do have some leftover chicken sandwiches…" Nora held up a paper bag. Nova took one whiff of the stuff and turned slightly green.

"No thanks… I'm good… besides, Ruby wouldn't let me here the end of it if I ate breakfast without her today." Nova smiled thinking about her. They promised to have a team breakfast to wish them all luck in their matches today.

"Well with the way things are out there. I'd suggest a disguise before you step out into public view," Ren mused looking him over, "Your appearance is rather... distinctive..."

"I don't have any spare clothes… fuck…" Nova said rummaging through his back pocket for storage cubes. He usually kept a few on him in case he needed a quick change but he'd left his wig and mask at home since the reveal, figured he'd never need them again.

"I picked up some clothes on our way out of town… but it's all girl clothes…" Pyrrha said holding up a bag.

Nova had an idea spark in his brain, "Pyrrha, I hope you don't mind if I ask but… what are your sizes?"

Pyrrha and Jaune both turned red, "W-W-What are you even asking?!" she was flabbergasted.

Nova pinched the bridge of his nose, "Not like that. And no I'm not hitting on your girl blondie." He said eyeing Jaune's angry expression. He'd never pegged the blonde to be the possessive type.

"Then why do you need to know?" Pyrrha asked calming down.

"Just… trust me? I think I have an idea for how to avoid them…"

"Well… if you're sure…" Pyrrha leaned down and whispered into Nova's ear.

Jaune looked rather jealous but it couldn't be helped.

"OH! That's actually not that far off, you're a bit taller but I have a belt it'll make do…"

"Are you gonna do what I think you're gonna do?" Nora asked with excitement gleaming in her eyes.

Nova shot her an exasperated look, "Not exactly… Um… promise you won't say a word about this to anyone?"

"A word about what?" Jaune asked confused.

"Just, promise me." The dragon grimaced.

"Our lips are sealed. Now, what are you going to…" Pyrrha's words faltered when she saw Nova press a button on his armlet and a fiery orange light enveloped him like his aura. Scales began appearing over him in waves until, before them stood a slightly shorter, and a rather beautiful young woman, standing in the place of Nova, with his same eyes, hair, and horns.

Jaune and Pyrrha's brain shut down while Ren maintained his stoic look, with the exception of his eye twitching. Nora, on the other hand, had her jaw open.

"WHAT?!" Was the simultaneous response.

Nova blushed in embarrassment, "Yeah yeah, get it out now…"

"You're… you're…" Jaune stuttered.

"Yes, I'm actually Alexandra. No, I am not Nova's cousin, I really am Nova himself… err well I guess I'm a girl right now…"

"Are they real?" Nora asked pointing at Nova's boobs. The dragon deadpanned.

"Yes Nora, they are in fact real…"

"Oh… my … god…" was all Pyrrha could utter out.

"How did this happen?" Ren asked in utter disbelief.

Nova sighed, "Long story short, an accident happened, my semblance happened, now I'm both a girl and a boy. Can we move past this now?"

"WAIT DOES THIS MEAN THAT…." Nora looked excited. Nova… was not.

"Please don't…" was all he could say before he was glomped by the Valkyrie. "Can't… breathe… Ren… assistance…."

Ren calmly pried the excitable Nora off the poor dragon girl.

"In hindsight, I should've seen this coming," Nova said getting up off the floor, his pants drooping from the loose clothes, his shirt sagging downward and his breasts bouncing a little as he shook the dust off.

Jaune was visibly getting a nosebleed. "Pyrrha please wipe your boyfriend's nose off." Nova sighed. "And can I borrow those clothes now?"

The redhead nodded and handed the bag over, while simultaneously wiping Jaune's nose blood.

"Okay now… can you all turn around for a second while I get changed?"

"You're going to get dressed in a dirty alleyway? Isn't that… unsanitary?" the redhead asked concerned.

Nova waved his hand dismissively, "Meh, grew up on the streets, these alleys are the cleanest I've ever seen in my life."

Pyrrha blinked, "What does that…" but the dragon girl was already beginning to unbutton causing her to turn red and whip her head away.

* * *

After a few quick minutes and some annoyed high pitched grunts and complaints, Nova finally emerged from behind a dumpster. He was wearing a bright red long sleeve top and a gold jacket accompanied by a matching black and gold skirt that went up to his mid-thigh. A shiny black and silver belt went around his waist to keep the skirt and shirt in place since Pyrrha was a bit taller than him, and lastly, a black beret, like the type Coco wears, to cover his horns.

"What're you staring at? Do I look that weird in Pyrrha's colours?" He asked looking over himself.

"Why the hell are you so pretty?!" Pyrrha asked in disbelief catching everyone off guard. "Ahem my apologies, this is just so… strange to me."

"No, Pyrrha's right. You look amazing!" Nora said placing her chin between her index and thumb and nodding.

"T-Thanks…" Nova said blushing in embarrassment.

Jaune and Ren observed the response with a bit of pink dusting both of their cheeks, earning a pinch from Pyrrha and Nora respectively.

"Can we just go already? I wanna find my team before the matches start…"

* * *

"So…." Nora started trying to break the awkward silence. It was one thing to see Nova in the dark alley way, it was another to see him outside with his white hair shining in the morning sun.

"So?"

"How does it feel to be a girl?" Nora asked curious. "Coming from a guy who's become a girl that is."

Nova placed his finger on his chin, "Well, it was a little scary at first. You wake up one morning and your dick is gone and you're left standing there wondering what's next."

The term roused Jaune out of his stare at the hypnotic sway of Nova's hips. "Wait so it's actually not there?"

Nova quirked his brow, "You wanna check?"

Jaune turned red, "I…. I'll take your word for it." Nova just smirked at the reign Pyrrha had on the blonde.

"So that week you were Alexandra…" Pyrrha left it hanging.

"Yeah that was the week I transformed, I was waiting on my mom to work on the cure. She invented the nanomachines that turned me into a girl in the first place so, it was only fair she be the one to turn me back."

"Nanomachines?" They all asked simultaneously.

Nova sighed, "Another long story, one you don't need to concern yourselves with… it's… of the sensitive type of information. The type you'd want to keep locked in a vault under the school." Nova said using the terms in such a way it clued Pyrrha in as to what he meant.

It dawned on her, "Oh, I see. I'll respect your privacy then. On another note, how do you change?"

Nova raised his left hand to show the black and red armlet, "This thing. It controls the nanomachines in my body and allows me to transition between either male or female. The problem is without it, my body just reverts back to female so I need this to stay… me."

"I have so many questions…" Ren trailed off.

"All of which I highly doubt I can answer," Nova responded.

"So… you voluntarily wear skirts?" Jaune asked.

"Jaune, skirts are the most liberating piece of clothing a girl can wear. It provides a wide range of movements while bolstering airflow and style." The dragon said placing his hands on his hips.

"RIGHT?! Combat skirt sisters!" Nora high fived the dragon.

* * *

It wasn't long before they managed to make it to the fairgrounds. Nova's aura was still regenerating so he'd be a while before he could change back into a guy. He figured he might as well just stay in this form the rest of the day, it'd get the mob off his back at least.

The approached the noodle shop to see the members of ASHNRWBY sitting around enjoying a bowl of noodles, fortunately they'd just started eating.

"GUYS!" Nova waved his hand gaining their attention. The moment Ruby spotted him she semblance over in a rush of petals, tackling him in a tight hug.

"Good to see you too, love," he said hugging her. Ruby just reached up and kissed him lightly, much to the surprise of JNPR at just how comfortable the red leader was with the whole situation.

"Where did you go? We were so worried…" Ruby placed a hand on his cheek, "And look at you, you're a girl. What happened?"

Nova sighed, "Reporters and fans, apparently I'm very famous now and there's a bloodthirsty following… Thankfully Pyrrha and the others helped me out."

"He's borrowing her clothes~" Nora said with a devilish smirk.

They all turned wide-eyed, "Wait so you let them know?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Well I didn't really have a choice in the matter now did I?" Nova placed his hands on his hips.

"Well, I for one am glad for the change. You look pretty good in that get-up." Yang said gesturing to his outfit.

"Pyrrha does have good taste, though I'm not really sure gold is my colour."

"You're making it work though," Luna said amused.

Nova smirked, "I think I can make any outfit work."

Ruby pinched Nova's cheek, "Look who's being smug." She kissed him again.

"So, Ruby, you're okay with you know…" Jaune said referring to the fact that her boyfriend was also a girlfriend.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She asked in return, genuinely confused.

"Well you know because…" he continued but Pyrrha stopped him.

"You must really love him…. Don't you?" Pyrrha said. It wasn't a question, more like a statement.

The red leader nodded vigorously, "Yup! More than anything!" she squeezed him harder and Nova just turned crimson.

"C-Can I just go eat already? I'm starving." He said in embarrassment much to everyone else's amusement.

* * *

**-Amity Arena-**

"And now for our next match in the third round of the Vytal Festival. As done previously, opponents will be randomly selected from our roster of available candidates." Port said over the system as the screen spun rapidly though a selection of fighters.

"Looks like our combatants are chosen, we have Yang Xiaolong versus…" the screen had momentarily stopped on a student they'd never seen before, that was until it suddenly shifted again, "Minor technical difficulties, but it seems our candidate is Mercury Black!"

Yang readied herself from her perch in the competitors' seating, next to the rest of team ASHNRWBY, Nova was still a girl, as to avoid attention.

"Yang wait!" Hex said putting an arm on her girlfriend, stopping her from leaving.

The blonde was confused, "What's up babe?"

"Don't you think a technical error on this particular person seems a little odd…?" Hex said now eyeing the scoreboards.

"What do you mean?"

"She means that, given our suspicions on Emerald's team, the fact that there's an inside man on the administration with the ability to rig contest information, it's more than likely this wasn't a randomly selected battle…" Nova said folding one arm across his stomach and using the other to twirl a strand of his hair. An odd habit he'd picked up in his female body.

"I can't just back out of the tournament…"

"I'm not saying you should, I'm saying just keep an eye out. We don't know what they're planning."

"Then I guess my only option is to beat his ass right?" The blonde fist pumped and walked off.

"Please be careful…" Hex muttered as she watched the brawler strut off onto the arena.

"Break a leg sis!" Ruby cheered, trying to be optimistic.

A feminine voice beside them chuckled, "Yes, I'm certain she will put up a good fight for my teammate."

They all turned to see a beautiful woman in a brown top that looked straight out of a western and jeans. She had long flowing black hair wrapped around to the front of her neck and amber eyes.

"Who're you?" Weiss asked, eyeing her carefully.

"Sorry, my apologies, I'm Cinder Fall, Emerald's team leader. She's told me so much about you," Cinder said smiling.

Nova was now on edge, "Yes, well, our firecracker is going to blow him outta the arena," he responded trying to sound competitive instead of uneasy.

"Strong words from such a beautiful young lady, I don't believe I've seen you around~" Cinder said in what could be interpreted as flirtatious.

"This is Alexandra, she's one of my friends…" Ruby said rather possessively, gripping onto Nova's arms.

"Hmm…. Maybe a bit more than friends~?" Cinder mused.

Ruby didn't like that tone of voice, that woman was trying too hard to sound charismatic. The red leader didn't know why but every bone in her body was telling her this woman was dangerous.

"Looks like the match is starting…" Nova said drawing their attention in an attempt to diffuse the rising altercation before it could start.

The arena had now become a raised platform, and unlike all previous rounds, there were no special environments. Just two fighters in the ring. Yang and Mercury stared down each other, inching closer to take up the standard tournament one on one greeting. The atmosphere seemed normal, the electric excitement running through the crowd, the lightness of competition, but Nova felt it. Something was going to happen... he just didn't know what and from where.

* * *

"FIGHT!"

Yang and Mercury met each other in a single rush of blows, fist met foot in a clash of strength, with Mercury ricocheting backward from the trade. Fighters held almost nothing back as Mercury dashed back in with blinding speeds, ducking low to avoid Yang's punches then flipping to kick upward.

Yang easily dodged by jumping over him and attacking again, the kickboxer sidestepped and tried to grab hold of her arms with his legs but she saw it coming and dashed back, each punch she threw fired off blasts from Ember Celia, forcing Mercury to stay on edge both at distance and at close quarters.

The arena was small and favoured the close-range exchange that these two fighters were best suited for. It was, in all essence, a battle of close-quarters combat, a high energy fight with no room to breathe or stall for time.

Yang managed to catch Mercury off guard in a dazzling combo of punches that sent him sprawling out of the ring. The grey-haired boy, on the other hand, managed to catch himself just in time, using his legs to propel the air below him sending him flying upward.

"What was that?" Blake asked observing the move Mercury just pulled off. It looked like he was jumping on air.

"I think he has a ranged weapon in his boots maybe?" Ruby opted.

"Hmm… I think it might be his semblance…" Luna said after moments of quiet observation.

"How'd you figure that?" asked Weiss.

"If it was a weapon then his boots would have to be bulkier, no weapon exists that can create that amount of force and still be that small. You'd need at least a high pressurized canister of air."

"And a rather large one at that." Nitro mused. He was well versed in the art, the only thing that came similar to what Mercury had just done was his own jet thrusters, even those were state of the art Zephyr technology, that only he and Hex had access to.

Back at the fight, Mercury was now on the offensive, rapidly kicking at Yang with a flurry of high kicks aimed at her head. She blocked all of them but they were coming out so fast that it was practically all she could do.

Yang tried to gain the upper hand by firing off Ember Celia at close range but Mercury dodged backward and shot a blast of air at her.

"Woah…" Yang said disoriented, up until this point she'd only seen him as a melee fighter, she had no idea he had ranged capabilities.

Mercury just smirked and began firing off air blasts in all directions until the hemisphere around the arena was covered in a circling cage of air visible air blasts.

While Yang was distracted Mercury dived in, landing a solid kick on her stomach and followed up with a swift rotated kick sending her flying upward. In the instant she hit peak altitude, he jumped up and slammed her hard sending her crashing into the arena floor in a crater. The combo didn't stop there as the moment Mercury landed beside her, the swirling mass of air shots had converged on a central point and came barrelling down onto the defenceless blonde in a grand explosion of damage.

"Looks like my teammate has taken victory…" Cinder said smiling to them.

"Hmph don't be so sure…" Hex shot her a devilish smirk

Cinder didn't respond as at that moment the arena erupted with the glowing hair and red eyes of one angry blonde.

"Oh fu-" Was all Mercury had time to say as Yang turned on him with full fury, unleashing her own damage back at him tenfold. The sheer power behind her strikes was overpowering him easily and it wasn't long before his defenses broke and he fell to the ground.

"And with that, Yang Xiaolong moves on to her next battle! What a way to kick off the finals!" Port announced.

"YEAH, YOU DID IT, SIS!" Ruby cheered as Yang stood proudly. It was at that moment however, something completely unexpected happened.

In that instant Yang turned on the downed Mercury and punched him hard in the leg, causing his knee to bend backward and eliciting incredible cries of pain.

Everyone on team ASHNRWBY stood mortified at the scene before him. They saw Yang standing looking confused and scared as the crowd around her booed viscously.

"MY WORD! Cut the cameras!" Port said as they cut the feed. No one had seen such a display of brutality before, all the audience members were exuding with negative energy at the scene they'd just observed.

Nova and Luna flinched, they felt it, a sudden, severe change in the world's natural flow. Never had such a mass of negative energy been exuded by one place in such a long time… if this didn't get under control fast, there would be hundreds... if not thousands of Grimm… all heading for one place…

* * *

**-On the opposite side of the arena, a few minutes earlier-**

"Is that one of ASHN's friends?" Krome asked trying to adjust himself in the seat next to his friend.

"From what I've heard they're actually part of the same team officially, though they're split in two for the tournament…" Ragnar responded as he observed the fight take place.

Krome tilted his head confused, "Huh?"

"Together they're called team ASHNRWBY, with two leaders, Nova Alexandrite Flareheart and Ruby Rose. Take a wild guess as to who my gut tells me is wolf doctor lady's son."

"Nova?"

"Correcto-mundo. He doesn't seem to be a wolf so I'm assuming his dad is a dragon or whatever they claim to be." Ragnar mused eyeing the arena, he had a bad feeling prickling on his neck.

"Oh yeah, Prince or whatever, and his sister Luna, a princess… go figure we fought royalty." Krome mused.

Ragnar didn't respond as he was now on high alert, his eyes glowing purple and blue. Krome saw it and went on alert as well.

"What's up?" the macaw Faunus asked.

It was at that moment that Yang won the match, standing proudly.

"Something's wrong, my semblance is picking up something off about the stage…"

It was at that moment he saw Yang punch a defenceless Mercury, but, to his eyes, things played out differently. There was a distinct haze around Yang, like a translucent phenomenon, like a mirage effect.

Krome gasped as the blonde bent Mercury's knee inward, "No way…"

"Calm yourself bird brain, I think there's more to it… I picked up on something rather… interesting just then…."

"Your semblance?"

"Yeah, I see it, there was some sort of optical illusion around Yang, I think she wasn't seeing clearly…"

"Think it has anything to do with our… mutual friends?" Krome asked referring to their traitorous ex-teammates.

Ragnar nodded, his gaze still fixed on the stage, "Definitely, I'll take this information to them, explain how my semblance works, we might be able to figure something out… if what that lady said was right, then they're also on the alert for stuff like this…"

* * *

**-White Fang Headquarters Vacuo-**

Onyx sat meditating in the training hall, he concentrated on the world around him, feeling the very forces of nature swirling, like invisible rivers of energy, bending to his will. The black crystal hung loosely around his neck began to glow, his entire body exuding intense levels of power, to the point where his own miasma like aura began crushing the very room itself

At that moment the automatic door opened. Onyx's concentration was broken and his eye twitched, "Who dares interrupt me at this moment."

It was Adam, "Master Onyx, I just received word from our team at Beacon, Cinder Fall has enacted phase one of the plan."

Onyx raised an eyebrow, his eyes themselves still closed, "Has she now? Well…" he suddenly stopped talking.

"Master?"

Onyx began to chuckle, "It seems she has indeed… and quite effectively at that…"

"What do you mean master?"

"I guess you wouldn't feel it now that you are no longer wielder of the Lunar Fragment, but I can feel it… oh yes indeed…" Onyx rose to his feet, a mass of black force that looked like stars in the night sky began swirling around his palm, "The negative energy… Cinder Fall has set off a spark that will escalate into a wildfire, to feel such tremendous negative energy this far away from Vale… RAAAHAHAHAAA!"

Adam flinched as the more excited Onyx became the more power he exuded, tendrils of dark aura whipping around, threatening to hit him.

"Adam, tell Torchwick down at the main facility to get off his ass, we make our move now…"

Adam bowed, "Yes, High Commander." With that, he promptly left.

"Nova Flareheart… I believe it's about high time we meet… face to face…" Onyx said darkly as he toyed with the mass of black energy as if it were a ball.

* * *

**Chapter was a bit short but, as of losing my glasses, I can't really see my own computer screen very well. Also since we're nearing the end of Volume 3, I want switch the rating of the fic from T to M. Not because I'm going to be writing any lemons, unless I actually get requests for that, but because the story from that point on is going to get pretty dark, some people may die and there are going to be some graphic scenes.**

**So let me know what you think about that change, do we stick with the type of stuff I do now, or do I actually start getting dark, cuz either way I don't mind, just if I'm allowed the free reign of darker themes then the story might get a little more intense. Unless you think gore and that type of stuff isn't worth setting the rating to M.**


	36. Chapter 36: Fall Phase 2

**Okie dokie, so from this chapter forward the rating of this fic is officially M.**

**In response to my latest guest reviewer, Hugh Jackman huh? That actually doesn't sound so far off, and Astrid's voice totally fits girl Nova, idk why I've never thought about that since, in case people haven't picked up on it, Nova and Luna's fish obsession is a reference to how much dragons like fish in HTTYD. They can eat what they want they just prefer to eat fish.**

**Thanks for the concerns and well wishes from those of you who were probably actually worried about my grandpa and uncle, especially you KawaiiMomoko-chan. Gramps is actually finally stabilizing but he's still stuck in the hospital.**

**AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: A Beautiful and wonderfully amazing person, TheRealRohan, did a super amazing sketch of Nova in his male and female forms. It's super cute and brings out Nova's male dorkiness. In my head, I always saw Nova as a super bishie type of guy, but this art style suits him so well, I love it. Anyway I can't exactly drop a link here, but head on over to my profile and the link to my twitter is there, I pinned the post so go take a gander. Again big thanks to TheRealRohan for doing this, it made me super happy.**

* * *

**Chapter 36: It's All Gone To The Grimm**

* * *

Lyme sat in a warehouse in Vale, the very one used by Torchwick during his previous stay, accompanied by the members of Team BLDE. They were held out on the docks, trying to distance themselves from Amity Colosseum and avoid unnecessary interactions. The building was barely repaired since Torchwick blew a hole in the side with a mech, the building itself was practically held together by bubblegum and duct tape. The only noise was the occupants breathing and the occasionally incessant dripping whenever it rained. It was a madhouse, to say the least.

"How much longer are we going to have to lurk in the shadowsss like thisss…?" Lyme asked, his tongue slithering out at his pronunciation. He twirled his blade in his hands like a toy, it was his only means of passing the time since the other alternative was literally just breathing.

Edan felt a vein throb, "For the nine-thousandth time, we'll be ready when High Commander says we're ready…" he seethed, throwing one of his spectral daggers at the snake-Faunus.

Lyme flinched as the sharp blade whizzed just past his ear, almost slicing his flickering tongue.

"Well, we'd be in a better ssspot if sssomeone didn't freeze up on the battlefield…" he retorted now gesturing his blade at Bell.

Edan's face contorted, " Yes… I agree… speak, little fairy, you've kept your trap shut since the fight, I think we all deserve some explanation…" he directed attention to her. Even Dune in his silent nature turned his head to view the expression of his blonde compatriot. He might be a mute giant, and even though most of his emotions were gone, he still cared for his teammates, Bell was like his little sister or daughter. He'd been with her the longest and felt concerned whenever she began acting odd.

"There's nothin' to say. I choked, that's it. It happens to the best of us…" Bell said not bothering to look up, fearing that her eyes would give away her true feelings. Dune let out a grunt and a puff of steam from his mechanical arms as if to say 'Are you sure? That doesn't sound like you?'

"See… that's where you're wrong. It doesn't happen to us. We were trained by the living incarnation of hell itself, there _is _nothing that can make us 'choke'!" Edan roared advancing toward her, holding her chin up with a dagger. Dune made a flinching motion, ready to act in case Edan made a wrong move, though he wasn't sure if he could, given his... recent enhancements.

Bell looked him directly in the eyes, "There are some things in this world more terrifying than hell. Maybe you should get your head out of your ass and acknowledge you got fucking be-" Was all she could say before Edan smacked her hard across her cheek.

"FEAR?! IS THAT WH-" He was interrupted when his communicator beeped, and just in time too because Dune was about to tackle him for hurting his friend. "WHAT IS IT?! Oh… Adam… it's ready? You want us to what? Are you fucking with me?" Edan looked incredulously before sighing, "Fine, we'll get it done."

The rest of BLDE looked at him curiously.

"That was HQ. It's time for phase two of the operation. Onyx wants us to infiltrate Ironwood's ship and commandeer it."

"Of all the ridiculousss… Did he sssay why? Or how?" Lyme asked.

"No, but orders are orders. As for how… I think I have a plan…" Edan mused.

Bell felt her blood boil. Blind orders, that's all they were given. No explanations, no details. Just carry out the mission and get it done. How much she wanted to.. "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Bell screamed in pain as a sudden surge of anger caused a migraine.

"What's the matter with you? Got something up your ass? Are you getting too soft to work?" Edan glowered.

Bell had just about enough, she walked up and grabbed him by the collar, bringing his face to hers, "You shut the fuck up weasel boy, if you think I'm soft then you must be a fucking marshmallow." With that, she slammed a fist into the wall next to him for emphasis.

Everyone recoiled, "Yikesss, you pissssed her off…" A dagger came soaring at him as Lyme spoke.

"Can it snake breath, we've got a job to do…"

* * *

**-Beacon Academy-**

Ozpin sat in his office chair, his hands clasped over his mouth. Of all the things he'd never expected, one of his own top students, his own hand-selected special operations unit, turning on a defenceless student in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

The members of team ASHNRWBY stood staring down General Ironwood, Qrow, Randolf and Ozpin in dead silence, atmosphere so heavy Nova could swear his neck was starting to hurt.

Yang, in particular, stood looking rather pensive and scared. Being the subject of inquiry and investigation was never a good feeling, she felt isolated and alone, like a murderer on trial.

"Miss Xiaolong, can you please explain your actions at the recent match?" Ozpin asked calmly, breaking the silence by addressing the elephant in the room.

Ironwood felt his brow twitch, "Oz, with all due respect, we shouldn't even be questioning her right now. She should be in custody for the uproar she caused!"

"YOU WATCH YOUR FUC-!"

"HEX!" Nova yelled stopping the purplette from digging a deeper grave. Hex simmered down and bit her lip, the sheer fury never leaving her eyes. It wasn't fair for Yang to be under the gun like this, even if the evidence said otherwise, even if Yang wasn't innocent, she'd fight the Atlas military ten times over if it meant peace for her girlfriend.

"James, I understand your concerns but I think that one of my own trusted operatives has a solid explanation as to what happened." Ozpin turned to Yang, "Please, Miss Xiaolong, I'd like to hear your side of the story."

Yang looked uneasy, "Sir, he attacked me!" you could tell she was serious since she called Ozpin sir instead of Oz. "He was down, the match was called but suddenly he came flying at me with a kick. Couldn't you see it?!" she asked, as if reality was less than what it was.

"Sorry firecracker, but thousands of people and recorded video footage says otherwise," Qrow said grimly.

Yang looked baffled, "But I swear to you! He attacked!"

"You could swear to me but could you swear on Summer's grave that's what happened?" Qrow asked, deadly serious. Yang and Ruby went wide-eyed.

"With Summer Rose as my witness I swear that's what happened..." Yang said without a shred of doubt.

Qrow breathed a sigh of relief, he knew his niece wasn't a psychopath, he just needed to be sure...

"She's clearly delusional, I'll have my men escort her out…"

"Ironwood you give the order and I swear to you, you will find burn marks where your hands should be," Nova said dangerously, his patience had all but worn out.

"Do you have any idea what you're implying?" Ironwood asked folding his arms.

Nova's face was stoic, "I know very well, and I also know that I have the upper hand. I can write up this altercation as merely a disagreement and no one in this room would testify against me."

James flinched, "Oz would never…" he looked to the headmaster but the man was looking the other way.

Nova smirked, Ozpin knew his priorities, his most highly trained soldiers with the power to level an army at will, or relations with Atlas. The choice was simple.

"James, I suggest you keep your peace and think of a more rational solution. If Miss Xiaolong says she was attacked then more than likely she was… or there was something else going on."

"We already have suspicions on the victim, Mercury Black's group. It's not that far off that somethings happened out there that we weren't aware." Randolf sad calmly.

"Have you all gone mad? Concrete proof is right there in the videotapes, the witnesses!"

"The tapes could be altered; witnesses were too far away to say that Mercury didn't pull something that only Yang could see. Case in point, I'd like to refer to the match with Emerald and Mercury against Coco and Yatsuhashi." Nova said trying to be reasonable.

"Yeah! There was a clear use of illusions!" Ruby piped in bringing up the evidence.

"We've done the analysis on the fight as well, Mercury's semblance is the use of those air blasts, so illusory abilities would have to fall under Emerald's power unless Mercury is the only person in the world who has two semblances, Emerald did something in that fight," Luna said pulling up evidence of her own recording of the fight.

Ozpin and Ironwood studied the footage, "Even if what you are saying is true, there is still no concrete proof, I'd be basing judgment on your words alone…" Ironwood said finally easing himself. Hex and Nitro resisted the urge to punch the man, he was too proud for his own good.

"I think we-" James was interrupted when the door to Ozpin's office opened up, revealing Glynda and two boys following behind her. She strut forward with purpose, ignoring the curious gazes of Team ASHNRWBY.

"Glynda, this is rather important, I instructed that all other matters be placed afterward," Ozpin said.

Glynda pushed up her glasses, "My apologies sir, but I believe this one here has some valuable information…" she turned around to reveal Krome and Ragnar behind her. "This one here is Ragnar Faux, he has a very special semblance."

Ragnar stepped forward, eyeing the persons present, much to his surprise were the rest of team ASHNRWBY. The Dragon Prince himself standing at the forefront, like a guard protecting his team.

"Sir," Ragnar stood at attention.

"Mr. Faux, what is it that is so important it warranted Glynda to interrupt our meeting?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"Headmaster Ozpin sir, my semblance is what I call the Fox's Eyes, it allows me to detect anomalies." He responded, glowing his eyes for proof.

"Anomaly detection? Elaborate..."

"I can 'see' most people can't. Ranging from ultraviolet light to heat distortions and aura, even when it's inactive. I can see when a person uses their aura in their bodies and how it moves, for combat it generally allows me to predict an opponent's moves." He explained.

Everyone was now intrigued, "And how does this pertain to our situation?" Ironwood asked trying to avoid time wastage, he regarded his own student as someone he'd never even seen before. It said a lot about the General's involvement in the detailed work that was supposedly beneath him.

"General Ironwood sir, during Miss Xiaolong's match, there were two distinct aura activations outside of the combatants. On Yang's eyes, it wasn't her aura, because its colour differed, it clouded her eyes like a veil. The second was in the stands, I'm not sure who but, the aura colours on Yang's eyes and the one in the stands matched."

Nova smiled, "There's your proof Ironwood. Yang is innocent." He turned to Ragnar, "You were from the Atlas team we fought right? Thank you…"

"You did a good thing by bringing this to our attention." Ironwood commended, "What academy are you from again?"

Krome and Ragnar both deadpanned, "We're from Atlas sir..." Krome spoke up.

Everyone in the room felt a sweat drop, "Ahem yes, of course, I knew that I was just allowing you to inform the room..." Ironwood coughed into his fist.

Ragnar pretended to ignore that comment, "I'm just doing my part. Anything to get back at those traitors."

"Thorian and Gale, yeah we have a few bones to pick with them to…" Nova mused.

"A few?" Nitro quirked his brow.

"Okay more like several hundred, can we get back to matter at hand?" Nova gestured to Yang who looked slightly more relieved.

"Yes, well, the semblance of someone is still no concrete proof, even if you are considered an eye witness. The world believes that Miss Xiaolong turned on her downed opponent and sparking controversy now would just incite more negativity. And we all know what that brings…" Ozpin said grimly.

Yang flinched, "So… what is going to happen to me now…? Can't I just be free to go?"

"Sorry, Miss Xiaolong but I think it best if James places you under dorm arrest." Ozpin nodded to Ironwood.

"Arrest?! BUT SHE'S INNOCENT!" Hex was furious, she had fully lost her patience with these 'authoritative decisions'.

"Be that as it may, having her freely walk around would be detrimental to the health of the tournament. We're just having her stay in her dorm under guarded protection until the matches are over."

"You do realize we're playing into their hands right? We're just dancing to their tune and there's nothing we can do about it!" Blake finally spoke up. The whole time she'd been terrified to speak given her… record.

"The orders of your superiors are given for your benefit. You will comply or I will have to… enact on your previous record with The White Fang." Ironwood said playing the card. Blake shrank back.

"How did you…"

"Classified."

"Threatening my friends James... I'll remember this." Nova said his eyes trained on the General, they were both now locked in a staring contest.

Ruby desperately tried to defuse the situation by making apologies but they went unheard as the two leaders were locked in a staredown as if one move was all it took to begin pulling weapons on each other. Ozpin watched in dismay, "Calm down you two... we're all on the same side here..."

Their staring contest was interrupted when James received a message on his earpiece communicator.

"This is Ironwood. Yes, wait what?!"

All the persons in the room suddenly halted their thoughts and observed him curiously.

"You are sure? Escort them to my ship immediately and throw them in the brig, it's our best holding cell for now. And tighten them on maximum security."

Ironwood turned to everyone else, "It seems we have just had a stroke of luck."

Now everyone was doubly curious, "How so?" asked Ozpin.

Ironwood smiled, which was strange, "It seems our enemies have turned themselves in."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes, four persons, two of which match the profiles of the ones Nova and Luna fought during their duos match, have just turned themselves in," Ironwood said almost… happily. The fact that he even looked excited made Nova feel queasy.

"James you just… arrested them?" Qrow asked stupefied.

"Yes. I've had my men place them on my airship in the holding cell under maximum security."

"Why would they even turn themselves in?! Why now?" Weiss asked trying to use her brain to come up with a reason.

"Why didn't you put them in Vale's prison?" Nova turned to the general. His eyes narrowing in contemplation.

Ozpin sighed, "Earlier last night there was a fire at the prison, the majority of the cells were torched, and no before you ask none of the prisoners got hurt or got out, the cells were thankfully all empty." He said.

"Oh! Well that's one good thing… right?" Ruby asked trying to be optimistic.

Nova sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Unfortunately Ruby, that doesn't put me at ease."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. A fire breaks out in the prison rendering it unusable, someone, probably Emerald, messes with Yang's fight and causes chaos, then Team BLDE just turns themselves in? These things can't be a coincidence." He reasoned.

Ozpin grimaced, "Yes, I'm getting that feeling as well. James is there any alternative to your ship?"

"My ship has the highest maximum security cell in all of the fleet. I will have several highly trained teams on the job to look after our captives. It is the most secure place in Vale." He said proudly.

"Ironwood I don't think that's what Ozpin means…" Randolf sighed.

"Huh?"

"Getting on board your ship was probably the one thing they wanted in the first place…" Hex said with realization.

"Be that as it may… we don't have any other choice…" Nova grimaced, "Ironwood I sincerely hope your security is as good as you say… for all our sakes."

* * *

**-Amity Arena-**

"AND NOW FOR THE NEXT BATTLE OF THE VYTAL TOURNAMENT'S FINAL ROUND!" Port announced over the PA system.

"We will now begin the random selection process." Oobleck continued for him.

Nova and Ruby sat with their team in the stands while they awaited the candidates for the next battle. Hex, Blake, and Luna had been keeping a special eye out for Emerald or the other members of her team while Nova and Ruby focused on trying to spot other potential threats. They were given access to the camera feeds for the back halls and Hex installed her own devices throughout the outer arena for extra coverage. Ragnar and Krome were in the stands as audience members to spot out potential threats. They had the entire place on lockdown, any suspicious activity was to be caught the moment it went live.

"Any sign of them?" Nitro asked his eyes trained on their rows.

"Nothing… wait… The camera feed outside is picking up some anomalies," Hex said checking her equipment to ensure it wasn't glitching.

"Anomalies?" Nova asked.

"It's like I'm seeing the same loop of video every twenty seconds, I didn't notice it at first but… there's like this one scrap of paper in the corner of the screen that occasionally moves a few centimetres backward and forward…"

"Ruby." Was all Nova had to say and she nodded. The two team leaders calmly got up from their seat and made a straight line for the hallways with intent and purpose.

The halls were empty and barren, devoid of all other persons since, everyone wanted to see the match.

"And the candidates are… Pyrrha Nikos and…. Minor technical difficulties… PENNY POLENDINA!" Came the distant sound of Port.

"Oooh, Penny is going to fight! Aw, I don't want to miss this…" Ruby pouted, "But we have more important fish to fry."

Nova paled, "Ruby wait…" he held his hand out to stop her.

"What is it?"

"Penny is an android girl, right? As in made of metal bits?" Nova asked hoping she was at least half-human.

"Yup, one hundred percent metal, and she's going to fight… Pyrrha…" It slowly dawned on Ruby. "WE NEED TO GET HER OUT OF THERE! PYRRHA DOESN'T KNOW!" she made a mad dash backward but Nova held on to her.

"RUBY! FOCUS! Penny can take care of herself! We need to focus, if Cinder's team is down here then we need to stop them. If we stop them and whatever their plan is then we stop the madness."

The red leader deflated, her game face now coming on, "Right. We need to… focus…" her eyes began focusing on something in the distance.

"What is it?"

"Mercury?" Ruby asked, the question not being directed at Nova.

The dragon turned around to see Mercury Black, walking good as new, no evidence of breakage or damage to his person, as if his fight with Yang was just a bad dream.

"Hmph, some injury you got there, it's so bad that you can actually walk on it?" Nova asked sarcastically.

Mercury didn't say anything. He just smiled and stood before them.

"What's the matter? Did they fix your leg but cut out your tongue?" Nova asked now growing impatient.

"Why don't you just admit it. We know what you've been planning. Your allies at Team BLDE have already turned themselves in… so I suggest you do the same." he said now becoming very very irritated.

"FIGHT BEGIN!" Port announced in the distance.

Mercury now took up a stance, "Showtime…" was all he said before rushing at Nova with blinding speed.

Nova made a move to duck past him but Mercury blocked instantly.

"Ruby! I'll handle this guy, the fact that he ain't saying anything means he's probably trying to stall. Get to the arena NOW!"

"But…"

"RUBY, I PROMISE I WILL CATCH UP TO YOU LATER! JUST GO!"

She hesitated for a moment, but shook herself off, she needed to be serious, this was a matter of life and death. "RIGHT!" She saluted and burst off with her semblance. Mercury made a move to stop her with his air blasts but Nova parried them by throwing Asura.

"Don't you dare touch her! Your fight is with me…"

* * *

Back at the arena Penny and Pyrrha had already begun brawling. Penny drew several floating blades from behind her, they were all about the size of long swords, but with one sharp edge, each patterned with a green omega symbol. They seemed to float on air and were controlled by Penny's movements, in reality, they were strung together and operated by almost invisible wires.

The android girl began a complex blade dance by maneuvering her hands and guiding the blades to strike Pyrrha in a hailstorm of swords.

The red-headed champion expertly dodged and deflected them all while simultaneously closing in the distance, however, the deflected blades were not out of the fight. With one swift motion, Penny summoned the blades calling them back, almost blindsiding Pyrrha. The champion's reflexed proved to be too good as she evaded all the swords again, this time they forced her back.

Now Penny was on the full offensive, attacking Pyrrha in a deadly flourish, forcing her to use both her spear and shield to block.

Pyrrha attempted to make a close-range strike but it was easily blocked by Penny who then made an attempt to counterattack with her blades, only to miss by a hair strand.

It was like hellfire in the arena for Pyrrha as Penny suddenly began shooting lasers from her swords, as if their range wasn't already deadly enough.

On one end of the stadium, Emerald stood, cloaked in her semblance, "Keep fighting Miss Champion... I think our robotic friend deserves a little... help..."

* * *

Back with Nova he and Mercury had been fighting on relatively equal grounds. Nova was holding back but not by choice. If he started using his powers here then he'd probably roast the infrastructure and start an unnecessary panic. He couldn't let the people above know that there was a fight going down outside the arena. Thus he was forced to go back to his vanilla combat skills, something that Mercury seemed very well versed in.

"You're pretty good at fighting for a bad guy…" Nova commended as he drew Asura and dashed toward Mercury, the ninjato blade ready to carve through only for it to be met by the steel boot of his adversary.

"And you're holding back. Come on, spit those flames you're so proud of, or are you afraid of the… collateral damage?" Mercury smirked sending a flying kick at him.

Nova easily dodged, "You're just stalling for time. Come on, tell me, what are you trying to gain from causing all this panic?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

"Really? That's a shame, I thought we were finally warming up on each other here. Hey, a few more words and we could be besties," Nova said with a fake smile that caused Mercury to puke internally.

"Ew, that's actually disgusting, please don't ever do that again."

"Do what? I thought I was being the epitome of niceness." Nova did it again. This time Mercury actually physically gagged.

"Holy shit how the fuck do you fake a smile like _that _?! I almost thought you were being real!"

"It takes fucking practice, that's what. Now, how bout we end this little charade hm?"

"See now _I _want to spend more time with you…"

Nova grimaced, the clock was ticking, he could feel it. Seconds were counting down on the invisible clock of doom, he needed to be faster.

* * *

Ruby barely made it to the arena in time. On the stage, Penny and Pyrrha were still locked in heated combat.

"Woah… Penny's fighting style is incredible… are those wires?" the red leader marvelled as she observed the android girl skilfully manipulate the blades to the point where Pyrrha was on the defence entirely, being forced to dodge at all angles as laser blasts and blade swipes came down like a futuristic butchering machine.

"AH THIS IS NO TIME TO BE OOGLING! I NEED TO FOCUS!" She slapped her cheeks, and petal burst over to her team.

"Ruby! Where's Nova?" Luna asked concerned.

"We met Mercury in the back halls, Nova's handling him. He sent me back because he thinks now that he's occupied there might be trouble. Any sign on Emerald?"

"RUBY ROSE!" A new voice screamed, scampering toward them, it was Ragnar.

"Fox kid? You got anything?" Nitro asked, remembering about the boy's semblance. Ozpin had placed him in the higher stands to get more coverage.

"Opposite end of the arena, directly in front of us, aura being used, the same kind as when Yang fought." Ragnar panted, clearly exhausted from barrelling through hundreds of people on his way to find them.

"That's all you had to say. RUBY GO!" Hex yelled.

"BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE OUT WHO IT IS IF THEY'RE CLOAKED?!" Ruby yelled frantically.

"Brown shirt, blonde hair, green eyes." Was all Ragnar could say before Ruby zipped off.

Back in the arena, Pyrrha was having the most taxing experience of her life. One of the toughest matches she'd ever fought before, the last one being against Nova himself. She'd slowly been driving herself mad with exhaustion. It felt like there were more than eight swords, it was beginning to feel like ten, then twelve, as if they were just adding up.

She finally managed to get away from the continuously multiplying swords, now standing at one end of the arena, staring down Penny.

The android girl smiled cheerily as she raised her swords, ready to strike at Pyrrha again.

In Pyrrha's eyes, however, there were no longer eight swords… there were hundreds. An entire armada of sharp blades all lined in perfect order, ready to execute at Penny's command. It terrified her.

Pyrrha felt her brain beginning to lose it's cool as panic set in. She was going to lose, or potentially die. The sheer amount of swords couldn't possibly be tournament regulated, could they? Why wasn't anyone saying anything?

The fear and panic began welling up inside her until she snapped. The moment Penny threw her swords, Pyrrha unleashed her semblance, more than she'd ever used before. A wave of polarity struck the android girl and her swords like a shockwave, sending them flying back in the opposite direction, except… things didn't happen as Pyrrha had expected.

* * *

Outside on the rim, Ruby had barely made it to the other end in time, desperately searching for the person Ragnar described. But, that person was nowhere to be found.

"COME ON! EMERALD WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Ruby practically shouted over the roar of the crowd, and, suddenly that roar died into a simultaneous gasp of shock and some even screamed.

Ruby robotically turned her head to see the wires of Penny's swords whip around her arms and legs like rope. It was as if she was watching it happen in slow motion, the wires gripping on to the fabric on the unsuspecting Polendina's body, and painfully, slowly, ripping the very limbs from her.

It was like watching a horror movie, as the sword wires tore off her arms, legs and eventually… her head. All Ruby could do was watch in absolute terror as the life in Penny's eyes died out, leaving a scared, traumatized Pyrrha in the ring, instantly regretting what she'd done. Ruby could see the red-headed champion shaking in fear, trembling as she resisted the urge to vomit her insides out at the scene, at the act she'd just committed.

The world around Ruby droned out as she felt fear and despair dropping over her like a boulder, dragging her down. Panicking people, emergency announcements, all of it became dull noise as she stared at the gruesome scene before her.

"Aw, looks like you didn't make it in time~" Came a feminine voice causing Ruby to whip her head around.

Emerald stood smiling, her hands on her hips, "Too bad, that Penny girl probably deserved it though…"

"EMERALD!" Ruby felt hot tears sting her face as she felt the fury inside her build. She liked Emerald, despite all the evidence against her, she wanted to believe that Emerald was still a good person. Any thought like that shriveled up and died in that one very moment.

Emerald faked hurt, "Aw don't blame me~ After all… you failed to get here in time…" she said darkly. And just as soon as Ruby blinked, she was gone, just the faint laughter in the wind. The red leader just fell to her knees in utter despair.

* * *

Nova heard the screams up above, "What's happening? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Mercury smiled, an evil, sinister grin, "We've only just kindled the wildfire we started. This school, this system, you and your kind, it's over."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you get it? The mass panic of hundreds of thousands of people..."

Nova paled, "You... you're bringing the Grimm right to us!"

Mercury laughed, "And not just a few..."

Nova heard enough, with one swift motion he reared the flames of his scythe, the Fragment of Fire in the eye of Asura glowing hot from its owner's rage. The stone which had been held dormant since its acquisition was beginning to awaken.

The dragon swung the blazing scythe in a wide arc, cleaving the very steel pillars in half and simultaneously welding them back with the intense heat, the roar of the fire shooting at Mercury, consuming the hallway in a blaze.

Nova panted heavily from the recoil, having used his power in such rage, it consumed a great deal of energy. The fires of the hall died down just as quickly as they came, only to reveal an empty hallway, with no sign of Mercury,

"FUCK!" Nova cursed as he punched the wall next to him. _ARGH, I Don't have time for this... Ruby just hold on, I'm on my way..._

As Nova made his way back to the arena he could hear Oobleck screaming "BROADCAST! CUT THE BROADCAST!"... that wasn't good...

But the broadcast didn't cut, instead, Oobleck's cries were replaced by the voice of a woman Nova now considered to be literally godforsaken. "This was not an accident..." Cinder could be heard through a nearby speaker, causing Nova to momentarily stop.

"Shit..."

"This is what happens when hand over your trust... your safety... your children... to men who claim to be our guardians...who are... in the end... nothing more than men." Cinder continued.

"Yikes girl, you sound like some radical feminazi..." Nova rolled his eyes as he listened. The world was falling around him but hey, at least he could stop to critique her speech.

"Our headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both..."

"James fucking Ironwood... well even if she is a conniving bitch, I'm with her on the hatred for Ironwood..." the dragon mused.

"And what do we have here? One nation's synthetic soldiers torn apart by another's star pupil? What need does a nation have for soldiers disguised as innocent little girls? And what is Ozpin teaching _his_ students? First a dismemberment? And now this? AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE SO-CALLED ROYALS HUH? The 'Prestigious Dragon Family' they disappear for almost a decade, contribute nothing to politics, and show up now? When it's convenient for them? They're just weak abusers..."

"OH BITCH YOU DID NOT!" Nova felt his blood boil, "I've heard enough..." Nova shot the speaker with his sniper. _Cinder Fall... I'm coming for your throat..._

* * *

**Chapter's a bit shorter than I wanted but I didn't want to drop all the balls in one sitting you know?**

**Anyway, til next chapter, you beautiful people you.**


	37. Chapter 37: Beacon is Burning

**When I told my sister that one of my readers thought she sounded like Vanellope von Schweetz she literally fell on the floor in a fit of laughter. She felt flattered so it's safe to say she likes the way I've written her character.**

**Early chapter sorta, I have a quota to fill for next week Wednesday.**

* * *

**Chapter 37: It's All Gone to Shit**

* * *

The entire arena was in chaos. People flooding out of the doors like swarms of insects, crowding the once empty halls until there was barely any breathing room. Nova was forced to fight tooth and nail to get through the mass of people, all heading in the opposite direction from him, away from the center of the conflict.

Nova imagined the state of the arena, he'd expected complete chaos and disarray, students yelling and panicking, professional huntsmen trying to organize them, but what he saw upon arrival was much worse.

Pyrrha was knelt on the floor staring at her hands in shock and dismay, the members of Team ASHNRWBY minus Yang were barely trying to simultaneously get people out.

"ALERT! Incoming Grimm Attack, Threat level nine!" The system's voice sounded, driving further panic and chaos.

While Ironwood made desperate attempts to organize the evacuation, Nova's only concern was the seven people that were in the middle of it all.

"Hex, give me a status report. What's our current situation?" Nova asked finally turning up to his team.

Hex began desperately checking her devices, "It says here multiple accounts of Grimm heading our way, expected to breach our defences in… *SCREEECH*" her words were halted when a piercing animalistic cry was heard from above them.

All heads in the arena turned skyward to see a massive Nevermore pecking and clawing away at the shields that protected the arena's sky.

"How did it get through our defences?!" Coco said from the side of them, the other members of CFVY were with her, ready at any moment.

"It wasn't alone…" Ren said grimly.

"Fuck! Nitro, Hex, we don't have time to wait around. Cinder was right about one thing and that's the ineptitude of our leaders. We've never needed permission to do anything so you know what I mean when I say, get to it." Nova held a solid, steel gaze.

The two adopted siblings nodded, "Prioritize evacuation and security. I've already hacked access to the gates and shuttle docks, we'll get everyone out safely." Hex said furiously tapping away at her laptop.

"I'll handle the defences in case of emergency," Nitro said nodding. Within moments they were gone, the distinct shouting of the red-headed teen filtering people through the doors. If there was one thing he was exceptional at, it was being loud.

"Perfect, has anyone seen Ruby?!" Nova asked looking at the rest of his friends.

"She went to find Emerald, on the other side of the ring…" Blake said gesturing, Nova could barely make out the faint red and black hair in the distance. He sighed, once she was okay.

"Blake, Luna, I'm going to need you to get Yang then find mom. She can't fight and more than likely she's still in her lab. Weiss, I'm going to need you here with us, if that Nevermore breaks through, there's going to be more than one."

"But…" Luna wanted to protest but that look in Nova's eyes said no arguing. He'd gone into full commando mode, his brain working overtime to plan ahead and organize. This is what made him a great leader, his ability to command.

"Understood." Blake nodded.

"Luna, I promise you, when this is over, we'll meet up at the CCT Tower." He placed a hand on her shoulder, his face held no wavering.

She wiped her eyes, "You better not have anything broken or I swear I will break the rest of you."

Nova smiled, "Wouldn't have it any other way. NOW GET GOING!" the two girls stormed off.

Weiss waved back, "I'll keep him from doing something stupid!" she yelled as the disappeared, the last thing they saw was Luna holding a thumbs up.

"Mister Nova, your highness sir," Krome said walking up with Ragnar in tow. "What should we do?"

Nova almost choked on his own breathing, "Please don't call me 'sir' or 'your highness' or even 'mister'… please…"

"Ah right… Nova?" Ragnar tried to amend.

"Good, and are you willing to take orders from me? I'm not your leader…" Nova looked bashful. The two friends gave each other a knowing look.

"Mist- Nova, we're not combat strategists, and our own General doesn't even know who we are, let alone act in his current state. Out of everyone here, you are the most capable of handling things." Ragnar said folding his arms.

Nova rubbed the back of his head, "Alright then, if you're fine with me… I'm going to need you two to head down to the ground with the others, Thorian and Gale are still missing, they're not up here or we'd have found them already. More than likely they've already fucked off with Cinder and the rest. Your primary objective is providing ground support, most likely the Grimm will be coming in droves, the military will need all the help they can get. If you find the two snakes, you make some new shoes."

The two friends grinned, "Aye-aye captain Flareheart." Krome saluted before they also made their way out. The dragon watched them scamper off before sighing. His head hurt like someone stuffed a drill in his brain. It was primarily due to all the confusion, first Cinder and her squad screws up all their communication systems so public alerts were minimal, Grimm were swarming the gates like no tomorrow and to make matters worse, he was hungry.

Nova dipped around the arena, the incessant hammering of the Nevermore's beak was like a resounding drum of doom, pounding to the ticking clock of catastrophe.

"RUBY!" he called out to his girlfriend, but she didn't move. Nova immediately grew concerned and rushed over, to the kneeling girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Ruby are… you alright? Love, what's wrong?" Nova asked taking her face in his hands and tilting her head to face him. He was shocked to see her face stained with tears, an overwhelming sadness layered in her eyes.

Ruby sobbed violently, "I-I-I didn't make it in time… P-Penny she's… she's…" the red leader pointed to the arena.

Nova followed her finger to see the scrapped pieces of the once Penny Polendina laying there on the floor mere meters from Pyrrha. His head felt stiff as his muscles refused to move, the sight of the fallen girl was beyond anything he'd expected.

"Oh… god… what the fuck…" Nova looked on mortified. Penny was an android, she may have been made of metal, but she was just as much of a real girl as the rest of them.

Nova pulled Ruby into a tight hug, rubbing her back as she let out her frustrations, soaking his shirt.

"If…If only I hadn't been so slow… so hesitant. I could've…" Ruby stammered out unable to contain her sorrows.

Nova sighed, "Ruby, you couldn't have predicted this would happen. It isn't your fault this happened, blame those that started this chaos… but now isn't the time to be crying…" he kissed the top of her head.

She looked at him confused, her tear-stained face searching for answers. Nova used his thumb to wipe away the tears, "Right now the world is falling apart…" he gestured his head for her to look up. She turned her head to see the pecking Nevermore, slowly making a dent in the shield above them.

"What… how… when…"

"Questions later, right now we need to get up and defend this place. Then we're going to find Cinder and those responsible for this and give them send them straight to hell…"

Ruby sniffled and wiped her eyes, Nova helped her to stand. "Right!"

* * *

**-On Ironwood's ship-**

Team BLDE were in separate holding cells, isolated behind doors of steel casing and vacuum locks. When they offered themselves up, they were disarmed and stuffed inside tiny rooms that were not much bigger than a walk-in freezer.

"It's really fucking cramped in here…" Bell complained as she shifted around the small holding cell. "How you doing big guy?" she called hoping her voice reached through the walls.

Dune let out a loud grunt in response.

"The décor in here isss ssso tacky… and bland…" Lyme hissed as he shuffled around.

"Well it is a prison snake breath, what'd you expect? A five-star hotel?" Edan asked sarcastically.

"Well… one would be quite niccce."

*Crash* *Rattle* The entire ship shook violently and the sound of storming soldiers could be heard, shouting and cannon fire followed after.

"Hear that, boys? Looks like it's showtime." Edan smiled in his cell. "Atlas soldiers are so fucking stupid, they think just because we don't have our weapons we can't break out of here…" With one sift punch Edan smashed into the wall denting it… but not breaking it.

"OW FUCK!"

"You tried to punch the door didn't you…" Bell said.

"Wass thisss your plan? Punch through the prissson?"

"Well it _WAS_, until I just learned these doors are made of lined steel and dust reinforcements…" Edan said rubbing his sore arm.

"Great… now we're stuck. Great plan field commander, deserves a prize." Bell said sarcastically.

Suddenly the doors were open to reveal an Atlas soldier wielding… a parasol?

Team BLDE stepped out confused, "Uh…" Bell started but was interrupted when the soldier suddenly transformed into a pink and brown-haired girl wearing a matching white outfit.

"Oh, I know you! You're Torchwick's henchwoman, right? Neopolitan... or whatever..." Bell said with realization.

Neopolitan nodded with a smile, then she curtsied.

"Where are all the guards?" Edan asked looking around.

Neo made a decapitation gesture then pointed her parasol to the mound of robot corpses off the corner of the main ship's room.

"Right… um… is there anyone left alive on the ship?" Bell asked now garnering a sense of fear for the cute pink-haired girl before her.

Neo pulled out her scroll and tapped out a message, '_Haven't raided the bridge yet._'

"Right, well let's commandeer this vessel?"

* * *

Team BLDE and Neo burst through the doors to the control room where several humans were operating various stations and what looked to be a dog Faunus operating the ship's steering.

"Alright… let's get to work…" Edan said, and with one swift, silent motion spectral daggers whipped through the air and sliced the throats of all the humans to their side. Their bleeding corpses dropping to the floor, pooling red liquid around them from the wounds on their throats.

The daggers ripped through multiple people without them even realizing it, a silent assassination, up until the pilot turned his head just in time to see his comrades drop to the floor.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" The dog Faunus said, his eyes wide with fear.

"Ship's under new management…" Edan said smiling as he reared the daggers, ready to kill.

Bell and Lyme's eyes went wide, "BUT HE'S A FAUNUS!" she protested.

Edan felt his brow twitch, "So?"

"WE DON'T KILL OUR OWN! Humans are fair game but don't touch our brethren, it's not our way!" she protested.

"Our way?! He's an Atlas soldier, he's with the worst of them all…"

Bell bit back her urge to drive her fist into his face. The White Fang didn't kill other Faunus, even if they were the enemy. The only exceptions were the Royal family, but they were traitors… She couldn't let this man die… it didn't sit well with her.

"If you kill him we'd have no one to pilot this ship!" Bell protested.

Neo looked on in amusement as Edan's face contorted. Fighting amongst themselves, just like animals.

"It can't be that hard to fly a ship…"

"You botch this and Onyx will have our heads. We need him alive…"

Edan hesitated, he wanted to sink his daggers into the man's throat so much… but he had to resist. She was right.

"Fine… you there… you get to live…, turn this ship ninety degrees to the left."

The trembling pilot refused to budge. Bell walked up and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down to face her, "I just saved your fucking life so either you comply to us, or we find the fucking manual… got it? Please…" Bell whispered that last part.

The man's eyes widened as he realized what she was trying to say. She'd saved his life, she stopped her commander from killing him. He had no choice.

Reluctantly he moved the controls and the entire ship was felt as it turned around facing the other ships in the fleet.

"Clear the path." Was all Edan had to say before Neo cutely waltzed up to the control panel and pushed a few buttons, cannons on the ship came out in full force and, in one fraction of a second, tore the rest of the Atlas fleet to shreds. Explosions erupted around them as almost ten ships went down in a blaze of metal and fire.

"Bell, radio Onyx… tell him the fleet is down, send in the armada."

* * *

**-Amity Arena-**

The hammering of the massive beak was growing louder and louder, more incessant as if the Nevermore was growing impatient.

"That's a three-layer dust shield, it's not going to break through that any time soon…" Sun said confidently as he gazed at the bird. At that point, the Nevermore flew high into the air and Sun paled.

"You just had to open your fucking mouth…" Neptune cursed as the bird reached maximum altitude.

Jaune saw it's trajectory, "PYRRHA SNAP OUT OF IT NOW!" He yelled but to no avail. Instead of trying again he jumped out of the stands and made a mad dash to the red-headed champion.

"JAUNE!" Nora screamed as her leader barely made it in time to knock Pyrrha out of the way of the oncoming Grimm. The great bird-Grimm crashed through the shield, shattering it like glass and cratering onto Penny's body.

"Pyrrha, you need to get a hold of yourself. What happened here today isn't your fault!" Jaune shook her as the giant Nevermore loomed in the background, regaining its composure from the crash.

"He's right. The ones who are responsible for this are Cinder Fall and her team… so right now, I say we fight back." Ruby said as she and Nova climbed into the arena herself.

Pyrrha stood, still shaky as she tried to steady her feet. "But…"

"Pyrrha, suck it up and get into gear," Nova said almost harshly.

"Nova!" Weiss gasped at his tone.

"No… he's right. I don't have time to sit around."

"What about our weapons? We don't…" Sun mentioned as he realized the only ones equipped were Nova and Pyrrha.

"Rocket lockers, it'll literally take two seconds…" Nova rolled his eyes and everyone almost facepalmed at their own forgetfulness.

Within moments several lockers crash-landed into the arena as everyone equipped their weapons. The sleek, shining body of Crescent Rose was hard to miss in the reaper's hand.

"SCREEECH!" The Nevermore cried as if to say 'Don't fucking ignore me!', at least if Grimm could speak let alone use swear words.

"That's one giant bird…" Neptune pointed out gauging it.

Sun chuckled, "There's one of it and like twenty of us…"

The Nevermore flew into the air and began showering the arena in a layer of feathers, in return, everyone began firing back with their ranged attacks, but they were to little effect since it's hide was too touch.

"Ugh, I've got some steam to let off…" Ruby grunted as she spun Crescent Rose in her hand and readied it in a reaping position.

"Ruby what are you…" Nova faltered when she disappeared ina flourish of red petals, then reappeared mid-air, firing off Crescent Rose and using the sniper's recoil to boost her further until she was practically eye to eye with it. In one swift motion, she hooked the blade around its neck and fired off using the recoil to sever the head as she did during her initiation.

"Did she just…" Sun said in awe as Ruby dropped back down in a smooth landing.

"God I love her…" Nova said dreamily as she cheerily waltzed up to him and placed a hand on his chin, then kissed his cheek.

"Close your mouth love, you're drooling." She said, the rush of battle making her momentarily forget the situation. It came back in almost an instant, however, and her face immediately did a one-eighty.

"We don't have time to waste right now, we have a city to save." She said sternly gesturing to all the other dumbstruck students.

"Right… Ruby, can you handle things here?" Nova asked taking her face in his palm. She nuzzled her cheek into his hand.

"Yeah but… where are you going?"

"Pyrrha and I are going on ahead, we need to get to Ozpin… I have a plan." Nova said.

"Then I can come with you! Together we'll…"

"No Ruby. Not this time. I need you here, someone has to lead them, and since you're the only other person here that knows who we're up against… Once you clean up the Grimm up here and secure, secure a transport shuttle and head down to Beacon, I'll come find you," he said almost regretfully. "Besides, you have Weiss with you."

"I'll keep the dolt in line, you just do what you have to do." The heiress responded looking to them.

Nova nodded then turned to the red-headed champion, "PYRRHA!" he called, dragging her from her inner turmoil.

She looked at him quizzically, then with determination, "What's the plan?"

"I know you still haven't made the full decision yet but… in this situation Pyrrha…" he said referring to her choice to become a Maiden.

She held a steel gaze, "There's no other choice. I'll do it…"

"Right… let's go… Jaune, you too." Nova said gesturing to the blonde.

Jaune nodded, in confirmation. They were just two seconds from leaving when Ruby called out, "NOVA WAIT!"

The dragon halted almost instantly as a burst of rose petals slammed into his chest. Ruby stood gazing up at him, "I… I can't just let you leave what… what if…"

Nova smiled and cupped her face, "I promise I'll be back. We'll meet up afterward when all this is over. I'll come find you…"

She gripped his shirt tightly and buried her face in his chest, "I can't lose you…"

"And you won't… besides I'm me, who the hell is going to stop a fire breathing dragon?"

Ruby laughed, "That cockiness is going to get you in trouble one of these days…" and before Nova could respond she leaned up and kissed him firmly on the lips, pulling his head down and deepening it. Nova wrapped his arms around her and melted under her touch.

"There's more where that came from so you better get your ass back in one piece," Ruby said with a smile as she broke the kiss.

Nova smirked, "Just my ass? What about the rest of me?"

She hit him playfully, "Get outta here you crazy dork." She pushed him away. He waved final goodbye before they parted ways.

Ruby turned back to the rest of the students and now general Ironwood as they congregated in the center. "Right… now back to business…"

The party of students moved outside now, there were a couple of ships left standing, one was already primed and awaiting passengers, it seemed to be Atlas military grade. Ironwood made a move to step out to the platform and everyone stared in shock.

"General... Ironwood?" Ruby asked, "What are you doing?"

James turned the mass of students, "It seems to me that this battle is no longer winnable... The way I see it... you either have two choices, stay and fight to defend your school, or save yourselves."

Ruby looked mortified, as did the others. The famed General Ironwood was running, with his tail between his legs, like a coward. "You can't just leave! People are dying, we need you and the military now more than ever!"

"And you will have my soldiers, but right now... it seems we have some... unexpected company..." he grimaced looking skyward. "I suggest you turn and get out of here now... before it's too late."

"What do you mean…?" Sun asked.

"That's what he means…" Ruby said pointing to the skies. They all turned to see a massive warship, twice the size of the Atlas battleships, looming in the skies above them, it was black, with a red White Fang symbol painted on its' port side, alongside it were several other ships counting on five, smaller than the others, about the size of regular bullhead, but all bearing the same symbol.

"What in the name of…" Neptune gawked.

At that moment James stepped onto the shuttle and took off, leaving everyone to stare in despair as the proud General of the Atlas Military was turning tail.

"Come on... we can take a ship to Beacon..." Sun said as they all moved to find another ship.

"Ruby… this situation is getting dicey, Blake sent me a message, there's hundreds of Grimm in Vale, the walls have been breached and Atlas synth soldiers are turning on the huntsmen…"

Ruby nodded and pushed Weiss, "It doesn't matter, Nova and the others are still out there, we're going to support them." just then her scroll beeped. It was a call from Nova.

She answered the scroll almost immediately, "Nova? What's…."

"RUBY! I don't have time, there's been a change in plans, you get on a ship and get the fuck out of here!"

"What?! I don't understand I thought…"

"RUBY LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE! This is no longer a fight we can win! GET ON A SHIP AND GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL COME FIND YOU-" He was cut off as the call dropped.

"Ruby come on! The ship's leaving!" Sun called to Weiss and Ruby.

The red leader was hesitant, she couldn't leave… but she had no way of getting to Nova, the last shuttle out of here was her only way off and it wasn't heading to Beacon it was heading away from the fight…

"Ruby, we don't have a choice… either stay here and die or we get out and live. Nova's strong, stronger than any of us. He'll be fine." Weiss said, tugging on her partner's arm.

"But…"

"No. Ruby you heard him. We need to leave… NOW!"

Ruby just groaned in frustration and followed Weiss to the hanger.

* * *

**-Earlier with Nova, Pyrrha, and Jaune on the ground-**

The grounds were teeming with Grimm, all shapes and sizes ranging from Beowolves to Ursa Majors, and the occasional Goliath. It was panic and utter chaos, soldiers, students all fighting tooth and nail just to survive. On top of it all, there were explosions, Grimm attacking generators and power supplies around Beacon, everything was going up in flames.

"Bloody hell, it's all gone to shit!" Nova said in horror as he viewed the scene before him.

"How are we going to proceed?" Jaune asked as she sliced through an oncoming Beowolf.

Nova studied his surroundings, "We take the East wing, loop around the courtyard."

"I don't think that's an option..." Pyrrha said as they both observed the raging flames of the east wing, Grimm and students locked in heated combat.

"That's too many of them, I could roast them all but there'd be collateral damage..." Nova said pensively, "Alright, through the other side of school it is..."

"How exactly are we supposed to get to Ozpin through that mess?" Jaune gestured to the scene before them, burning buildings, Grimm and death everywhere.

Nova shrugged, "The Ozpin will be in the highest room in the tallest tower, we fight the biggest elevator that goes up and then head down instead, Oz is most likely hold up with Amber in the basement."

"Who's Amber?" Jaune asked curiously.

Nova and Pyrrha shared a wary glance, "She's... ugh that'll take too long. Just trust me on this and follow along okay?" the dragon said feeling bad for the blonde boy. He was being kept out of the loop.

The two made their way across the school, cutting down every Grimm in their way, at least, that was the case until White Fang soldiers started showing up. They came in droves, swarming the hallways and grounds like ants. They weren't all Faunus, there were quite a few cybernetic soldiers as well.

"What the fuck?!" Nova exclaimed as he and Pyrrha ducked out of the way behind large pillars to avoid gunfire. "WHITE FANG AND GRIMM?! WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS?!"

"Aren't they afraid of the Grimm? Why choose now to attack?" Pyrrha asked genuinely confused.

Nova sighed in frustration, "Because it seems our common enemy has decided to show up themselves, instead of letting the Grimm do all the dirty work."

"What do you mean?"

The dragon leader grimaced, "It's too much to explain..." he said as a rain of bullets whizzed by their heads, "The short version is, the White Fang and whoever started this attack with the Grimm are working together under some union or something, I'm not exactly sure what's going on myself, all that matters is that they are our enemies and they're in our way..."

Pyrrha was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Alright... but why aren't the Grimm attacking them?"

"I'm afraid of the answer to that question..." at that moment he looked up in the sky and spotted the armada of ships, all tearing apart the Atlas fleet like they were paper, and Nova paled. There was only one possible person in the entirety of Remnant that could be on that ship...

He frantically pulled out his scroll and dialed, ""RUBY! I don't have time, there's been a change in plans, you get on a ship and get the fuck out of here!... RUBY LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE! This is no longer a fight we can win! GET ON A SHIP AND GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL COME FIND YOU-!" He never got to finish his sentence his scroll was shot out of his hands by a stray bullet, fortunately it wasn't broken.

Pyrrha observed her friend's pale expression, the visible sweating on his forehead. It wasn't anxiety or anger that was forming in his eyes. It was fear.

And at that moment she realized, if something out there made a dragon with the power to incinerate an army, afraid, then she most definitely felt it.

"WHOEVER SHOT MY SCROLL IS GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" Nova yelled as he picked up Pyrrha's shield, catching the red-head by surprise.

"Nova what are you..." she was caught off when he literally set her shield on fire and tossed it like a frisbee, taking out the entire group of soldiers that had them pinned down, then catching the shield as it ricocheted back.

The dragon looked baffled as he caught the shield, "Holy shit... I didn't actually think it would work..."

"Impressive as that was... we need to find a way to break through, more Grimm are pouring in from Vale, it's only a matter of time before we get completely overrun." she pointed out.

Nova bit his lip... then he was struck with an idea, he pulled out his scroll and pressed the contact MR.

"Who're you calling?" Jaune asked confused.

Nova grinned, "Backup."

_"Nova Flareheart. I was waiting for this call..." _the twisted voice of Mortus Noir was heard over the scroll.

"Noir, I need a favor, can you and your gang back up my friends in Vale, try to limit the amount of Grimm getting into Beacon itself, it's getting pretty rough out here with all the evil Atlas soldiers and White Fang to add to the equation..."

"_It is done." _with that, he hung up.

* * *

**-With Blake and Luna-**

"ARGH! What is with all these Grimm?!" Blake screamed as she cleaved her way through three Beowolves. "They're like rats! Or insects!"

"Hey don't say that I know at least one good Faunus who's a rat." Luna pouted as she swung her great battle axe and leveled several more Grimm. "Have you gotten through to Yang yet?"

"I'll try again..." the cat Faunus shrugged and pulled out her scroll, she'd been dialing Yang for the last ten minutes but hadn't gotten a response, "Well... twelfth time's the charm..." she dialed.

"BLAKE?!" Yang's voice screamed through mere moments after she dialed/

"YANG! Oh thank Oum you're alright. Where are you? I've been trying to get a hold of you for like, forever!"

"Sorry, but what the hell is happening? I just had to fight off fifty Grimm and the robot guards outside my door suddenly started shooting at me!" the blonde yelled over the phone.

"I'll explain later, just meet me at the... Mess Hall? It seems like the closest thing to us right now..." Blake said looking around for another suitable location.

"Right!"

The black cat Faunus turned to Luna, "Think you can get to Elain by yourself? I'll go regroup with Yang and then meet you back to provide support." she said.

Luna nodded, "I can handle myself, just get to Yang and you two get out of here, I'll come find you at the CCT Tower like Nova said." the blue dragon said.

"Get out of here? We need to stop the Grimm!" Blake wanted to protest. Luna grimaced and pointed skyward.

"I don't think this is a fight we can win right now..."

Blake paled upon seeing the White Fang fleet, "Oh shit..."

Once the two sprinted off in their opposite directions, Blake made a direct line for the cafeteria, cutting straight through any Grimm in her way. "It's like an endless swarm!" she yelled as she struggled to break through the thick horde, barely managing to stumble through the doors of the cafeteria. Instead of finding it in one piece, however, she found it in several.

Tables and chairs were in splinters, the banners of the walls burning like the flames of hell. A massive hole in the wall where the other entrance should be. Blake faltered for a moment, gazing around. Who would have thought, in all her years, she'd see the once-great Beacon Academy up in flames. This Academy was her place of solace and respite. She'd finally found a peaceful life for herself, with friends she cared about, people who were like family to her. They'd made so many memories in this cafeteria, precious memories that were all just... smoke and ash.

"Blake!" Yang yelled as she raced through the hole in the wall, pulling her partner out of her stupor. "What's going on?"

"It's all gone to shit, Cinder... they... they won. Their plan succeeded, we failed..."

"Of course you failed... what else could you expect when you make enemies out of Master Onyx?" A sinister male voice said as a man in a familiar sleek black suit, bright red hair and a white Grimm mask waltzed into the room.

Despite the temperature of the room, Blake felt her blood turn to ice, her bones chilled like she'd been stripped of her flesh and thrown into the snow as she faced an all too familiar visage. "Adam..." was all she could bear to utter out.

Yang turned wide-eyed as she saw their familiar foe, the face of a man who beat Nova to a bloody pulp, the man whose face she hoped to never see again. "Why are you here?" she said readying Ember Celia.

Adam chuckled, "To pick up my favourite old friends, the two dragons and their pet cat." he sneered.

"How about you pick up that sword of yours instead and shove it up your ass!" Blake hissed, drawing Gambol Shroud.

"Ooo... the kitty has claws... why don't you try doing it for me?"

"Gladly..." Blake said before rushing at Adam, head-on.

The red-haired man said nothing as he stood still, waiting for her to draw in close. "Blakey, Blakey, Blakey... when will you learn, the direct approach isn't always the right one..." In almost an instant he drew his sword, faster than either of them could blink. Blake was struck down and batted aside like a tennis ball.

"ARGH!" She screamed in pain as she skated across the hall, writing in pain as her body grazed the floor.

"BLAKE!" Yang screamed in horror as she watched her partner go down. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" the blonde roared, launching herself into the air, crashing down like a comet.

Adam just laughed, "Hot-headed and stupid. Taking the same route as her... you both have so much to learn..." he batted her aside like she was nothing but a waste of time to him.

Blake screamed out to her partner "Yang! Get out of here! Go get Nova!"

Yang got up from the floor, wiping the blood from her bleeding lip, "We can't keep relying on him to fight the stronger enemies for us, Blake!"

"YANG NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO BE TRYING TO PROVE SOMETHING!" her words fell on deaf ears as the blonde charged again, in the same pattern as the last time. Except, now her aura was dry...

Adam didn't even move from his position as the brawler's fist came flying at his face. The moment she was in his range, he drew his sword again, with timing and precision, as if the world around him was in slow motion. Blake watched in horror as the blade sailed through the air and cleaved right through Yang's arm like it was butter, severing it from its owner, bone and all.

"AAAAAAAAARH!" Yang screamed out in pain as she crumbled to the floor, blood spewing from the severed limb, exposed marrow and arteries squirting out blood like a fountain, bathing her body in the sticky red substance.

"This is what happens when you defy the White Fang..." Adam said darkly as he walked up to Yang, the girl now unconscious from blood loss. He made it so his body was blocking Blake's line of sight before he knelt down and spilled a few drops of some unknown liquid onto Yang's wound, the bloodied flesh began to sizzle and steam until the bleeding stopped, the hand was barely a stump. He then kicked her harshly off to the side, feeling her ribs crack against this shoe.

"ADAM! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Blake screamed as she struggled to get up, her body weak and unmoveable in her state. To her, it looked like Adam had inspected her friend and tossed her barely living body across the room like a ragdoll. She felt hot tears sting her eyes as she reached down and pulled out her scroll, dialing for Nova.

* * *

**In the original series, they took a ship to Beacon together, and Weiss and Blake weren't even with Ruby at the arena, which I didn't really like, it's a little too chaotic for my taste. **

**Anyway, the next chapter which I will hopefully finish by Friday, Nova vs Adam, round two... and much more...**


	38. Chapter 38: The Unseen Backstabbing

**This specific portion of Volume 3, these next couple of chapters, I've been looking forward to writing since the moment I started this fic. I've been planning this shit for the entire time now and I'm finally being able to execute it.**

* * *

**Chapter 38: The Greatest Enemies Can Be the Ones Closest To You**

* * *

**-Vale City-**

The streets were broken and gritty. The once pristine, clean and grand roadways of the proud city of Vale were barren and destroyed, like a broken piece of fine art, simultaneously tragic and painful to look at.

Grimm were swarming the streets, spilling from breaches in the wall like ants from a broken nest. The monsters of darkness, tearing apart and ravaging everything in their path, be it man, woman, child, plant or statue, none were spared from the onslaught.

The huntsmen who were in the city were struggling to clear the massive horde as, like a Hydra, for every Grimm that was killed, two more took its place. A never-ending cycle of pain and death, such was the state of the once jewel of the continent. The very symbol of peace in the world of Remnant was in flames, beaten and broken beyond repair.

Hex held back her gag reflexes as they passed mounds of dead.

"HELP ME! PLEASE, SOMEONE! ARCK!" a young male voice cried out causing the party of four to turn their heads in the direction.

Nitro was gone in a flash, his semblance and thrusters activated in mere fractions of a second as his fist curved around the corner of the dusty street to plough a Beowolf right through the head. His instinct to protect was on overdrive in this barren wasteland that was once a city.

"Nitro!" Hex called as she, Krome and Ragnar rounded the corner to meet him. "What's going on? Did you find someone?"

"HEX STAY BACK!" Nitro yelled stopping them in their tracks.

"What's wrong?" Krome asked concerned, peeking his head around the corner to see the horror before him.

Nitro's head was looking away, his eyes closed, as the black smoke of the fallen Grimm dissipated around him. On the ground, at his feet was the half-eaten corpse of a boy, not much older than twelve. His eyes were staring up at the sky where the Beowolf had once been, all life, gone, as one would expect when their torso had been ripped open.

Hex grew curious and rounded the corner herself, and barely managed to choke back her sobs as she had to take a moment to empty her lunch on the floor. "Oh fuck… he's… he's"

"I didn't make it in time…" Nitro cursed as he fought back the tears. He couldn't allow himself to feel negative emotions, not now.

Krome and Ragnar were silent, in their time, they'd seen many deaths like this, Beowolves liked to toy with their prey when they weren't feeling pressed for time. Tearing their torso's open so they could get to the lungs first, crushing the windpipe and diaphragm, waiting for their victims to suffocate for air before finishing them off.

Krome spat on the floor, "Disgusting fuckers, whatever sickening god or demon made these monsters… I hope they pay for the sins these creatures are wracking up…" he clenched his fist in fury.

"We can't just leave… him… here…" Hex choked out, unable to look at the sight lest her emotions take over her completely.

"And do what Hex?! DO WHAT?! BURY HIM WITH THE REST OF THE DEAD?" Nitro exploded, his repressed emotions were finally coming to light. "News flash Hex, there isn't anywhere _TO_ bury him."

Hex couldn't hold it in anymore and broke down on the floor in a sobbing fit.

"Hey… look, we can see about giving the dead their respects once we get the bastards that caused this in the first place, alright?" Ragnar said trying to comfort the sobbing girl.

"Uh… guys?" Krome said gathering their attention. "Looks like we have company…" he pointed down the street.

They all turned to see several what looked to be White Fang soldiers and robots from Atlas barrelling down the street.

"Fuck, get up Hex, we've got work to do…" Nitro said readying his gauntlets.

"Hey, we might not have to look!" Ragnar said pointing to the adjoining street. A pack of Beowolves, most likely drawn to their location by the negative emotions, were about to collide with the White Fang pack.

"Oh sweet, the Grimm will just…" Krome's words died in his throat as the moment the two enemy groups met there was a momentary pause where the White Fang looked terrified they were being blindsided by Grimm.

That momentary fear died as the Grimm looked at the soldiers, suddenly their eyes flashed red, like they'd been given a command from a hive mind, and turned away from the soldiers and headed directly for Nitro and the others. The soldiers were confused at first but then went along with it.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Nitro exclaimed as the now merged combat squad of Grimm and White Fang were heading toward them, claws and weapons raised.

"I am so done with this bullshit!" Krome screamed in frustration as the four of them dived headfirst into the mass.

Nitro blew through four Beowolves in a single punch but lost his footing when his semblance made him slip and collide with uprooted asphalt from the broken street. The one downside of having frictionless surfaces is that on broken terrain, there was a high chance of collision.

Nitro flinched and brought his arms up to protect his face as three Beowolves pounced on him.

"OH NO, YOU FUCKING DON'T!" Krome roared as he zipped through the air and sliced through the group with his blades.

Nitro watched in mesmerization as the macaw Faunus gracefully executed the Grimm then roundhouse kicked two soldiers.

"You alright there pretty boy?" Krome asked as he helped Nitro to his feet.

Nitro blushed, "Ah… yeah… thanks for the save."

Krome smirked, "Anytime gorgeous," which caused Nitro to mentally stall. He'd never been actively flirted with before and this was entirely new to him, not that it was a bad thing.

"OI! No flirting on the battlefield!" Ragnar and Hex simultaneously yelled as they passed by with bullets firing behind them.

"R-Right…" Nitro turned, now he and Krome were standing back to back as they took turns rotating, knocking away soldiers and killing Grimm in the process. It felt like their enemies were never-ending.

Once the Beowolves and soldiers were all either dead or knocked out they collapsed in a heap, exhausted.

"Holy shit that was exhausting… how many more of these guys are there? Nova expects us to take down all of them?!" Ragnar said heaving his lungs out.

"We… don't… have… time… to sit around…" Hex panted, wresting her weight on Loki.

Nitro looked at Atomizer, the shiny steel was now dirty and scratched, the armor plating was beginning to dent and he could feel the plates creaking inward. The jet booster fuel levels were also pretty low.

The moment they were all finally breathing normally again, Griffons came flocking in around them on the rooftops, Ursa began swarming the streets to their flanks and they could hear the distinct flapping of a Nevermore in the distance.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nitro said, his eyes closed as he leaned his head against the back of Krome's.

"Yup," the macaw Faunus said, popping the 'p'.

"How many?"

"Counting at least fifty." Hex said sounding exhausted.

"Pffft those are chump numbers…" Nitro responded though he felt like he wasn't prepared to go any further.

"Chances of us getting out of this alive?" Krome asked, glancing around at the enemies closing in on them.

Hex looked at her scroll and crunched some numbers, "negative 0.023%"

"How the fuck did you get negative probability?"

"I didn't calculate it… that was sarcasm…"

"Right…"

….

"HELLO CHILDREN!" The high pitched and all too familiar voice sounded off from the distance. The Grimm and team all halted their movements to turn and see Mortus Noir, standing proudly in his black coat and plague doctor's mask. His startlingly white cane was tapping up beside him as he calmly strutted toward the monstrous horde.

"The cavalry has arrived!" He announced loudly.

"Who the fuck…" Ragnar looked on in confusion as the lone man waltzed up to the backline of the Grimm, several Griffons were ready to attack.

"Mr. Noir look out!" Hex yelled as the attackers swooped down off the buildings and darted like bullets toward him.

Noir calmly stood still and ungloved his hand, touching the Grimm's mask as it came within his reach. In an instant, the Grimm's body turned rotten and brown, before crumbling to dust.

"What the fuck…" Nitro looked on in awe as the entire army of Grimm switched targets to the newly perceived threat.

"Oh, dear children, please cover your mouths, noses and shut your eyes, and stay exactly where you are, don't move an inch." Noir instructed.

"But… there's too many we need to…"

"I'd really hate for something to happen to you miss Magenta, so please do as you are told."

The team shrugged and complied.

"Good… now then…" Noir pulled off his mask and un-gloved his other hand. Under his mask was a sickly twisted smile, like a psychopath dipped in his fantasies.

"The mask isn't to protect me from the world… it's to keep the world safe from me!" He cackled madly as he reached his arms into the air and his body began to glow with a slime green aura that emanated outward like a wave of light, except it wasn't light. The Grimm that came within range of the aura instantly began to rot and decay as if they were perishable food left in the sun for too long. Their bodies began to swell and pustules and growths began forming on their blackened hides until they were completely riddled with disgusting deformities.

The Grimm then began to crumble to the floor as their flesh warped and rotted away, eventually fading to dust as they dissipated in black smoke.

"Well now that, that's over with…" he calmly placed his mask back on and re-gloved his hands. "You may now uncover yourselves children."

The four did as they were told and got up to greet their savior.

"My apologies, I have a very… volatile semblance…" He said with a hint of pride.

Ragnar gazed around at the Grimm and managed to spot one rotting away. "What the hell did you do?"

"My semblance is The Black Plague. My aura generates a disease around me that causes disgusting cancer-like growths to form on any living thing I touch or within the range of my aura's casting ability." Noir explained.

"Oh, so that's why you wear the mask and the suit?" Nitro said realizing.

"Indeed Mr. Zephyr."

Krome deadpanned as he watched the interaction. "Can someone please explain who the fuck this medieval basket case is?"

"Ah yes, I am Mortus Noir, owner of the Chateau Noir, underground crimelord and friend of Nova Flareheart, at your service, other friends of Nova Flareheart." Noir did a mock bow.

"Nice to meet you…" Ragnar said hesitantly before leaning over to Hex, "You sure this fruit loop is Nova's friend?"

Hex chuckled, "Yes my leader has some very… unique allies."

"Hey, Mr. Noir. Could you do whatever you just did over the whole city? Wipe out the rest of the Grimm?" Nitro asked thinking on it.

Noir sighed, "Not the brightest in the bunch are you, Mr. Zephyr."

"Huh?"

"He said his semblance was uncontrollable. Meaning he'd also probably kill any living huntsmen, huntresses or un-evacuated civilians in the process." Hex said folding her arms.

"Correct you are Ms. Magenta. There's also the factor of my aura, while I have not tested this, the range I can cast my semblance is limited by my aura reserves, and I was not born with very much…"

"Oh well… that sounds both… fortunate and unfortunate…" Ragnar said realizing the implications. It meant he couldn't exactly conduct a wide scale assault should he ever chose, but it also meant that even if he lost complete control over his semblance it would only affect a specific area and wouldn't last very long.

"Indeed, the disease of my semblance only lasts as long as I have aura. Helps in case I accidentally infect one of my men, I just shoot myself until my aura depletes and hopefully they survive until then."

All four students shuddered at the twisted way of solving his problems.

"Speaking of which… where are your men?" Hex asked.

Noir sighed, "When the Grimm struck, many of my men were taken by surprise and struck down, the ones that survived I ordered them to evacuate. They refused to leave me un-protected so I shot them all with tranquilizers and loaded them onto an airship."

"Why didn't you keep them around? Why are you even here?" Krome asked eyeing him.

"I refuse to let my men die meaningless deaths. I'm here because I have a duty to uphold the wishes of my saviour and prince." Noir said proudly.

"Uh…"

"Long story birdman…" Nitro sighed.

* * *

**-Onboard a ship heading to Beacon-**

"Nova said to get out of here…" Ruby said turning to the rest of the students. They all looked at her intently, like she was the one who was going to lead them in the coming battle. A commander or a general, that was what Ruby Rose had become.

"And are you going to follow up on those instructions?" Coco Adel asked, tilting her sunglasses down to eye the red leader.

Ruby quirked her brow, "Fuck that. We're heading straight for the fight whether he wants us to or not!" she raised her fist.

"YEAH!" The students roared following her. Weiss looked on in wonder at Ruby's ability to command so easily. She was a natural-born leader, and she took control when she needed to.

Weiss looked out the window, observing the fleet as they passed by, when she spotted something, two ships, one passenger, like theirs, and another one, Atlas grade. She'd thought all the Atlas ships were destroyed by the fleet of White Fang ships, it was a welcome surprise.

"Hey, it's one of ours!" Weiss said pointing to the oncoming Atlas battleship. "Wait… what's it doing?!" she exclaimed in horror as the battleship turned port side to face the other passenger ship.

"No… it's not…" Ruby mouthed as the Atlas ship turned all its cannons around and fired a barrage of lasers at the passenger ship, melting it in seconds.

"Rogue ship?! With that many armaments?! How?! When?!" Neptune exclaimed as he pressed his face against the glass.

"Holy shit if that thing heads for us we're toast!" Sun said biting his fingers.

"Toast? We'd be fucking charcoal!" Coco yelled.

"What are we going to do Ruby?" Weiss asked turning to her leader, but the girl wasn't there. "RUBY?!" the heiress watched as the leader opened the airship door and stepped onto the deck.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU DOLT?!" Weiss said in a panic as she followed her leader out.

Ruby held a stoic gaze as the ship came within range of them. Her eyes trained on the enemy, locked on.

"What are… RUBY WHAT THE FUCK?!" Weiss again screamed as Ruby made a mad dash across the deck, springing at top speed right off the rails, sailing through the air like a rose-petaled, sniper propelled missile, heading directly for the enemy ship

Weiss paled as she observed her leader's actions. "Nova Flareheart… your girlfriend is going to be the fucking death of me…" she sighed before sprinting at full speed herself and using gravity glyphs to launch herself onto the battleship, landing beside Ruby.

"Did they just…" Sun said looking outside to see the two land safely on the enemy ship.

Coco stood up, "They're buying us time. Come on, we're heading to Beacon…"

* * *

"Ruby Rose, of all the insane, hair-brained ideas you've ever had, this has to be the worst. That being said… let's get this done." Weiss said drawing Myrtenaster.

Ruby smirked and readied Crescent Rose, "Glad to have you onboard bestie,"

Weiss just rolled her eyes and smiled. "Let's find out who's in control of this shit…" Weiss said as they were ontop of the massive airship. The entire outer hull was like a flat expanse in of itself.

"Looks like we got company…" Ruby said as she looked up to see flocks of Griffon swarming above them.

The duo began attacking left and right, cutting down any that flew low enough to be in their range. It wasn't long before a hatch opened on the far side of the vast expanse, and four figures emerged from the depths of the ship.

It was the entirety of Team BLDE.

"When I saw one of our own ships attacking passengers, I should've known it was you…" Ruby spat as she glared daggers at the four. A fifth emerged behind them, a girl in pink and brown, a familiar face from their prior exchanges. "And… Neo? Was it? Of course, you're here to…"

The pink-haired girl curtsied cutely which made Weiss quirk her brow in annoyance.

"Ah, little red, and heiress to the company that's the enemy of all Faunus kind… great…" Bell said looking annoyed as well.

"When I found intruders on the literal top decking of the ship, I thought, who in the world would be fucking insane enough to stand on a high-speed flying airship surrounded by Grimm? Low and behold it's Ruby Rose… here without your boyfriend this time?" Edan said looking around for Nova.

"Nova's got some more important business to take care of right now…" Ruby seethed not bringing herself to look away from her enemy.

"Yesss… he'sss probably preoccupied with Adam and the High Commander right now…" Lyme hissed with a dangerous smile.

Ruby's eyes widened, "They're here too?! So that's why the White Fang is here…"

Weiss squinted her eyes, "Five of you to take on the two of us? I'm honoured…"

"Two of you? Oh no sweetheart, I thought you'd brought your pet lizard well, at least one of them. Seeing it's just the two of you… well it hardly deserves even one of us…" Bell smirked.

"Oh you little blonde bitch…" the heiress seethed. She was prevented from making a move however when the larger White Fang ship rose from the depths of the sky and pulled alongside the Atlas battleship.

"Great… now what…" Ruby said starting to regret having jumped off the ship in the first place.

"Red! And the Schnee!" The familiar voice of Roman Torchwick boomed as he appeared from the other ship.

"TORCHWICK?!" Weiss looked incredulously as the criminal casually strut over his ship and jumped onboard the next.

"I get a message from Onyx that the ship we stole needs an escort and imagine my surprise when he sent me here… for you two…"

"Okay, why do I get the feeling we bit off more than we can chew…" Weiss said nervously looking at the six enemies before her.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah I'm starting to get that feeling to… hehe… look at it this way, at least it can't get any worse…?"

Weiss flinched, "Oh you just had to say…" *ROAR!*

A deafening cry, of a large creature, was heard shaking all of the people on board the ship, forcing them to cover their ears as massive dragon-like Grimm came swooping overhead, bellowing with all its might.

"A FUCKING WYVERN?! YOU JUST HAD TO OPEN YOUR BIG MOUTH! NEVER. EVER. Say those words, Ruby. EVER!" Weiss screamed and stomped as everyone gazed up at the massive creature.

"Alright, how are we going to do this? Are you going to come at us one at a time like honorable terrorists? Or is it going to be like some all-out brawl…?" Weiss asked bringing attention back to the matter at hand.

"Oh, we're just gonna straight up…" Roman never got to finish his sentence when a loud voice echoed over the speaker system of the White Fang ship.

"_Is this thing on? Oh good. Seems you've all gathered here…"_ the dark, deep voice of Onyx boomed over the speakers.

Now everyone was confused.

"High Commander Onyx?" Edan voiced up, now that the wyvern had quieted down, the entire air was still.

"_Yes, field captain Edan. It's me._"

"Sir! Where are you?" Bell asked looking around for signs of her commander.

The voice chuckled, "_Down on the ground, going to pay my old friend a visit. Imagine how he'll react when I tell him his friends got exploded by a self-destructing ship…_"

"Self-destructing…? Sir?" Edan asked confused. Ruby and Weiss shared wary glances.

_"Yes, well you see… field captain Edan, Roman Torchwick… you've outlived your usefulness…_"

"Excuse me?! What was the point of dragging me to your base if you were just going to kill me?!" Roman screamed looking horrified, Neo looking terrified as well.

"Sir! We've done everything for you! You can't just… betray us like this!" Bell said horrified.

Lyme had fallen to his knees, feeling defeated, while Dune couldn't say anything.

"I_ have not betrayed you… I've simply… taken the necessary steps to ensure my plans… succeed. Roman, your usefulness fell once we were done using you to rally troops to our cause. You can be quite charismatic… your ability to organize the squadrons to enact this operation was pivotal, but that's all you were needed for…_" With that, the speakers cut off.

"COMMANDER YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Bell cried out, falling to her knees beside her friend in despair.

Torchwick, on the other hand, was having none of this, "Neo, we are getting out of here. I'm not sure how but there's got to be an escape craft or something…" he wandered out into the open looking for a way off the ship. The moment he did so however, the massive dragon came swooping down and made a dive for him. Torchwick barely managed to dive out of the way, not before his right leg and cane were torn right from his body, leaving a bloody stump.

Everyone looked on in horror as the once passive swarm of Grimm above them suddenly turned aggressive, and like a swarm of locusts, rushed at them in droves.

Bell was forced out of her stupor and brought up her shield to defend her friends while Edan used his daggers to try and kill as many as he could.

Dune let out a barrage of Gatling punches, trying desperately to beat off the oncoming swarm, while Lyme shot corrosive green venom at them.

Ruby and Weiss held their ground as they were attacked from all angles, while they were defending the downed Roman with Neo trying to tend to his wound.

"Red… you're… helping me?" Roman said in surprise as Ruby slashed through an oncoming Griffon.

"Criminal as you are, you're still a victim of this situation, just as we are… you have a right to pay for your crimes… in a court of law!" she grunted in frustration as she struggled to swat away another Grimm.

"This… feels… weird…" Roman said flinching as Neo tried to tie a makeshift bandage around his bleeding leg.

"There's too many of them!" Edan yelled as he struggled against four at once, his aura running dreadfully low.

"I can't hold…" Bell squeaked as she lost the strength in her arms, a Griffon swooped down and ripped the shield from her, sending it spiraling off the edge into the endless sky.

"FUCK!" Lyme yelled as he used the last ounce of his aura to dissolve as many Grimm as he could.

Just as they were finally getting through the swarm, a massive explosion occurred rocking the ship. They all turned to see the back end of the ship, the engines, had exploded in a violent blaze. The ship was beginning to lean and lose altitude.

"OH FUCK WE'RE GOING DOWN!" Roman yelled as he felt the ship begin to tilt. A second explosion occurred, this time, it was the White Fang ship that was parked alongside theirs. The force of the explosion sent the occupants of the battleship scattering around, separating them all.

Ruby was sprawled alongside Weiss, she struggled to stand as her ears had gone slightly deaf from the noise.

"WEISS!" She yelled looking to her partner.

"WHAT?!"

"Grab on to me, we're getting off this thing!"

"HOW?!" The heiress looked baffled, "We're like thousands of feet in the air!"

"JUST CLING ON TO ME AND DON'T LET GO!" Ruby yelled as the air around them began to rush as the ship began to fall. Weiss did as she was told and latched onto Ruby's back.

The red leader spared a glance back at Torchwick and the others, she wanted to help them get off but… it was either them or her and Weiss… so she made a choice. Ruby jumped off the side of the ship and began using Crescent Rose's recoil to slow their fall at periodic intervals. Weiss saw her idea and made a make-shift parachute out of ice and tried to let that slow them down.

Back on the exploding ship, a fire was beginning to overtake the deck as both ships were beginning to fall.

"NEO!" Torchwick yelled as the descent began. The ice-cream themed girl looked to her mentor and father figure. "Get out of here, you have your umbrella thing… use it to float yourself down…"

She shook her head, tears coming out of her eyes as if to say 'What about you?'

"Don't give me that look. You and I both know I'm too heavy for that thing… besides… you can't carry a one-legged man now can you?"

Again Neo desperately shook her head and clutched onto him, refusing to let go.

Roman sighed and grabbed Neo's umbrella and placed it in her hand, "Fine, help me to the edge…"

Together they crept to the edge of the barely airborne ship. Just as they were about to jump off, Roman forced the parasol open and shoved Neo hard off the edge. The ice-cream themed girl could only watch in horror and despair as the sad, smiling face of Roman Torchwick stared back at her, as he waved his last goodbye, his face disappearing behind the clouds as she floated further down, helplessly.

A massive explosion shook the ship again, the fire had made it's way tot the fuel supply. They were losing more and more altitude by the second, and with no safe way of getting down, Team BLDE were stuck on the surface of the ship.

"Isss thisss how it endsss?" Lyme asked, barely able to believe the reality.

"I fucking knew it… we were being played from the start… that bastard Onyx… Nova was right, we are nothing more than tools to him…" Bell spat as she slumped down on the deck. They could begin to see the ground now… and all Bell could feel was pure regret… if only she could have changed things…

"If master Onyx wills our death… then so be it…" Edan said almost emotionlessly.

"You can't be fucking serious… even after all this?!" Bell wanted to get up and smack him… but it wasn't worth it. They were all going to die anyway.

Suddenly Bell was pulled into a massive hug by Dune. His thick arms wrapping around her small frame.

"Dune? What're you doing? Hugging at our last moments?" Bell smiled looking up at the big beetle man.

Dune shook his head, and… for the first time in years… spoke, "All… life… I… do… bad… I… mess up… Now… I… do… good… " all of them looked wide-eyed at him. He'd never spoken in all their time they'd known him, besides Bell. They'd thought he'd gone mute from the enhancement surgeries…

"You can talk? Wait… what do you mean…" Bell said, then she realized where Dune's back was positioned. It was facing the back of the ship, and as the ship began drawing closer to the ground it tilted so that his back would hit the ground first.

"No… you can't! DUNE NO!" Bell began to struggle out his grip

He just looked at her, and the first emotion to grace his face in years was a sad, longing smile, "Bell… good… person… good… friend… thank… you…" those were his last words as Bell screamed and pounded at his chest to let her go, tears soaking his shirt as flames overtook the world around them. The moment the ship hit the ground, the earth shook with the massive explosion.

* * *

**-Beacon Campus Grounds-**

The trio was busy carving their way through the intense masses of Grimm and soldiers when Nova received a call on his scroll. It was from Blake.

"Blake?" he answered but there was no response on the other end. "Hello? Are you there?"

"_Oh Blake, see, this is what happens when you defy the White Fang, when you go against our order_." Nova heard the voice of Adam on the other end and his blood ran cold.

"Come on Blake, where are you…" Nova muttered into the scroll.

"_You burn down our cafeteria? That's what you do?_" Blake responded to Adam, queuing Nova in on their location.

"_Your cafeteria, your school, all these pathetic humans…_" he heard Adam respond, but that was all he needed to know. Nova instantly hung up and turned to Pyrrha and Jaune.

"Guys, something's come up. There's a powerful enemy at the dining hall, Jaune I need you and Pyrrha to head to Ozpin's office, quickly!" Nova instructed.

"But what about you?" The blonde asked.

Nova shook his head, "Never mind me, I need to just settle an old score… take care of Pyrrha, she needs to get to Ozpin in one piece."

Jaune nodded, "You don't need to tell me that…" and with that, they were off.

* * *

Nova began channeling his fire, "Just hold on Blake… I'm on my way…"

He readied Asura behind him in its sniper form, and like Ruby, did, used its power to propel him forward. Since the semi-automatic gun didn't offer as much recoil as Ruby's bolt action anti-tank rifle, he fed his flames into the weapon. The Fragment of Fire embedded in the eye of the dragon began to glow, as if responding to his power, and began shooting blasts of fire behind him like a jet thruster.

Nova was initially thrown off by the sudden change in power, "WOAH THERE! Oh my precious baby, if that's what you want…" he spoke hopping onto the scythe.

"This is one weird-ass way to travel…" he balanced himself in a sitting position on the scythe, like a witch on a broomstick and accelerated the flames behind him, and just like that he was off like a rocket.

What would've taken minutes to achieve, Nova got there in seconds, the blade of the scythe acted like a wind steering, it was incredible, though it offered very little control at the high speed.

He stopped off at the dining hall, a sonic blast of wind following him closely behind as if he was moving faster than sound itself.

"Holy shit… I'm going to make a note of this…" he said before spinning Asura and slinging it over his back. He pushed through the grand doors of the dining hall to see Adam standing proudly, monologuing something to Blake as she lay there on the floor, barely able to move from the damage she'd taken. Then he spotted Yang, the distinct blonde hair poking out of a pile of rubble, and in an instant, his anger flared.

"ADAM!" He roared gaining the man's attention.

Taurus instantly stopped his monologuing and drew his gaze to the dragon standing in the burning doorway. Nova was covered in blood and ash like he'd been fighting Grimm all day, his hair was whipped back from the speed he'd travelled with and his eyes were red with anger, literally.

"Ah, so nice of you to finally join us, Nova… I see Blake's managed to get a hold of you after all…" he said smiling.

Nova was not smiling, he was practically livid, "Yang! What did you do to Yang you monster?" he snarled, baring his fangs.

"She tried to attack me… so I… disarmed her…" Adam began to laugh at his own joke. Nova had a general idea of what he was talking about given the state of the blonde. She was more than likely still alive… Adam was a cruel man, but he was no evil monster, despite his own claims.

"Blake, can you move?" Nova asked without turning to her, his eyes fixated on Adam.

The cat Faunus struggled to her feet in a coughing fit, "B-Barely…"

"That's good enough, get Yang and get out of here. Head to the CCT Tower, Noir and the others have most likely set up that protection area by now… go!"

Blake nodded and scampered over to Yang, pulling the unconscious brawler out of the wreckage, surprised to find the wound that was where her hand was, completely healed. She said nothing about it, however, and just made her way out.

Once they were gone, Nova relaxed and stretched out his arms above his head, cracking his neck and rotating his head.

"Now that they're gone… I can finally take the fight to you properly…" he said cracking his knuckles.

Adam laughed, "Don't you remember what happened last time? You barely got out alive…"

"I'm not the same person as I was back then…" the drag said, his eyes beginning to glow a fiery orange, his normal eyes turning to dragon-like slits, his fangs seeming to become more prominent and Adam could swear the flames of the burning building were… encouraging him.

"So it seems…." Adam lowered his back, his right arm on the grip of his sword Wilt.

Nova saw his stance, "Oh, so you're going with old school techniques this time? Alright then…" he said getting into a similar stance, Asura in its ninjato form.

No words were uttered after, just staring and atmosphere reading. The tension between the two fighters was so thick you could feel the pressure increase in the room. Neither dared move as if the mere fraction of a movement of a muscle would speak thousands of words…

The moment a piece of burning wood popped and cracked in the hall, both fighters rushed at each other with blinding speeds. Two blades rising out and striking simultaneously, sparks flying as the sound of solid metal rang out amidst the burning room.

The two pushed against their blades, trying to gain the upper hand in this clash of power.

"Oh… you've gotten faster…" Adam smiled as his face was close to Nova's own.

"Heh, and you've gotten slower…" Nova said realizing the difference in power now. Adam's eyes widened behind his mask and he made a clicking sound with his lip, signaling to Nova that he was right.

The fight for power ended in a stalemate as both fighters were pushed back.

"What happened to you, Adam. You were a boy who wanted to protect the Faunus, you wanted peace for all, yet what you're doing here brings nothing but suffering to everyone!" Nova yelled, not giving Adam a chance and closing the gap instantly, curving Asura's blade upward in a slash aimed at his throat.

Adam blocked with his own blade and kicked Nova, but the dragon caught his foot with one hand-tossed the bull Faunus across the room, sending him crashing into the pile of rubble.

"Look at you! Your kicks were never this weak, your balance is off. You're leaning far too much to one side without taking consideration of the other!" Nova yelled as Adam brought himself out of the rubble, his shirt torn to reveal a bare and scarred chest.

"Humans have caused more pain than anyone else to our people. You of all people should know that… though I doubt you ever cared considering what your parents did to us!" Adam yelled dashing forward to Nova, sending a wave of blood-red energy at him. The dragon easily sidestepped as if Adam was moving in slow motion.

"Are you kidding me? Do you still believe that load of bullshit? No offence…" Nova said realizing what type of Faunus Adam was.

"Of course I do… Master Onyx…"

"Onyx said fucking what?! WHAT DID HE TELL YOU ADAM?! Did he give you proof? DID HE FUCKING GIVE YOU PROOF?!" Nova screamed now pulling Asura's gun barrel out and shooting several rounds of fire blasts at Adam.

The bull Faunus's eyes went wide as he barely managed to block the blasts, the force of the impact sending him backward, his shoes leaving black marks on the floor.

"No… but…"

Nova was losing his patience, "EXACTLY! But fucking nothing. You're being used, Adam! He's just forcing you under blind loyalty! HE'S NOT YOUR ALLY!"

"THEN WHAT IS HE?! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK?!" Adam said almost desperately, lashing out in a weak attempt to hit Nova.

The dragon caught the blade with his right hand, the fiery scales acting like a shield to stop the blade from piercing his aura. Nova looked Adam directly in the mask and used Asura to cut his face right up the middle, slicing the mask in half and breaking it revealing Adam's blue eyes and scarred face, with a branded number over one damaged eye.

Nova gasped as he looked upon the face of his old friend. "When did this…"

"A year after you left… I had joined the White Fang, Onyx said he needed a child operative to infiltrate an SDC branch and get undercover to break the Faunus slaves out…"

"But he didn't tell you what kind of undercover you were going in as…" Nova gasped with realization.

Adam nodded sombrely, "I was sent in as a slave, in rags… they… branded me… they took my freedom… my everything…"

"After all this, you still follow Onyx? HE SENT YOU AS A SLAVE! FOR WHAT?!"

"BUT HE SAVED ME! He saved me… and all the Faunus workers there like me… the other kids… he gave us a home…"

"Saved you?! Adam, he put you there in the first place! He turned those innocent children into soldiers of war!" Nova pushed Adam back, with little effort.

"HE GAVE US A PURPOSE! HE GAVE THEM The MEANS TO FIGHT BACK!"

Nova felt his blood boil, "HE TURNED YOU INTO WEAPONS OF WAR! No child should be forced to be a soldier… even now… all the students, we're soldiers now… we haven't even finished our training but we're fighting a war because we have no choice! Because men like Onyx are waging a bloody battle for the sake of their own fucking self-interest!"

"It's for the good of all Faunus!" Adam said now regaining some of his energy, sending a high-speed draw attack at Nova.

The dragon just looked sad, and saw through it like clear glass. Nova simply put his hand forward and caught Adam's strike again.

"Don't you see it, Adam? Haven't you questioned it? What good is all this bloodshed for the Faunus kind? WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT SERVE?!"

Adam was at a loss for words. He'd been having these thoughts ever since their first encounter, when Bell started having doubts, they were further being solidified but he couldn't just abandon Onyx. His life at the White Fang was his legacy, if he dropped it now it 'd mean that everything he'd worked for meant nothing… on top of that whenever the idea of rebellion came into his mind he was suddenly overcome with a sharp headache and blind rage.

"OF COURSE I HAVE- ACK!" Adam clutched his head in pain, there it was again, the familiar pain…

"THEN FIGHT IT!"

Just then Adam received a message on his earpiece communicator. "What is it? Bell? What's wrong why do you sound so wounded…"

Adam was silent as he listened in, "No… you… you're lying…"

Nova used his heightened hearing to hone in on Adam's conversation, he could discern the last sentence.

"_Onyx set us up… he tried to kill us… Torchwick, Edan, Lyme, Dune… they're… they're dead… Dune protected me… he's the only reason I'm alive…_"

Nova's eyes went wide, he knew they were being used but he saw them as Onyx's most trusted operatives… to think he would turn on his own so easily…

In a fury, Adam gripped the earpiece and smashed it to the ground. "FUCK!" Nova could see the hurt and fury built in his eyes.

The red-haired man turned to his enemy in a blind rage and drew Wilt, shooting several rounds of his rifle at Nova before rushing in.

Nova deflected the bullets and clashed blades with Adam. The bull Faunus tried to slam the scabbard, Blush, down at Nova but the Dragon just shook it off like it tickled.

"You're weak Adam… you don't have the Fragment with you…" Nova said looking at Adam's bare chest.

The man didn't respond. "Onyx has it, doesn't he… he stripped you of that power you once had… that's why you're so weak to me now…" the dragon returned in realization.

When Adam didn't respond with anything but angry grunts Nova sighed. It was time to end this.

"I'm… sorry, Adam… but I did try to warn you…" Nova said before changing Asura to its scythe form, the interlocked blades split apart and Adam was forced off balance. Nova used that opportunity to strike at him hard from the back, curving the scythe around and yanking it hard against him, piercing his aura and hitting him hard over the head, knocking him unconscious.

Nova stood exhausted from the fight, not physically but emotionally. "Now… that's over and done with…"

"_Nova Flareheart…_" A dark sinister voice boomed around him.

"Who's there?!" Nova said readying Asura on alert now.

The voice chuckled, "Take a wild guess…"

"ONYX!" Nova said fury rising up in his body. His eyes were burning with rage and the Fragment of Fire responded in kind, building fire around him in tendrils.

"_Yes… it's me… but I do think we should conduct this exchange face to face…_"

* * *

**I'm actually super hyped for the next chapter, mostly because it'll blow everything out of proportion to like twenty levels.**

**Up Next: Pyrrha and Nova vs Cinder and Onyx**

**Yup, that's right, it's happening ladies and gents.**


	39. Chapter 39: The Final Battle of Beacon

**I've been dying to write this chapter for months. All my plotting and scheming has led to this chapter, and soon it will bear fruits in the shit that I'm going to pull in Volume 4.**

**Also at the time of this upload, it will officially be April 15th, and well, yah friendly neighborhood author turns 21 today.**

**Yeah I know, I'm old but hey, now I'm officially legal globally so... WE GETTIN TURNT TONIGHT**

* * *

**Chapter 39: The Decisive Battle**

* * *

**-Beacon Vault-**

Ozpin had been waiting inside the vault since the chaos began, standing guard like he was meant to, his allies around him almost nowhere to be seen, James was gone, Glynda was hold up with Elain, Qrow and Randolf insisted on providing ground support.

Hence, the great headmaster of Beacon was stuck protecting the one thing that he considered to be important, the Relic of Choice and by extension, the semi-living body of Amber, the Fall Maiden.

The one person he'd been expecting to show up, had in fact, just arrived. Pyrrha Nikos accompanied by her partner Jaune Arc were sprinting down the vast halls of the Vault, which Pyrrha now noted were unorthodoxly long, to Amber.

"What is this place…?" Jaune asked looking warily to Pyrrha and Ozpin. The red-head answered on automatic, her brain hard-focused on the pressured task at hand.

"It's… a type of vault…" she said as they continued to run.

Jaune looked at her confused, and a little unnerved, "You've… been here before?" he asked, though it wasn't exactly a question.

Pyrrha flinched but didn't respond, instead choosing to look away, confirming his already predetermined answer.

"What would this school need to… hide…?" his words faltered when they arrived at Amber's resting chamber.

"What?... who?"

"Jaune…"

"Pyrrha, get to the pods!" Ozpin instructed with all urgency, breaking any form of explanation on the blonde's part.

"What do we do now professor?" Pyrrha asked looking to her headmaster for guidance.

Ozpin kept tapping away at the control panels, "We… do nothing. You Miss Nikos… have a very important decision to make. Mr. Arc if you wish to be useful, stand guard." He instructed.

Jaune nodded and turned, baring his sword down at the barren hallway, anticipating an enemy he wasn't even sure was coming.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, was having an incredible mental struggle. This decision would mean the change of all life as she knew it. She would become a Maiden, be bound to a role that she can't escape, but on the other hand she'd be protecting the people, protecting Beacon. She'd save hundreds if not thousands of lives, if it meant losing her current self and becoming something else, then it was a small price to pay.

As Nova had said to her before, people like them don't have the luxury of free choice. The things they do are bound to a path they cannot deviate for fear of turning the world inside out. They are the ones who bear the burden of life and death on their shoulders, and whether it be the peace of the world or ending a war, she, him, people like them, they were born to become what the world needed. Protectors.

Wordlessly the red-head climbed into the pod and nodded confirmation to Ozpin. The headmaster held no expression as he initiated the aura transfer sequence.

Jaune watched in horror as the machine whirred to life, draining the aura out of Amber and sending it to Pyrrha, her body glowing the colour of the maiden as pain wracked her throughout.

At that moment, however, their enemy arrived, like an unexpected herald of the end.

Clad in a short red dress with gold patterns along the neck, shoulder, and sleeves, and a choker, stood Cinder Fall. The false Maiden causally walking up to meet the trio.

She stood wordlessly, a sinister smile plastered across her face, as the aura that was transferring to Pyrrha immediately stopped as life left Amber's body. There was a rush of energy as a blast of orange flew out of Amber and into Cinder, who in turn began glowing with fiery power.

The transfer had failed. Pyrrha's only chance at saving hundreds of lives, their only chance at protecting Beacon, was now in the hands of the very person that caused this problem in the first place.

Jaune made a horrible attempt at attacking her but Cinder easily batted him aside with her strength. Once Pyrrha was out of the pod she instantly equipped her spear and shield and threw the shield at Cinder, only for it to again be sent aside just like Jaune. It was as if normal attacks did nothing to her.

Pyrrha made a move to attack with her spear but Ozpin held her back, "Take Jaune and get out of here!"

"But…!" she wanted to protest.

"JUST GO! This is no longer something you can handle, besides… you'll just be in my way…" he said dangerously.

Pyrrha nodded and took Jaune and scampered out, while Cinder watched them go in amusement.

Cinder and Ozpin needed no words before they sprang at each other. In the fractions of what little light still held in the vault did they clash, as if every millisecond they took to drink in but a mere breath of air, where glass sword versus cane struck.

Cinder dashed back and began summoning her Maiden powers, and all-around Vale, those with the sensitivity, felt it. The drastic change in the power of Fire, as if the natural balance of the world had shifted, leaning ever so dangerously in the wrong direction. Nova felt it in his core, Luna shook with the chill that ran down the back of her neck, Randolf felt the sound striking his very being.

Cinder had amassed a level of power that altered the very natural order of the world. Ozpin generated a shield around him, entirely made of aura, in an attempt to block the oncoming burst of power. She released the energy in a single beam of concentrated destruction aimed at the headmaster. He bore the brunt of the energy in an attempt to close the distance between them but to little avail as soon, he was overwhelmed.

The headmaster's eyes went wide as he didn't have time to react, the sheer mass of energy piercing through his dense shield and vaporizing him out of existence. A blinding light erupted from the vault as Cinder smugly stepped out onto the elevator taking it up to the very top of the school, standing proudly at her achievement of destroying the very headmaster of Beacon Academy.

* * *

**-Beacon Academy outside-**

The majority of the Grimm on the compound were eliminated, as most students were gathered at the airship docks.

"THIS IS A MANDATORY EVACUATION! A SAFE ZONE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN VALE, ALL PERSONS ARE TO BE EVACUATED IMMEDIATELY!" Oobleck announced as he corralled the remaining students. There were so few of them left. At the start there'd been at least a few hundred students, now, they were dwindling on being countable. Each person looked utterly exhausted and defeated, all ounces of energy spent on a battle that was lost.

Ruby and Weiss sprinted to the docks, exhausted and barely standing from their escapades aboard the Atlas ship. They bore numerous scratches and smudge marks from the fire, and all Weiss could smell on her was gasoline and smoke, even if her outfit was still sparklingly white.

"Weiss how in the world did you manage to keep your outfit clean?!" Ruby asked trying to lighten their situation.

"It takes incredible concentration and…" Weiss' words faltered when her eyes landed on the remainder of her team.

Blake and Yang lay sprawled on the ground, beaten and badly injured. Nora and Ren were with them, though they were in similar states. Ruby felt her heart stop upon seeing the condition of her dear sister.

"YANG!" Ruby gasped running up to inspect her sister. "Blake! What happened…" she asked, clutching Yang desperately, looking for signs she was alive. Thankfully she was.

The cat Faunus bit her lip, barely able to move, "We… were attacked by… Adam…"

"HE'S HERE?!" Ruby practically flew out of her skin and Weiss held her hand against her mouth, her eyes terrified. Their bodies ached in remembrance of the beating they took all those months ago, on the snowy coast.

"Who's here?" Luna asked as she and Elain ran up to the rest of their team. Upon seeing the state of the others Luna felt her skin crawl. "WHAT HAPPENED?!" the blue dragon looked terrified.

"Adam… he… got to us. Nova's taking care of him." Blake explained.

"Oh, that looks nasty…" Elain said looking at both Blake and Yang.

"How's it looking mom? Can you heal her?" Luna asked nervously.

Elain rubbed the back of her neck, "I can heal Blake, but regrowing blondie's arm is beyond my power…"

Luna bit her lip, "Just… do what you can…"

Ruby then realized that someone was missing, "Nova! He's still out there! We need to find him!"

Nora looked up tearfully, "Ruby… Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing…"

Weiss saw the look in Ruby's eyes.

"RUBY!" she practically yelled pulling the girl to her, "Nova can handle himself! We don't need any more casualties!"

"But…" the sound of Ruby's voice made her heart break. She turned to her team and they all looked similar to their leader. Even Elain, who was trying her best to hold herself together, had instances of emotion break her facade. She wanted her son safe, more than anything.

"Ruby you are not going back out there alone..." the heiress said and the girl turned solemn, "Because I'm coming with you!"

* * *

**-Meanwhile with Jaune and Pyrrha-**

The outer grounds of Beacon were desolate and empty, barren of all life, be it Grimm or White Fang.

"I think I have Glynda's number, let me just…" Jaune began dialing on his scroll.

At that moment a blazing fire shot out from the elevator they just took, forcing them both to turn around to see Cinder blasting her way up the tower like a rocket, and a tall, dark and dangerous-looking figure standing there ready to meet her.

"But Ozpin…" Jaune said realizing the headmaster had been defeated.

Pyrrha grimaced, "There's no time…"

"What do you mean there's no time? Pyrrha what the hell are you going to do? YOU SAW HOW POWERFUL SHE IS! THAT BITCH BEAT OZPIN!" Jaune said frantically.

The red-head looked him in the eye, held his face in her hands and brought him close.

"Pyrrha what're you…"

She silenced him with a kiss, deep and passionate, pouring every ounce of emotion she'd held on to for her time at Beacon. From the moment she met him to the minute they fell in love, she gave him everything, and in that moment of bliss, she pushed him away.

Pyrrha harshly shoved the dazed blonde backward into an open rocket locker and shut the door.

"I'm sorry Jaune… but I have to do this…"

"PYRRHA! NO, YOU CAN'T!" but his pleas went unheard as she punched the numbers for the Vale safe zone and sent him flying.

"Alright, you pyrotechnic bitch… I'm coming for you…"

* * *

**-Back with Nova-**

The dragon leader was whipping his head around, the flames generating at his feet began lashing out in all directions trying to find the source of Onyx's voice.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Nova practically seethed through his teeth, the grip on Asura's handle turned white-knuckled.

Onyx let out a throaty chuckle, "It's not that simple dragonling. You see… my powers have… a wide range…"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Nova said his ears working overtime to try and pinpoint the voice that seemed to come from his head.

"Allow me to demonstrate…" Onyx said with almost a hint of pride.

Nova had no warning as his feet were ripped out from under him, his body dragging along with them as the reality around him began to distort, as if the space itself between him and wherever it was taking him was rapidly being reduced. The world around him faded into practical blurring lights as he was ripped from one place in the world to another.

The dragon looked around him wildly as he realized he was no longer at the burning cafeteria. He was standing on a metal ground, the burning roof replaced by a domed ceiling and the sounds of the Grimm had become naught but distant noise.

"Wha… what?!" Nova was disoriented, looking around him frantically.

"Welcome, Nova Flareheart. Our meeting has been long overdue…" Onyx said rousing Nova to turn around and see the massive bear Faunus standing before him.

He towered nearly twice Nova's size, with a thick head of black hair that went all the way down to his shoulder, a great thick beard connecting around his face, eyes an abyssal black. He wore a large black and grey jacket with black fur around the collar. A dark blue, V-neck undershirt with a red White Fang symbol rested tightly around his form, with a dark black hexagonal crystal around his neck. The black jeans and thick combat boots made for a menacing image.

Alongside he was a woman he hoped to see before the end of the night, so he could put a bullet between her eyes. Cinder Fall stood at Onyx's side, with an air of power, much different from the last time he'd seen her.

Just then a large roar echoed around them as a massive Dragon-like Grimm crashed into the side of the tower and latched on, roaring before casting off again. Nova could only stare in horror at the sheer size of the monstrosity.

"Like my pet~? I think you two might be related~" Cinder laughed, though it was more sinister than jovial.

"How did you… I was… at the Dining Hall… that's on the opposite side of Beacon…" Nova uttered in awe as he realized they were standing in the inside of Ozpin's office.

"Wait… where's Ozpin?! WHERE ARE PYRRHA AND JAUNE?!" Nova said turning to Cinder practically livid.

Cinder chuckled, "The old man has been… dealt with. The kids, on the other hand, bolted off running, meaning we get to take you out two on one…"

"Really? I knew I was that powerful but… a Maiden and whatever the fuck he is?" Nova asked gesturing to Onyx who looked slightly offended.

"Call it insurance lizard. You survived me once. I do not intend to let it happen a second time…" the bear Faunus growled, baring his fangs.

"Well, then what're we…" He was interrupted when the elevator shot straight out like a rocket from their left, and the slender form of Pyrrha Nikos appeared. "Pyrrha?!"

The red-head landed gracefully and pulled up her spear and shield, "Nova?! What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing…"

"I'm here to kick this bitch's ass, what about you?"

"Honestly? Same, but I'm more inclined to deal with tall dark and evil next to her." He said shrugging and spinning Asura into a reaping position.

Pyrrha gave him a determined yet sad smile, "I guess I don't need to tell you the process failed, or that Ozpin is dead…"

Nova shook his head, "Nope, I kinda figured. Think we can take them on?"

"I'm not sure about the big guy, but seeing Cinder's power first hand… I'm not sure…" she said nervously, the look in her eyes said this was more than just a lack of confidence… this was a suicide mission.

"Then let's do our best… for all our friends' sakes. At least buy them some time to get out of here…"

Pyrrha raised her Milo, "We fight with everything we have, right rival?"

Nova smirked, "Without a shred of doubt."

"Ugh you two are so buddy, buddy it's gross… Allow me to cleanse the scene with fire!" Cinder yelled.

Cinder began channeling energy around her in a massive wave before firing it at the two teens. Nova and Pyrrha jumped in opposite directions, splitting off and attacking their respective enemies. Cinder anticipated the gap closure and pulled formed a sword made of glass to block a jab by Pyrrha.

A swift clash occurred as Cinder's speed kept increasing as if she was just toying with Pyrrha. Both fighters began practically blinking out of existence between each strike. Steel clashed with hardened glass as sparks raised.

Pyrrha made a move to kick Cinder in the stomach but the woman easily dodged back and shot fireballs to counter. The red-haired girl dodged them by a fraction as the heat they gave of singed her skin as they passed above.

"You like that? It's just a small taste of the power I wield…" Cinder said with a dark smile as she began summoning more power. Pyrrha's eyes widened as a hail of fiery bolts rained down on her forcing her to bring up her shield to defend, but it could only do so much as her aura was dropping quickly.

* * *

Meanwhile with Nova, he and Onyx had begun duking it out as the great bear Faunus drew out from behind his back a dark blue rectangular box with a hilt. Onyx dodged a reaping blow, aimed at his head by Nova and unfolded his weapon.

Nova stood in awe as the thing in Onyx's hand unfolded into a massive machete-like sword with a flat, straight edge with a hooked tip. It had no dull edges as all around the blade looked sharp enough to slice appendages straight off a person. The blade was black with a hint of blue, it reminded Nova of Adam's blade, but, much more sinister.

"Do you like her? She's named Draco Belthor… the Dragon Slayer…" he said, his eyes staring down Nova with murderous intent.

"Have you killed any dragons with that thing?" Nova asked raising his eyebrow.

"You have the honor of being the first!" Onyx yelled before swinging the sword in a wide arc with almost inhuman speeds, though it wasn't nearly as fast as Adam was before.

Nova easily ducked under and made a swipe attack with Asura knocking Onyx back, though it did very little to damage him. The massive man shrugged the attack off and swung again and again but Nova kept dodging.

"Not very fast are you?" the dragon said rubbing his chin as he calmly side-stepped the blade. The moment the sword touched the ground it ruptured the metal and tore through it like paper leaving Nova to gape. "But… you do seem to pack quite a punch…"

"Cheeky little lizard aren't you… fine… enough games." Onyx snarled. He'd been trying to gauge Nova's power but the young dragon refused to even show his real strength. It was now time to turn the dial up a little.

Nova watched Onyx's eyes glow and become covered in what looked to be stars like the night sky. He swung his blade hard and fast again, and Nova easily side-stepped… except he didn't.

Instead of the blade harmlessly sailing past him, it went straight for him, smashing into his stomach so hard it sent him sailing backward against the ground, cratering through the metal as he passed.

"What the fuck was that…" Nova said as he struggled to stand. He was one-hundred percent sure he'd dodged the attack…

He had no time to think as Onyx was on him again the blade slamming down vertically aimed at his head. Nova dodged again but, just like last time, the sword found its way crashing onto his head.

"RAAGH!" Nova yelled out in pain as the blade broke through his aura, through his dragon scales and cut his forehead. Blood leaked from the point of impact, down Nova's face, but the dragon felt almost no pain now. He only felt the adrenaline, as if a fire had been lit inside him.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through? What you put my sister, my mother through? YOU STILL HAVE MY FATHER!" Nova yelled feeling his emotions drive him. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? TO WHAT END WILL YOU GO TO FUEL YOUR AMBITION?!"

Nova began summoning fire around him, the Fragment of Fire in Asura began to glow hot as Nova generated a mass of energy. A blast of intense explosive fire shot out from him and sent Onyx reeling back, scorch marks on the floor as his body skated across the metal surface. Nova was sure that the level of damage would kill any normal person. The sheer explosive power rippled through the room, shattering the pillars and glass. All occupants observed the great dome of Ozpin's office crumble and fall off, revealing the open night sky.

"HA! HA! HA! FULL OF SURPRISES AREN'T YOU!" Onyx said getting up, and brushing off the soot from his clothes as if the fire barely tickled him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nova looked at a loss for the very little damage he'd just done to the man.

Onyx clenched his fist and smiled. The dragon looked on curiously as the man who stood almost ten feet away from him slammed his fist down at thin air, and suddenly Nova was pulled from his previous position and his body connected with the fist, the massive hand cratering into his stomach seemingly out of nowhere. Nova's eyes almost fell out of his head as the wind in his body was knocked out of him, he could feel his lower ribs cracking in half as the fist continued its onslaught upward on his body, knocking him high into the air.

"Oh looks like dragons can actually fly!" Onyx laughed as he swung his sword, and again Nova was caught from practical light-years away. The blade carving straight down onto his shoulder, wedging itself in deep making Nova lose all feeling in his left arm. The sound of crunching cartilage was all Nova heard as the blade was released from his body.

The pain was beyond anything he'd ever felt before as blood began gushing from the open wound, whatever was left of his aura working overtime to heal him.

"HOW? ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Nova screamed in agony as he struggled to stand, using Asura as a prop.

"The same way I dragged you across Beacon… with my power..." Onyx said, his eyes glowing for emphasis.

It then clicked in Nova like a switch. Onyx was using a power very similar to Luna, where he was removing the space between two target objects and connecting them.

"Are you sure you should be giving out secrets like that?" Nova said quirking his brow, now feeling a bit better as the nanomachines had begun to repair the damage, he could feel his fingers again.

"Whether you know it or not… the result is the same…" Onyx swung his blade again.

Nova smirked, the moment his body and the blade had their distance's reduced, he brought up Asura in the path of Belthor, blocking the strike.

Onyx stood surprised, "Impressive reaction speed… but… can you keep up?" this time he began rapidly swinging, like a whirlwind of strikes.

Nova was caught off guard, forcing him to bring react so fast he swore he gave himself whiplash. Strike after strike, Nova blocked, parried and tried to dodge, but it was becoming harder and harder to dodge.

"After I'm done with turning you into a new pair of shoes… I think I'll take a turn at the kids down at the docks below… who was it again?" Onyx pretended to ponder, "Ah yes, Ruby Rose and your little sister Luna… and well I guess those other kids to…"

Nova's eyes went wide, "YOU FUCKING TOUCH THEM AND I WILL BURN YOU UNTIL THERE'S NOT EVEN BONE!"

Onyx roared with laughter, "THAT'S IT, THAT'S THE TRUE NATURE OF YOU DRAGONS! VIOLENT AND FILLED WITH RAGE! HAHAHA!" his blade began to glow black as each strike seemingly became heavier to deal with.

In a desperate effort counter-attack, Nova summoned the power of the Fragment of Fire. He generated an explosion that forced Onyx back by the sheer force of the impact, giving himself breathing space.

"That was a good hit but not enough…" Onyx chuckled before he saw Nova standing there, his entire body glowing fiery orange. The scales began to erupt over Nova's body and his eyes turned to the reptilian dragon irises. The Fragment of Fire began to hum a violent rhythm as Nova drew on its power.

"Kid… you didn't tell me you knew how to enter the Aspect Form?" Onyx said in amazement.

Asura's dragon eye glowed orange, then bright red, the aura of power extending over Nova as the flames grew to explosive levels of power, greater than anything he'd ever drawn on before.

_MORE! I NEED MORE POWER! _ Nova screamed in his mind as he began to remember his past. All the things Onyx put him through, put his family through. The people that have died because of his actions, the atrocities he's caused. Nova's rage had reached boiling point, and like a kettle that had been overheated, he exploded.

The Fragment of Fire responded to his emotions and suddenly his entire body was glowing a white-hot aura, the steel beneath him began melting.

"YOU WILL PAY IN BLOOD FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Nova yelled, raising Asura above his head.

Onyx smiled darkly, "I've been wanting to test this out…"

A dark mass of energy began swirling around him as his aura spread out like a miasma.

Pyrrha and Cinder temporarily halted their battle to see the mass of black, like a miniature galaxy appearing in Onyx's hand before his body become enveloped in a shroud of darkness. Shadow began to wrap around him like a cloak, covering his skin in a layer of energy until his entire body became something beyond natural comprehension.

"THIS IS THE TRUE POWER OF THE ASPECT, CHILD!" Onyx raised Belthor above his head, similar to Nova.

Both fighters rushed at each other, the very air around them seemed to tremble as they moved. Time slowed down as Pyrrha and Cinder watched in awe, as the two blades clashed in a flash of enormous power, erupting over the sky. Black mixed with White and Orange flooded the skyline like a wave of destruction, destroying every single Grimm that seemed to come near it, even the Wyvern had to fly away out of fear.

Asura met Belthor in a clash of Incindium and Steel, and at that moment, Nova realized he had lost. Asura shattered against Belthor in an explosion of fiery steel. Shards of the dragon scythe flew into the air leaving a wide-eyed and dumfounded Nova, staring at the headless pole of his weapon.

The moment the clash ended, Nova felt all strength leave his body and he fell to his knees, staring at his trembling hands.

Onyx powered down and stood towering above the boy. "It seems you haven't mastered your power… too bad you'll never get the chance to…"

* * *

Back with Pyrrha and Cinder, the two had quickly resumed battle. Cinder used her powers to launch herself at Pyrrha, barrelling her shoulder into the girl and sending her crashing into the wall.

Pyrrha reacted quickly, utilizing the momentum to launch herself off the wall and detach herself from Cinder, flinging her away. Cinder backflipped to recover but was given very little breathing room as Pyrrha was on her again, dashing through the air like a missile. Cinder used her fire to spin and kick, deflecting Pyrrha and sending her into the air again.

The red-head used this opportunity to aim and throw Milo at Cinder who easily blocked it with her power. Pyrrha threw Akouo and again Cinder sidestepped it easily, so Pyrrha did the only thing she could think of and tackled her with her bare hands.

The two grappled in a struggle of raw physical strength, which Pyrrha was clearly winning. It ended with Pyrrha holding Milo to Cinder's neck.

Cinder just smirked and generated a field of fire, forcing Pyrrha off her in the explosion.

It was looking tough for the red-haired champion. She was just a normal human being, fighting against a Maiden with powers beyond natural comprehension. It was as if everything she did was falling into utter futility.

Cinder felt confident she'd win, but the moment the dust cleared she saw the giant metal cogs that were once part of Ozpin's décor, were hovering above her like omens of death.

"WHAT?!" She barely had a moment to react as she saw Pyrrha standing, struggling with what was left of her aura, using it to cause the massive gears to come crashing down on Cinder.

Onyx watched in amusement as his 'partner' struggled against a regular human. It showed the fragility and utter uselessness of the human being. It further proved that the Faunus race and the Aspects of Remnant were far superior to anything the humans had.

Cinder was furious, buried under the pile of cogs. She generated the mass of fire and exploded the gears outwards, one of them flew directly and Pyrrha, knocking her back against the wall, her aura depleted.

Pyrrha groaned in pain but tried to shake it off. She stood up and jumped into the air, sending Akouo flying as she'd always done, in hopes to take Cinder out, but this time Cinder was done playing games.

The Maiden drew her glass bow and shot an arrow directly at Pyrrha, in like with the shield. The two projectiles collided except, when the arrow broke around the shield, it reformed at the end, and Pyrrha could only watch in horror as the black glass struck her from the back, embedding itself in her body, sending her sprawling on the floor in pain.

"ARGH!" She screamed in pain as she clutched on to her sprained leg and aching back.

Cinder looked on smugly, "You put up a good fight, but now you will die knowing that you didn't even make me scratch the surface of my full potential. You shall fall now, with the knowledge that no matter what you or your little friend did… you lost…"

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha said looking up with a defiant gaze as Cinder stood above her.

Cinder just smiled, "I believe in my own…" and drew on her glass bow, aiming it at Pyrrha's chest.

Nova turned his head to the side, just in time to see Pyrrha, staring down the arrow of impending death. Her face was defiant and proud, determined to go down fighting and at that moment he realized.

If they were going to die today… then it wasn't going to be for nothing.

* * *

**-In Vale-**

Most of the students were gathered at the CCT Tower, a safe zone had been organized by Hex, Nitro Krome and Ragnar were hold up, tending to the wounded and escorting civilians while Noir kept the Grimm at bay.

Qrow and Randolf were fighting out in the streets, their clothes were torn and both looked exhausted.

"How did it come to this…" Qrow muttered as he cut down a Beowolf.

"Because we chose the safe route. We tried to abide by our own rules and keep the peace… it's because we didn't act!" Randolf grunted as he drew on his wolf blade katana and cut through two Ursa in a flash.

"We should've listened to charcoal when we had the chance… I sure hope they're doing alright…" Qrow said looking in the distance to Beacon.

"It's our nephew, I'm sure he's more than fine…" Randolf said as they packed up and regrouped back at camp.

Hex saw them coming in from the outside, "Any news from Beacon?"

"Kid we were out there fighting Grimm, the tower's destroyed, do you really think we heard anything?" Qrow answered gruffly.

Randolf elbowed him hard for his harsh words. Hex and the others looked solemn and worried. For the first time in their entire time knowing Nova, they weren't sure he was going to be alright.

Randolf leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder, "He's fine. Nothing can phase that fire breather!" he smiled.

Hex felt her spirits lift, "Yeah, you're right…"

* * *

**-Meanwhile, earlier on the ground with Ruby-**

"RUBY! PLEASE YOU HAVE TO GET TO PYRRHA!" Jaune yelled over the scroll as Ruby and Weiss were wandering around Beacon looking for him and Pyrrha.

"Jaune?! Where are you?!" Ruby asked frantically to find her friends.

"NEVER MIND ME! JUST GET TO PYRRHA! Ozpin's tower!" He yelled again, his voice sounding desperate and hurt.

"Jaune if we…"

"RUBY NO! Please… just get to Pyrrha…" his voice was cracking as she could hear the sobs on the other end before the call ended.

The two partners made their way to the base of the tower just in time to see the massive explosion of White, Orange, and Black energy ripple through the air and tear the flying Grim to pieces. The shattered remains of the dome lay strewn on the ground and the sounds of clashing steel and explosions could be heard from far above them.

"What the fuck is happening up there?!" Weiss asked in horror as she saw the devastating flashes of light.

"It doesn't matter, we need to get up there…" Ruby said biting down on her lip.

"How?!"

Ruby smirked, "Remember initiation?"

Weiss deadpanned, then nodded confirming the plan. She set up a series of glyphs from the base of the tower, up the front. Ruby anchored Crescent Rose on the floor and Weiss placed a black glyph on it.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" Ruby yelled as Weiss charged the black glyph. The moment it hit peak power, Ruby fired off with Crescent Rose and used her semblance, charging up the side of the tower at maximum speeds, faster than anything she'd ever traveled before.

"Come on… come on… make it…" she muttered as she ascended the seemingly impossible height.

The wind whipped around her in a vortex as she achieved maximum altitude. She spotted the unmistakable white hair of Nova and the red hair of Pyrrha standing out. She was elated to see them alive, but that joy slowly came crashing down as she latched onto the side of the building and brought herself in closer. The more she drew in the worse she felt, a sinking feeling of foreboding that she could not shake.

Ruby arrived just in time to see Nova propelling himself forward in what seemed like slow motion to her eyes. Pyrrha kneeling, beaten and defeated as the glass arrow of Cinder sailed through the air aimed at her chest.

Nova had made the choice, he wasn't going to let them both die...

The dragon barely managed to close the distance just in time for the arrow to sail right through his body as he grabbed hold of Pyrrha, turned around and, with his last ounce of strength, tossed her to the ledge.

Ruby watched in absolute horror as Nova stood there, bloodied and broken, with an arrow sticking right through his left side, quite possibly through is heart, and coming out of his back.

Onyx watched with an amused expression, "To think he'd choose to save his friend's life… it matters not... they're all going to die anyway…"

"N-Nova…?" Ruby stuttered out, now climbing onto the area, ignoring the surprised looks of Cinder and Onyx.

Nova weakly turned his head, to see Ruby and his eyes went wide, "H-Hey… Red… it looks like I won't be keeping our promise…"

Ruby felt her entire body get shaken to the core as she saw the blade of Onyx flash out of nowhere, and in an instant too quick to react, cut Nova right down the middle, spraying blood into the sky.

The life in his eyes faded, and Ruby saw his body grow limp, the force of the impact sent him careening over the edge and Ruby stood there, too shocked and utterly powerless to stop it. Her heart ached and she could feel something in her soul physically shatter, a sense of overwhelming sadness and pain washed over her, consuming her mind like a tsunami.

"N…N… NOVAAA!" Ruby screamed as the emotions that had built up inside her burst forth. A blinding silver light showed out of her eyes as her body levitated into the air in a dazzling display. The light erupted over everything and soon Ruby's vision became nothing but darkness and silence.

* * *

**Did I just do that? Yes, yes I did.**

**Onyx's weapon, Draco Belthor means exactly what it is. Draco is Latin for Dragon, though you already knew that. Belthor is Elvish for Killer, so the name literally translates to Dragon Killer. I thought it was a neat idea.**

**Anyway, until next time, love you all!**


	40. Chapter 40: A New Era

**Lovely to see so many new readers, I hope you're all thoroughly enjoying this fic, cuz I don't intend to stop anytime soon.**

**Also to my guest reviewer, MWAHAHHA, YES! Give in to your hate, let it drive you, soon you will kill all the Jedi, the women and the children too!**

**On another note, sorry if this took a while, I had an exam to write yesterday so the chapter got delayed, but it's here now so, enjoy ^_^**

* * *

**Chapter 40: The Ashes of War**

* * *

Ruby tossed and turned in her sleep as the world's most horrible dream flowed through her mind like the waters of the river Styx. She could see it, the awful images passing by her eyes like slow, painful movies, each second lasting a lifetime. The Grimm surrounded her, Beacon was burning, the smell of smoke and death in the air more pungent than rotting of the piles of corpses that lay torn to shreds on the streets. White Fang and Grimm working in almost cohesion as Vale was torn asunder, brick by brick.

Worst of all, she saw him. The boy she held most dear to her heart above all others, standing there with the life in his eyes fading ever so slowly as blood poured from his left shoulder, his face bruised and scarred as he whispered words to her, though she could not hear them.

"Nova...!" She called out, though her words carried no sound, "PLEASE! DON'T GO! STAY WITH ME!" she echoed. The lifeless body of Nova turned to her, his eyes hollow, "Ruby, it's time to wake up…" "NOVA!" She sat up in bed with a start, cold sweat dripping down her face as she looked around the room.

The bright golden morning sunshine streamed through the window as she gauged her surroundings. She was back at Patch, lying in bed in her pajamas. Her head hurt, like someone beat her with a mallet and the back of her eyes were in pain.

"Ugh… what…" she mumbled out when suddenly there was the distinct shuffling of feet and rapid tapping, causing Ruby to turn and see Taiyang burst through the door to her room looking frantic.

"Dad?" Ruby looked toward her father.

"RUBY!" He ran up to her bedside and placed a hand on her head, "You're finally awake…"

"Yeah… how long was I asleep?" she asked looking at her state. "What happened…?"

Tai sighed, "Qrow found you… he got you home safe. You've been out of it for a few days…"

"DAYS?! Wait… Yang! Where's Yang?! And Nova? Is he okay? He took a really bad hit at the tower, I saw him and I couldn't make it in time." She said not looking at her father, and beginning to ramble.

"He's really tough so I doubt anything could hurt him. He's probably up and about right? Where is he?" Ruby asked turning to her father, a light expression on her face.

Tai held the exact opposite. He looked tired, and at the mention of Nova his face fell Grimm and Ruby paled. "Ruby… Yang's lost her right arm, her aura won't regrow a missing limb, and she's been out of it since… Nova on the other hand…"

"No, no, no… I don't want to hear it…"

"Want to or not… Nova… he's…" Tai started to choke, tears forming in his eyes, "He's gone…"

"No… that can't be right! THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!" Ruby said her face distorting into a crinkled expression, "He… he promised…" she started to sniff and Tai moved closer and held her hand.

"He promised he would come back, dad! He… said he would…" her words became muffled as she began to break down, an endless stream of tears pouring down her face as she clutched onto her father for dear life.

Tai sat there, crying with her, holding her as she released her sorrows. Ruby felt broken, her heartfelt as though it were torn apart and she was left there to bleed out. Her soul had a hole in it that felt so large that it would consume the rest of her.

How could she live on like this? Now that the love of her life was gone. How could she bear to move on with such pain, gnawing at her being, consuming her entirely?

Tai felt his daughter's pain, "When Summer… died… you two girls were my only reasons for holding myself together." He released her from the embrace, staring at her tearful eyes and shattered expression. He'd never thought he'd see his bright, cheerful little girl this torn apart before.

"I know… you need time to come to terms with it all… but… if you want to live, semi-normal again, then… you need to find something to keep you going…" He rose from his chair and headed for the door.

"When you're ready… come downstairs, there are some people who you should meet…" and with that, he shut the door behind him.

The moment he was gone Ruby broke down again.

* * *

It was a bit later in the day, around noon, when Ruby managed to bring the strength to head downstairs.

As she approached the living room she could hear the voices, several of them.

"We can't put this off for much longer…" someone said it sounded like Qrow.

"Qrow! Ruby just woke up this morning, she needs to come to terms with her grief before we can do anything else! She loved him!" Tai responded.

Ruby rounded the corner of the stairs and walked into the room, dressed in a casual black shirt and a skirt.

Sitting around the living room were Hex, Luna, Nitro, Elain, Qrow, Randolf and Yang. Upon seeing the remaining members of team ASHNRWBY sitting together, minus Yang who sat away from everyone else, she ran up to them and dive-bombed them in a hug.

"OH THANK GOD YOU GUYS ARE ALRIGHT!" Ruby said pulling the trio into a tight hug, but her mood was anything but jovial, she may be smiling but, she was hurting on the inside, and they all felt it.

"We're glad to see you too…" Luna said hugging back, burying her face into Ruby's shirt, "I'm… so glad…" she sniffed.

"Where is Weiss? And Blake? And what of the others like Team JNPR any word from them?" she asked looking around.

They all shared wary glances, "Weiss' dad… took her… after we evacuated an SDC ship showed up and they practically forced Weiss at spear point to go back home… something about not wanting the heiress to the SDC anywhere near Huntsmen and their dangers… " Luna said nervously.

Ruby's face fell, out of all the people here, she wanted her partner with her, so she could at least have her best friend there to cope. "And Blake?"

"No one knows, probably on a boat to Menagerie by now…" Yang answered up from the back, anger, and scorn evident in her voice. "The least she could do was stay for her friend's funeral… though I doubt she ever cared seeing as how she just fucked off the moment things turned bad…"

"YANG!" Hex yelled looking angry.

"What? I'm right aren't I?" she said angrily, "Whatever…" she walked off.

Tai sighed and turned back to Ruby, "Yang's… sore… since she lost her arm. She hasn't been the same since…"

"Team JNPR's alright, to answer your question, Ruby." Luna said turning to her, "But… there's… some complications."

Ruby paled, she didn't want to hear any more bad news.

"Jaune, Nora, Ren, they're fine. Pyrrha on the other hand… It seemed that the fight took more out of her than anyone thought, her aura was overused to the point where it's no longer stable and she was hit by a glass arrow. The tip of it shattered inside her and the pieces are sapping her strength. She's alive but… barely…"

"Can't they just remove the arrow pieces?" Ruby asked looking at them.

Elain shook her head this time, "Took a look at her myself, dear. The shards are too far down and too close to vital arteries to safely remove, on top of that, the glass is made of aura, like a semblance, the only way to remove them would be to take out the person that controls them…"

"Cinder…" Ruby spat the name like it was rotten.

Luna walked up to Ruby, "Here... I think you should have this..." she took out a piece of gold metal.

Ruby's eyes widened upon seeing the ever so familiar fragment of weaponry. It was one of Asura's dragon fangs, from the head of the scythe.

"Luna this is..." she said almost in awe, "Shouldn't you keep it?"

The young dragon shook her head, and closed Ruby's palm around the cool metal, "No, it belongs to you now."

"I'll treasure it... always... " she clutched the shard close to her heart, imagining the warmth of Nova.

"Ruby, sweety, how… are you doing?" Elain asked drawing the girl's attention, realizing her emotions must be running wild.

The girl in question felt her heart stop for a moment before she regained herself, "I…"

Elain got up from her seat and hugged the girl tightly, "It's alright… you don't have to say. That look you just gave me says it all…"

Ruby found herself feeling the tears well up in her eyes, "I don't know what to think anymore Aunty E. I… just… don't… know…" she said that last part through choking back the tears and everyone in the room felt their hearts shatter more at the thought of the love between Ruby and Nova was now up in smoke.

Once they released Luna looked to them, "Um… I… I know it's.. still a raw subject, for all of us but… Ruby," she said turning to the red-leader. "We were, deciding on where we should… bury him…"

"We can't bury a body we don't have…" Qrow said morbidly and everyone stared at him harshly. "What?"

"Wait… if you never found a body doesn't that mean he might be…" Ruby said realizing.

Elain shook her head, "We tried everything, not a single one of our scanners, life detectors or device locators could find him… judging by the story we were told… and the fall he would have taken… I'm sorry dear, but… he's really gone…"

Ruby wanted to fight her down, tell her she's wrong, but Nova was Elain's son. More than anything she would have tried the hardest.

"Why not Menagerie? On home soil?" Qrow asked returning to the matter at hand.

Elain shook her head, "No… we can't… Menagerie was never his home. His home was with the people he cared about…"

Ruby thought for a moment, then looked to Tai and it seemed they both had the same morbid idea, "I think I know where…"

* * *

The funeral was the next day. The procession was short and attended by only those who were present, including Randolf. All of them gathered at the edge of a special cliff in Patch, deep into the woods, overlooking the endless sky. There it was sitting neatly on the edge.

'In Memory of Nova Flareheart. A Leader, a Fighter, and A Loyal Friend and brother to all' read the headstone as it stood side by side with Summer Rose's memorial.

"I… think we should say a few words… I'll start at…" Randolf said stepping forward.

"I found him and his sister when they were too small to do much. He was a crazy bastard who would fight the gods themselves if it meant protecting his sister. Nova was… my student, and for all it was worth, he was a great one. He may not have been the fastest learner, but he was dedicated. When I found out he was my nephew, well, I sort of felt pride in knowing that such an exemplary boy was one of my own… I'll miss him every day…" He stepped back and allowed someone else to take over.

Qrow then stepped forward, "Like Wulf, Nova was also my student, and my nephew, though he was more adopted than anything else. He was a fighter, determined to do what was necessary, no matter the cost to himself… for that, he has my eternal respect. One of the only people on Remnant who could take me in a fight… I'll drink to you kid…" he muttered as everyone could swear they saw a tear fall out of the man's eye as he poured out his flask on the ground at Nova's headstone.

Hex and Nitro stepped forward, "We may not have known Nova as long as some of you here but to us… he was the greatest leader anyone could ask for. He stood by us, even when we had no one. He helped us survive and taught us how to become who we are today. He's saved our lives more times than we can count and for that, we owe him everything." Hex said tears streaming down her face.

"I looked up to him when I had no one else to look up to. He was my shining light of hope, and most of all, he was someone who I called brother. I'm going to miss you bro…" Nitro choked as he and Hex made way for someone else.

"Nova's the reason I'm alive today…. When we were kids, too young to survive on our own, he took care of me, all by himself. He kept me safe, gave me hope and made sure I always had enough to eat and drink even if it meant he'd get none himself. He'd given me the clothes of his back and spent all he had to make sure I was alright. He was my father when I needed one, my mother when I had none, and my friend when all we had was each other. He's the greatest brother anyone could ask for, and there isn't a single soul in the world that held more worth than his…" Luna said trying to sound stoic but her voice cracks and streaming tears gave it all away. She broke down hard in front of the headstone and cried for a solid minute before getting up.

Elain rubbed her arm and walked up, "Nova, was my son. My precious little dragon that I had not nearly enough time with, in my life. I was taken from him at too young an age, and I regret more than anything, to have spent more time with him… I can't say about his characteristics as much as the rest of you, but… he was my son, and I'm proud to know that he left this legacy."

Ruby watched them come and go and was amazed at the sheer respect they all held for him. Nova really was the best of them all.

Yang grunted but walked up, "I don't have a lot to say about him… at first, I thought he was weird and kind of awkward. I didn't want him to really go anywhere near my sister but, as time grew on I realized what an amazing person he was. I'm glad I got to fight alongside him, and I'm glad he was my leader. A truer friend has never existed, and without him, I'd never have met Hex… Nova… I'll miss you buddy…" the blonde said, showing the first real emotions other than anger since she'd awakened.

Tai's turn, "Nova was like the son I never had. When I'd found out he was dating my daughter, I was furious… and I challenged him to duel… he beat my ass. I thought he was some frivolous pretty boy who was all bark and no bite… but in reality, he was incredible. He was respectful, and kind, a great listener and a kind soul. I'm proud to call him a son, and my only regret is… I'd never get to see him and Ruby become a real family…"

Everyone stared in awe, they weren't expecting anything from Tai but this was an impressive surprise.

Ruby inhaled deeply and walked up, kneeling down at his grave before turning to them, "When I first met him… it was weird and awkward. I still remember his hand brushing up on mine in that gun shop in Vale… Even when I found out his secret, I realized that he was still the same person as always, and through it all, good times and bad, I fell in love with him. He was the kindest, most gentle, funny, dorky little flamethrower I'd ever met… but he was my flamethrower. I don't think I'll ever move on from this… true love comes around once in a lifetime after all… so… Nova, if you're listening, I miss you, I'll keep missing you even until I grow old and die." She was about to walk back when the words found their way into her mind as if speaking about Nova lifted a weight in her.

"And I swear to you, here on this day, before your memory. I will find the ones who did this to you, I'll find the cause of all the pain and suffering, and I'll stop them. For your sake, and for the sake of everyone else…" Ruby said confidently, vigour burning in her eyes and Luna also felt it, everyone else did too.

Ruby was a leader, she was just like Nova.

* * *

Everyone hung around Patch for a few days before eventually moving on. Randolf left to make his way to Atlas, specifically Mantle, he said if they were going to take on the enemy then he needed to do his own mission. This left everyone else there.

"I've decided," Ruby said as they sat around the living room.

"Decided on what?" Luna asked sipping on some tea.

"I'm going to Mistral."

Luna almost spat out her tea, she choked instead, "What…?" she asked in a coughing fit.

"You heard me… I'm going to Mistral. Before… the fall… Nova was onto something. All the evidence, Cinder's team and the like, they came from Mistral. Something's not right there and I'm going to find out!" she said standing up.

Nitro looked at her nervously, "Uhh, you mention this to your dad?"

"No, he'll try to stop me…"

"Ruby, we'll try to stop you…" Hex said nervously.

"But I'll just go anyway!" Ruby said standing up.

Elain sighed, she didn't like this, "I'm not lying to your father about this…"

Luna sat and pondered for a moment, "You won't have to…"

"Huh?" they all turned to her.

"I've been thinking about this to… Before Nova… well… his original plan was for us to head back to Menagerie and spread the word about the White Fang. He wanted us to start digging up the evil at its roots, gather allies and take the fight to them. The more people that turn on the White Fang the easier our lives become, and we might be able to topple them entirely…" the blue dragon said placing her hand on her chin.

Elain sighed again, "I don't like the idea… but it's not bad…" she muttered.

"You guys won't be able to come with us, Menagerie and humans don't mix if you catch my meaning…" Luna said. "Nova wanted humans and Faunus to get along and set aside their differences, but bringing a human to Menagerie is still a stretch…"

"Then it's settled. I'm going to Mistral while Luna and Elain go to Menagerie!" Ruby said almost jumping up.

Nitro and Hex shared worried glances, "We're coming with you…" Nitro said standing up.

"What?! Really?" the red leader looked at them hopefully.

"Yup! Nova would kill us if we left you to go on a dangerous mission by yourself, especially since we can't follow Luna." Hex said smiling.

"Weelll…." Ruby said stretching the word.

"You already talked to JNPR didn't you? How the hell did you communicate with them? The CCT Tower was destroyed!" Luna said waving her arms.

"Vale to Patch isn't considered international so I still had coverage," Ruby stuck her tongue out and winked.

They all rolled their eyes, "You're at least telling your father something, leave a note…" Elain said not wanting to condone her actions.

* * *

They spent a couple more days hanging around Patch, with air transport services down and the majority of international commuting routes from Patch to Vale, it left them with only one real option to get to Mistral. By foot.

It was early in the morning when Ruby and Hex popped into Yang and Ruby's room to find the blonde sitting up in bed, looking disgruntled with life.

"Yang… The rest of us are… heading to Mistral. I know that things have been rough since…" Ruby started off.

"Ruby!" she said stopping her from talking. "I know you want me to come with you but… No one outside of Vale knows what really happened here. The last thing people saw was Atlas attacking everyone and betraying people's trust. No one saw the White Fang because the camera feeds were cut long before they arrived. Nova, Penny… they're gone… and even Pyrrha's hospitalized for who knows how long…"

"Yeah, I know… but we have to try… we can't let them win…"

"RUBY! Don't you get it? We've already lost!" the blonde exploded making her sister recoil with a hurt expression. "You saw what happened, Ruby! This isn't a game, this isn't some fairy tale where you can play the heroine and save the day, so why don't you shove those childish ideals away and realize the reality we are living in!"

Ruby felt her heartbreak a little more, her own sister, someone she thought that would have her back was no against her as well. Weiss wasn't here, Blake's missing and at the end of the day the glory days of Team ASHNRWBY were long gone…

"I… I'm still going anyway… because somethings are more important than my own life…" she sniffed before walking out the door.

Hex who had been quietly observing behind Ruby waited for her to leave, staring down her girlfriend. "Yang, I've put up with your shitty attitude for the last week and I've just about had enough…"

"If it's so shitty then why are you still here?" Yang retorted, narrowing her eyes.

Hex bit back the tears, the words stung worse than any stab wound, "Yeah… you're right. I guess I was wrong to think you'd have the courage to follow your sister and support her. To help the people of Remnant…"

Yang just continued staring at the open window, not bothering to look at the purplette.

"You're not the only one that lost something at Beacon… we all did. When will you realize that we're all grieving just as hard if not worse? Luna lost her brother! HER ONLY BROTHER! Elain lost her son, and Tai to a certain extent. Nitro and I lost a man we called family, and Ruby lost the love of her life, and that Penny girl!" Hex continued on but Yang just refused to look.

She'd just had about enough of Yang's bitterness. The pain was too much to bear, it was like looking at a stranger.

"I fell in love with a courageous, powerful, ray of sunshine, who would let nothing stop her from rallying behind her friends and fighting alongside them. I don't know where she is anymore, so… if you find her let me know… until then… this is goodbye…" Hex said this time Yang turned around wide-eyed at what she was implying. Her face was stock-still and shocked, but Hex was fuming. The tears streamed down her face as she waited for Yang to say something, but there were no words. Sobbing silently, she stormed off to follow Ruby, leaving the blonde hollow and questioning herself.

Elain and the others stood outside waiting for Ruby.

"Are we all set?" Luna asked looking at their party. Ruby nodded as she and Hex came through the door, the remnants of tear stains still on Hex's face.

"The journey will be perilous, and whether we'll find answers at the end is almost entirely uncertain…" Ren said as they gathered up their supplies.

"Long, almost unending distance, small chance of success, high chance of death. What're we waiting for?" Nitro said smiling.

Luna turned to Ruby and held her hand, "We'll come to find you at Haven, hopefully with reinforcements…" she gave the red leader a tight hug before waving goodbye as they went their separate ways. Ruby looked to the road ahead, clutching the shard of Asura, which now lay strung up in a pendant around her neck.

* * *

**-Beacon Academy, under a pile of rubble-**

It was dark, and stifling. The air was stale and cold as he lay there, broken and torn. What had happened to bring him to such a state? Everything hurt like hell and his airflow was restricted, he was being suffocated. The only saving grace was the soft, warm hum of a round object that lay on his chest as if it was protecting him.

He tried to open his eyes but there was nothing but cold darkness. Visions of the past began to play like a bad movie in his slowly dying mind. The burning of Beacon, the Grimm, the tower. Pyrrha, Onyx, Cinder… Ruby…

_RUBY! _The name resounded in his mind like a bell chime, rousing his muddled mind and clearing his senses. The moment he began to regain feeling in his limbs, the greater the pain came.

At first, it was a dull throbbing, but now it came like searing torture. Where was he? He needed to get up! He needed to find Ruby! His friends!

Biting down hard on his lip he gritted through the intense pain and made to move his left arm, but all he got was more pain. An intense weight pressed down on his body, like three tonnes of hardened rock, as if an entire building was resting on his chest.

_Come on Nova, move… I have to… no I NEED TO MOVE!_ He screamed in his brain as he pushed through the pain, he could feel his left arm's muscles tear and split, bones that were supposed to be broken, broke even further as he forced the weight above him upward. The faint glow of his aura slowly began to cover him as he forced himself to overcome his situation.

_FUCKING MOVE DAMNIT! _He cursed as the weight above him began to shift. Slowly but surely his semblance began to work again as his aura became focused on the task at hand, halting his healing, the object on his chest began to burn with a fire that generated strength, helping him to push through.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nova yelled as he gave one last solid push, forcing the massive pile of rock that sat on him forward and off his body. There was a resounding crash and crunch of rock breaking as he lay back down on his spot, the bright sunlight piercing down on his face, almost blinding his eyes. He was in a crater of rubble, cogs, and gears strewn around him suggesting he wasn't that far off from Ozpin's tower. Glancing down at his state he saw his left arm buried in the ground under him, no feeling in it as he lay there on his back, staring up at the sky. His chest rose and fell as he breathed, trying to regain composure of his body. His armlet on his right arm was damaged, and upon glancing down at himself, he realized he was in his girl form.

He took a few deep breaths, his legs, and right arm were thankfully semi-operational, so he sat up and got down onto his knees, placing his right arm for support.

"Alright, Nova… you can do this… " he muttered, though his voice was raspy and barely a whisper. His throat felt dry and uncomfortably raw.

"One… two… three!" He yelled as he forced his weight upward to bring his arm out of the hole it was in, but the rubble was too tightly compressed. The moment he forced himself upward a loud snap was heard in his elbow and the feeling of tearing skin and flesh burned through him like an unbelievable pain.

"OH FUCK! Oh fuck…" he muttered to himself as he realized what needed to be done. His arm wasn't coming out and he didn't have the strength to dig around it as it would take too long. He was on enough borrowed time as it was…

Cursing he tore a bit of his already ruined shirt and wrapped it around his exposed upper arm, tying an extremely tight knot.

"Alright, it's just like tearing off a bandage… just a hundred times more painful and a high chance you bleed to death…" He closed his eyes and forced his body upward.

The pain was unlike anything he'd felt before as he squeezed his eyes shut, his legs refusing to stop. Skin and muscle tore as bone broke off at the joint, like a fleshy red fountain his arm was now free dripping lightly due to the tight cloth. His veins and flesh that hadn't been severed properly hung from the missing limb like grotesque streamers.

Nova collapsed back onto the floor, all the strength leaving his body. The smell of blood attracting nearby Grimm and Nova didn't even have the strength to stand.

"Fuck… all that work and this is how it really ends?" He muttered to himself as he spied a Beowolf approaching out of the corner of his vision. The monster of darkness looming over him as it inspected him for life. The Grimm didn't eat corpses that were already dead. They only ate fresh kills.

Nova tried to stay as still as possible but the bleeding of his arm just roused the creature's senses, overriding its state of preference. It was hungry.

Nova closed his eyes and waited for the impending doom, but there was none, as the creature that stood above him was now missing a head, the swift sound of sheathing metal was heard behind him.

"Well… look who's still alive…" A male voice said, "Can't believe you've let yourself go… Nova…"

The dragon couldn't care less who his saviour was as his vision darkened and he blacked out.

* * *

**Who saved Nova? What's going to happen to our heroes now?**

**Find out next chapter :P**

**If y'all actually thought I was going to let Nova die then I'm glad I stirred your emotions. Yes, it's true... this entire time, your author WAS actually evil MWAHAHAHA.**


	41. Chapter 41: Flames Rekindled

**I made Nova in Code Vein and posted screenshots on my twitter, so if you want a really accurate idea of what Nova looks like then go check it out. I know it's a pretty cheesy cop-out, to use a game's expansive character creation to re-create my OCs but I like the idea. I'm still eventually going to try to draw them but I have a ton of work to do.**

**I might try to make the rest of Team ASHN at some point.**

* * *

**Chapter 41: From The Ashes, We Rise**

* * *

The sky was dark and red, as though all familiar sources of light had been blackened out by a force of unknown origin. The land was barren and desolate, its rocky terrain baring nothing but sand and dirt amidst a seemingly endless vast expanse of monochromatic earth. The only saving grace were the few pools of black liquid, like tar, that spotted the landscape. Sitting neatly in the middle was a grand castle, entirely Gothic in design, with large ornate windows, and doors so antique it suggested the building was erected long before the land became desolate. Perhaps it hinted to a time when the land thrived, before Grimm that seemed to erupt almost out of thin air, rising from the pools like horrid manifestations of darkness that they were.

Inside the castle, in a grand room lined with fine glass windows, around a table fit for only one purpose. The members of the room ranged in all shapes and forms. A tall skinny man, with a mustache and grey hair, Arthur Watts. A blue-haired boy who stood out amongst the crowd, his bright blue hair a welcome colour amidst the otherwise gothic room, Gale Rogue. A large burly man stood in his chair, wearing a green tunic and sported wild-looking hair and eyes, Hazel.

Alongside him were two almost identical-looking men, except one was a lot younger. Both lanky and sported crazy looks in their eyes, Thorian and Tyrian Callows. Lastly, three young faces, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, and the large figure of Onyx. Cinder was the oddest looking of them all, with an eyepatch over her left eye, and a scar running across her face. She would converse through Emerald since, if her appearance went along with her state, she suffered a vocal injury.

There could be only one term to describe a gathering of the most dangerous individuals on Remnant. A war council.

As if to complete the combination, the door to the room opened and a tall, pale figure passed through. Her skin whiter than snow, her eyes, black like the shadows of Grimm, her irises, red like the brightest colour of blood. At a glance, she looked human, but anyone with more than two seconds of looking could tell that she was more akin to a Grimm than anything else.

She calmly walked to the front of the table and gestured for everyone to sit.

"Now that we've all gathered ourselves here… I believe it's time to analyze our progress…" The woman said, her voice commanding and smug.

"Yes, ma'am... The raid on Beacon was a grand success, Cinder has become the Fall Maiden, chaos has been sewn amongst the four kingdoms…" Gale began his report.

"And most importantly, dear old Ozpin is dead…" Salem smiled darkly. "And… what of those… Dragons?" she turned to Onyx who had been sitting folding his arms.

The bear-man smirked, "I personally saw to it that the boy was… dealt with… if you catch my meaning…" Onyx chuckled a throaty laugh.

"And his sister?" she asked again narrowing her eyes.

Onyx looked away, "I was… unable to get to her before we were interrupted by, the girl with Silver Eyes…"

Salem grimaced, "Ah yes… that brat who damaged our dear Cinder…" she said gesturing to the girl, who just nodded in fury due to her inability to speak.

"She may cause a problem…"

"I agree… why not send us out? Hunt her down and kill her?" Tyrian asked looking between Salem and his brother.

Salem shook her head, "No… I want her… alive if possible… she may be of some use, take your brother and hunt them down…"

"With pleasure, my queen…" both brothers said in harmony as they bowed.

Salem nodded, "Good… Hazel, you and Onyx rally with the White Fang, begin planning the capture of the Relic at Haven… even with Lionheart on our side… I suspect we might encounter resistance."

"Understood ma'am," Hazel said nodding in confirmation.

"Cinder… you and your team are to hunt down the Spring Maiden, my spies tell me she's with Raven Branwen… the woman won't be easy to crack… but if you can't get her on our side then wager her tribe's lives, they're your bargaining chip…"

"Uhh, yes ma'am, w-we understand…" Emerald said nervously, having to speak for Cinder.

* * *

**-On A Boat Heading for Menagerie-**

The air was still, save for the occasional gentle breeze that blew through due to the movement of the small passenger vessel. The encroaching night sky was illuminated by the light of the evening sun as it set it's last few hours before the dark.

Blake stood leaning over the rails of the ship, her bow gone, as per the change in apparel. Standing in a white coat and top that exposed her mid-riff, accompanied by long black pants. Despite the welcome change in wardrove, that usually lifted one's spirits, Blake was sulking.

She'd run away again, leaving her friends, the group of people she'd called family behind. Her mind was confused and scared. Danger followed her wherever she went, she put her friends in the middle of it, because of her Yang got hurt. She was weak, and a coward, and she was a fool to think that things would have turned out differently.

"In the end… all I do is drag everyone else down with me…" She muttered out loud, paying no mind to those who heard.

"Really? Because the way I see it, you're just blaming yourself for things you had no control over," A male voice said startling her out of her musings.

The cat-Faunus turned around to see the smiling face of none other than Sun Wukong.

"SUN?!" She yelled in disbelief. "…Did you follow me?"

Sun tried to play it off, "What? Pfft no… I was just heading to Menagerie, same as you!"

Blake shot him an unimpressed look, "Mhm, Sun you're a Faunus but you're from Vacuo…"

"Ugh, alright fine… After the fall of Beacon I saw you take off on your own, without saying anything to anyone, and… I thought at that moment, you looked like you needed a friend." He explained smiling as though nothing in the world was wrong.

"You… dropped one of your only chances of getting back home… because you thought I needed help? What about your team?" Blake asked again in utter disbelief at his rationale.

Sun chuckled, "Meh, I told Neptune I was heading here, they'll be fine…"

Suddenly an alarm blared on the ship, "What's going on?" Sun asked looking around as crew members began scampering in all directions, getting to stations and securing crates.

"All able fighters to battle stations! We have Grimm!" The captain called out over the announcement system.

"Grimm what?!" Blake was started as the entire ship lurched forward, a dark figure moving through the waters.

The two teens watched in horror as a massive dragon-like Grimm reared its head out from the water, rising like a towering pillar of death. Unlike the Wyvern at Beacon, this dragon was slender and sported smaller appendages. It was more akin to a serpent.

Blake and Sun jumped back as the Grimm abruptly rose out of the water entirely and spread massive wings from its back, flying high into the air and launching a blast of wind at the ship, almost sending it toppling over.

They held on for dear life until the boat finally stabilized again.

"Holy shit, what the hell is that thing?!" Sun said incredulously.

"A Grimm, haven't you seen one before?" Blake answered him sarcastically.

"I know that! But… this thing is unlike any species I've ever seen!"

"Aye laddie! Ever since that thing that happened at Beacon, more and more crazy Grimm have started to show up," A voice said appearing next to them. It was the captain, he was light-skinned and sported a white head of hair and beard.

"What're we going to do captain?" One of the crew members said turning to him.

"We've never seen something this big… but we'll give 'er a fight nonetheless!"

With that Blake sprang into action, leaping off the front of the ship and using her clone to launch her further into the air until she was within range to latch Gambol Shroud onto the beast's neck. She swung around it's back and fired off a few shots but its scales were too thick.

Enraged, the beast began flying around at brisk speeds, dragging the poor cat Faunus with it. Blake detached and scrambled back onto the boat the moment it drew closer.

"How the fuck are we supposed to kill that thing?!" Blake screamed, "Its scales are so damn tough!"

"Woah there kitty, you got a license for those claws?" Sun asked referring to her potty mouth. She just rolled her eyes at him.

"ENGAGE CANNONS!" The captain yelled as the beast drew up on the front of the ship once more. A large, dust-powered cannon drew up from the deck and fired at the beast, but it was too slippery and dodged easily.

It drew back into the air and reared its head, charging up a blast of what looked to be lightning at the ship.

"Not today monster breath!" Sun said as he summoned his clones. The light-clones hopped onto the back of the creature's head and tugged on its whiskers, forcing its head back and canceling the lightning discharge.

Sun then jumped up there with the clones and began trying to veer the dragon's blast direction away from the ship.

"SUN! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!" Blake yelled questioning his insane actions.

"Oh, you know… just HANGING OUT!" He yelled the last part as the dragon began to buck and shake in an attempt to toss the monkey-Faunus off its head.

Blake made an exasperated sigh when she saw him get flung off, heading directly for a nearby rocky outcropping. She made a desperate dash to the island, barely making it in time to catch the falling boy, bridal style.

"My hero!" Sun said with a cheerful smile.

"Ugh…" Blake rolled her eyes and dropped him.

Once they were back on the boat, the Captain called out to them, "Hey! Huntsmen, if you can clip its wings, then we can take 'em!"

Sun shot Blake a look, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm not sure I want to be…"

Sun summoned his clones and sent them off into the air, using them initially to launch himself up. Blake made a running start and launched herself off the rail, flung by a clone, then wrapped and thrown by a second, into a third, until she approached Sun himself, who'd just attained maximum altitude.

He opened his arms expectantly, but Blake had other plans as she soared above him, coming down and leaping off his shoulders, sending her eye enough above the Dragon for her point of impact to be undodgeable.

The dragon made a few desperate attempts to shoot lightning at her but she dodged them all, bringing Gambol shroud down and slicing right through its leathery wings, effectively eliminating its flight capabilities.

The dragon made a mad dash around, crashing through several rocks and small islands in an attempt to destroy its attackers but it was in vain, as the moment it stopped moving, the ship's main cannon fired one massive blast that roasted its head to a smoking crater.

"That… was… fucking exhausting…" Sun said as he heaved his lungs out on the deck of the ship.

"Yeah…" Blake said eyeing him. He caught her look.

"We can talk about what I'm doing here … when we get to Menagerie, which should be pretty soon…" he answered the unvoiced question.

* * *

Menagerie was, breathtaking to say the least. White sandy beaches, tropical climate, green vegetation, and Faunus as far as the eye could see.

"I've never seen this many Faunus in one place!" Sun said marveling at the number of people. Usually, Faunus were few and far between in other towns, Vale and Vacuo had the most equally distributed Faunus to Human population out of the Four Kingdoms, and even that was stretching it.

"This is the one place everyone can feel safe, regardless of who, or what they are," Blake said proudly as they moved through the coastline marketplace.

"Is it always this… cramped?" Sun said looking at the closely packed population.

"Well… when you take all the Faunus in the world and dump them on an island that's two-thirds desert, then yeah… it tends to be a bit cramped…"

"You guys have desert?! What's wrong with that? A little desert never hurt anybody!" Sun said turning to her.

"The deserts here aren't like the ones back at Vacuo, they're crawling with dangerous Grimm and its practically uninhabitable…"

"Oh…" he deflated. The two reached the summit of the hill they were on and were now overlooking the entirety of the village. "I take it all back… this place is… beautiful… why would anyone wanna leave?"

"That's not the point Sun," Blake said getting a little angry now. "They gave us a small island and stuffed us here, and told us to shut up and make do. It will always be a reminder that we're… second class citizens…"

"Personally… I love it here, how I do miss this place…" A female voice said making the two teens whip their heads around. Behind them were two hooded figures, a short one, around five feet five inches tall, and a taller one, around five-feet nine inches, both female.

At first, Blake was confused about why some random cloaked lady was talking to her until the two figures got closer, and they tipped their heads so Blake could see their faces.

"Elain? Luna?!" She asked in disbelief.

* * *

**-Somewhere in the Emerald Forest-**

Nova awoke with a start, beads of cold sweat dripping down his forehead as he tried to sit up. The floor was hard and cold, with little moisture. He glanced around to find he was in a cave, it was barren save for the overhanging moss. The smell of burning wood and roasting fish permeated his nostrils.

"Oh, look who's finally awake," A male voice said causing the dragon to turn around. Behind him, in the darkness of the cave was a burning campfire, a few sticks of what looked to be river trout were roasting over the fire.

Nova was instantly on guard.

"Hmph, stop being so tense, is that how you show gratitude to the person who saved your life?" the man said again, and this time Nova could recognize the voice.

"A-Adam?" he asked hesitantly.

"The one and only," Adam said now coming into the light, standing above Nova. His mask was gone, leaving his scarred face in the open. "Here, you might want to toss these on…" he threw Nova a set of clothes, which caused the young dragon to glance down and realize he was wearing nothing but bandages over his chest, normally it wouldn't be a problem except he was actually a she.

"Hurry up… it's difficult to converse like this…" Adam said with a faint blush on his cheeks. Nova turned red and quickly donned the black shirt.

"W-What happened?" Nova asked, looking over his body, and to his surprise, his arm, that he thought was gone, was wrapped up tightly in bandages, still attached to him. "H-How…"

"I found you lying in a pool of your own blood, with your arm missing. Four broken ribs and I'm pretty sure knees weren't supposed to bend the way they were… At first, I didn't recognize you, thought some random girl was still alive in this place, I only figured it out when I heard you swearing vehemently."

Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Really? My swearing is what tipped you off?"

Adam chuckled, "Well there was that, and the Agniseki on your body…"

"The what?"

"The Agniseki, it's what our ancestors called the Fragment of Fire, that stone that was bonded to you," Adam explained.

Nova's eyes went wide and instantly began searching his person for the stone, only to come up empty. "Where is it?! What've you done with it?!" he was furious, glaring at Adam.

"Woah there… calm down, I've done nothing with your stone… in fact, it was the only thing that kept you alive. I healed you using this," He held out a small vial of blue liquid, "Rapid healing nano-machines, good for first aid, but it couldn't save the mortally wounded."

"Yeah you were crying in your sleep for days," A new voice said as the person entered through the mouth of the cave. It was Bell, carrying more fish.

"You! You're here too?" Nova said in disbelief.

"Yup," she said popping the 'p'. "I was the one taking care of yer bandages and stuff, so your decency as a woman is still preserved… if you even care about those things…"

Nova smiled embarrassed, "Ah… thanks?"

"You're welcome, and I fixed your little fancy bracelet for you… well fix is a relative term, techs too advanced to properly fix with what little I have but… it should hold out until you find a replacement or whatever… no idea what it does though…" she pointed to Nova's armlet.

The young dragon breathed a sigh of relief, "Ah thanks…" he pressed the button on the underside of the armlet, and a flash of orange overtook him as his body morphed back into that of a male.

"This feels better, now… um… how did you… fix my arm?" Nova said pointing to his left arm that was wrapped up in the sling.

Adam and Bell shared a glance, "We didn't…" he responded.

"What then how…"

"Just… unwrap it and find out I guess…"

Nova did as he was told and gently undid the sling, then unwrapped the bandages to reveal the most peculiar sight.

His left arm, all the way up to his elbow where it'd been removed, was almost like a new appendage.

The arm was fiery orange, much like his scales, except it was more of a leathery type of skin. There were small yellow markings, like lines that ran from the elbow down to the tips of his fingers. On the top of the hand, between his wrist and knuckles, sat the Agniseki, embedded deep into the hand with its smooth surface, and dragon symbol showing.

His fingers felt sharper and were more pointed. Upon trying to draw his claws out, the fingers themselves morphed into long pointed claws, that looked more like lethal daggers than actual claws.

"What the hell…?" he marveled as he turned his hand over to analyze it.

"As I said before, that stone is the only reason you're alive. While you were dying of your injuries, it latched onto your body and began fueling your aura. At first, we thought it was just healing you but, imagine our surprise when it actually regrew your limb and then fused with the arm. The Agniseki is now part of you… what that means I am unsure…" Adam explained.

"You called it, Agniseki... how did you come across that name?" the dragon looked to the older man with interest.

Adam folded his arms, "Onyx had a library, he was obsessed with the stones. Most of the text is in a language I can't even read, but one of the translated texts mentions the names of Fragments of Wind and Fire, the Aeroseki and Agniseki."

Nova studied him, "It didn't perhaps clue you in as to what happened to the Aeroseki or whatever? Any information on the other Fragments perhaps?"

"Sadly, no. As I said, I didn't know how to read the untranslated text... the only person who could translate it was your Flint, and by extension, Onyx."

Nova's eyes went wide, "You've met my dad? Where is he?!" he got up vigorously and clutched on to Adam's shoulders, his claws digging into the red-haired man's skin as he shook him.

Bell watched in amusement as the dragon fell back down in a heap, flinching in pain from his injuries. "Your father is being held our base in Vacuo, I wasn't supposed to give out that information but..."

"Vacuo?! I WAS RIGHT!" Nova fist-pumped, while the other two's sweatdropped.

Nova retracted his claws and turned to them, a serious look on his face, "So… why save me? What're you playing at?" he asked eyeing them. They weren't ones to just save someone on a whim.

Adam and Bell shared glances again, Adam sighed and threw him a piece of metal. Nova caught it and turned it over in his fingers. It was a small thin piece of electrical tubing, not thicker than a straw and no longer than a bottlecap. It had wires sticking out of the ends and what looked to be biological nerve connectors.

"That was in our necks," Adam said turning his head and showing Nova the nape of his neck, where there was a long scar.

"What's this got to do with me?" He asked.

"During our fight at Beacon, your scythe clipped the back of my neck when my aura was down, in just the right spot to destroy this thing. When I woke up there was a searing pain and I felt something under my skin, so naturally, I dug it out on my own accord…"

Nova paled at Adam's lack of self-care.

"This… thing, whatever it was… was controlling our minds. It fed us into blind loyalty like the brain produces serotonin, and whenever we had thoughts of rebellion it fed us into blind rage. Onyx, put these in here when he made us go through what he called enhancements…" Adam explained.

"The rest of us in Team BLDE, we all had them implanted I think, he made us take these awful surgeries where we'd sometimes even get whole limbs replaced for mechanical ones…" Bell said gesturing to her right arm, and then her left eye.

Nova shuddered. To make his comrades go through such horrible procedures, for his ambition. Onyx truly was the epitome of all evil.

"Wait, if you're here, doesn't that mean the rest of those guys are here too? BLDE?" Nova asked, looking around nervously, not wanting to meet Edan again.

Bell's face fell, "No… Edan, Dune, Lyme… they're dead…"

"Dead? How?" Nova asked wide-eyed.

"Onyx turned on us…" Adam explained.

"He said we outlived our usefulness to him… that we were tools without purpose… loose ends he needed to tie up…" Bell continued for him. "Us, and that Torchwick fellow, but… he burned wit the rest of them…"

Nova gaped, treating his allies as tools, betrayal. To think such a person existed, it made Grimm look like saints.

"That's horrible…" Nova mouthed, barely able to wrap his head around it all.

"Yeah well… you did try to warn us…" Adam said rubbing the back of his neck.

"So… what're you going to do now?" Nova asked.

"We can't go back to Onyx… but the Four Kingdoms see us as criminals… we're not sure what to do…" Bell answered honestly.

Nova looked at the pair. What he saw before him weren't terrorists with cruel hearts and black souls. No, what he saw were two Faunus who fell down the wrong path and were manipulated by cruel leaders. Unfairly enslaved and turned into weapons of war.

Nova sighed, "I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure you'll like it…"

"Shoot your shot, not like we have any better options…" Bell responded.

"Well… you could return to Menagerie. The White Fang faction under the leadership of Sienna Khan, they're still more or less uninfluenced by Onyx… you could try to convince her of his danger. Get her on our side, and turn over a new leaf for the White Fang… away from all this bloodshed and violence…" Nova explained his plan to them. This was his original idea, he was going to head to Menagerie himself and do it, but now that things have gone awry, all he wanted to do was get back to Ruby and the others.

Adam choked on air and began coughing, "E-Excuse me?!" he pounded his chest to settle cough.

"That's ludicrous!" Bell input.

"Not really… you still have the support of a lot of Faunus, if you reason with her then I'm sure you'll succeed…"

Adam sighed, "Your plan is insane… but it's viable…"

Bell blinked in surprise, "Adam you can't be serious…" his face was dead serious. She facepalmed. "We're doomed…"

* * *

**-Mistral Forest, en route to Haven-**

"I'm telling you we should call the team RNNJRH(Ranger), it makes sense," Ren said as he debated with Nora over the team name.

"Yeah but MNRNJR, sounds cooler (Moon Ranger)," Nora explained.

"That may be, but we're helping Ruby with her objective so that makes her the leader…" Ren countered.

"Guys!" Jaune half yelled, half-whispered. "We need to focus!"

At that moment the ground shook with the thunderous sound of heavy stomping. Trees were batted aside as Ruby flew out from the green canopy, firing shots of Crescent Rose in rapid succession, at what appeared to be a massive Grimm, clad in rock.

"ALRIGHT MOVE!" Jaune instructed and they all got into position. Nora and Ren stood atop a tree branch as Nora fired off shots from her grenade launcher

Ren dashed into the air and fired off a few rounds from his machine pistols but they were ineffective, so he tried blade attacks, which just bounced right off.

"Its hide is too thick!" Ren yelled as he dropped onto the ground.

Ruby continuously used her semblance pathing through the air, firing of anti-tank rounds in hopes to pierce its hide.

Hex roped around the side with Nitro and tried to hook its legs with her chains. The creature just moved the rocks around to avoid the binds.

Nitro began charging his fist, and while it was distracted, he came blitzing out of nowhere and smashing into its right leg.

"HELL YES!" he said in triumph only to be blindsided by a floating rock that then made its way to re-create the leg.

"FUCKING HELL THAT'S SO UNFAIR!" he yelled in protest, rubbing the back of his head.

"We need to draw its attention away from Ruby!" Ren instructed as the red reaper stood on the ground firing off at it. She swapped clips to lighting dust and stunned its arm, to little effect.

_Stupid Ruby, lighting doesn't work on rocks! _She cursed in her mind.

The creature slammed the lightning fist onto the ground sending the tear flying backward into a heap.

"We… need to come up with a better plan…" Jaune muttered as he had fallen on his face.

Nora readied her hammer and charged at the creature, with one mighty swing she blew its arm away. She would have celebrated her victory had the beast not use the rocks as ammunition to fire them at her. She destroyed one but was unprepared for the second volley. Thankfully Ruby in her speed managed to rescue her. Nitro used his semblance to knock them both aside before any more rocks could come crashing in their direction.

"Oi, one of you is really heavy…" Nitro groaned as he got out of the dogpile. "I think it's Nora…"

She responded with a resounding slam of her hammer on his head, "Never tell a girl she's fat!"

"I never said you were…" he returned to which she just hit him again.

"Okay, so one arm down… now what… fuck…" Jaune cursed as the arm that had been exploded, was now replaced by a giant Grimm arm. The spectral arm sleeved itself into a nearby tree.

"HIS ARM IS A TREE! ITS ARM IS A TREE!" Jaune yelled out as he ran for his life.

"Big mistake!" Ruby yelled out as she swapped to fire dust rounds and shot at the appendage. The tree caught on fire and began burning. "Yes!"

"NO! BIG MISTAKE!" Jaune screamed again as the creature now turned and brandished the flaming log as a weapon.

"Not again…" Ruby groaned as they made a break for cover. It felt like everything she was doing was just wrong… it worked out in her head but in reality, it just backfired, literally.

_If only Nova were here… he'd know what do … he'd probably blow that thing to pile of ashes, or break it with his semblance…_ she almost began sulking at the remembrance of her boyfriend, unconsciously clinging on to the dragon tooth that hung around her neck.

Hex spotted this and felt sympathy for the young girl, "Ruby… I know, we all wish he were here to… but he's not, so right now we need to focus, what's our game plan?"

Ruby shook herself out of her stupor, "Yeah you're right…"

"It's protecting its face, I think its face is the weak point!" Ren said as he observed their fighting.

"We can't get to its face if its limbs keep getting in the way…" Nora pointed out.

"And we can't break its limbs because they keep coming back…" Hex pointed out.

Jaune began thinking, "What if we… knock out all its limbs at once, it'll give us a moment to get to its face!"

Nitro smirked, "Good idea blondie," he turned to Hex, "Got any thermal paste in that bag of yours?"

Hex pulled off her pack and began rummaging, then held out a few globs of grey paste, "Just enough for one shot."

The red-headed boy smirked, "That's all we need…"

Once they reformed positions, Hex used her chain to swing across the clearing and slapped the paste onto the creature's legs. While it was focused on her, Nitro charged up his gauntlets and aimed.

"I think its time this naughty Grimm get, grounded!" he yelled as he shot out at full blast, slamming his arms into the thermal paste blowing out its legs.

At that moment Ruby shot Nora with a charge of electricity, fueling her semblance. Together they made a petal burst dash for the creature's chest, and with a mighty swing of Mjolnir, the arms were blown off and in that split second, the Grimm disappeared from the center of the rock mass and dashed outward. All that was left was a hollow pile of smoldering rock.

"It's getting away!" Jaune yelled as he saw the Geist skulking its way back into the forest.

"I got this…" Ruby said and aimed with her sniper. At an impossible angle, one could swear the bullet curved as it shot right through the Grimm's mask, killing it instantly.

That night, the team set up camp after passing through a village. Jaune got a few upgrades to his armour and sword.

"What're the chances the airship at the next town is up and running?" Nitro asked as he poked the campfire.

Hex grimaced, "The village chief before said they haven't heard from Shion Village in a while, knowing our luck, I'd say it's pretty much negative…"

"I'm really starting to hate it when you give me the odds…" Nitro said shooting her a look of disdain.

The purplette just shrugged, "Hey, you asked…."

"Guys, come on, we need to rest while we can," Jaune said as he took up a spot on the ground next to them.

Ruby sat clutching the dragon's tooth, staring longingly into the fire. Her forlorn expression made the rest of them feel a pang of sadness as well.

"Hey… Ruby are you okay?" Nora asked looking concerned.

She blinked and tore her eyes away from the fire, though she still clutched her pendant, "Yeah… I'm fine… why?"

Nora, Ren, and Hex just gave each other knowing looks, "It's just that earlier, you froze up in the fight… you need to talk to us, it'll help you feel better…" Hex said placing a hand on her shoulder.

Ruby sighed and leaned on the hand, "Sorry guys, it's just… I can't help but think about him… wonder what it would be like if he were here with us right now… I just… miss him so much…"

"We miss him too," Hex said but Ruby interrupted her right after.

"I just… I feel like everything I'm doing is wrong like I can't be a leader without him…"

"Ruby, I may not have known Nova as you did, but I do know you. You're just as good as a leader as he was, don't sell yourself short…" Jaune said getting up from his cot.

"He used to tell me that all the time, he would go on and on saying, 'Ruby you're a leader with unbelievable potential' or something like that…,"

"Well I for one wish he was here to, so I could thank him personally…" Jaune returned, staring at the campfire as if the flames were a manifestation of their friend. "If it weren't for him, Pyrrha wouldn't be alive right now… so more than anything, I just wish I could have at least thanked him…"

Ruby laughed, "You know, he'd say to take your thanks and stuff it back where it came from because he was just doing his job of protecting a friend…" she mused staring at the fire as well.

"Yeah, that sounds like something he'd say," Niro snorted with a smile.

"Well enough of that, we need to get some sleep, tomorrow's a long day of more hiking…" Hex said as she tucked into her sleeping bag.

The rest of them just groaned in response.

* * *

**-White Fang HQ Vacuo-**

A tall white-haired man in a lab coat sat at his desk, stacks of paper, blueprints, and balls of paper were strewn about the flat top in disarray. His eyes were tired and almost lifeless, yet if one was observant, they could see that beyond it all he had a fire burning inside him, a refusal to give in.

Bortz Flint Flareheart, commonly referred to as Flint, since it was awkward to call him Bortz, ran his hand through his messy head of hair before dragging it down his face. "Some top engineer I am, White Fang has me cooking up all these weapons, and for what? Just to load more projects on to me..." he muttered to himself. He'd been trying to delay his work as long as possible but his excuses for stalling had run dry, Onyx was growing more impatient by the day...

His lab was highly advanced, isolated from the main base facility where he worked at the relay command of some Remus Stein, one of Onyx's favourite lap dogs. He didn't want to work for this madman, far from it, but he had no choice. The White Fang held his wife captive and threatened to kill her if he didn't work. He hadn't even seen his children in nine years, Onyx told him that he had people monitoring them, and if he ever stepped out of line then his children as well were as good as dead. There was no evidence to prove the White Fang High Commander was telling the truth, but as a father, he was not even remotely willing to risk it.

Despite being was was essentially a slave worker, he was treated somewhat humanely, perhaps a result of being the primary brains of their weapons research, he was at least given meals and a sizeable lab with basic commodities, including a small television.

Sighing to himself he flicked on the tv, it had been a long time since he'd observed the outside world.

"In today's news, we finally have a report of the events that happened in Vale," the news reporter said, now Flint was interested. "Suitably titled, The Fall of Beacon, what was originally the final round of the Vytal Tournament Festival quickly turned 'Grimm' as thousands of the beasts flooded the Kingdom after audiences witnessed the 'death' of a student. From that point on, the audio and video feeds were taken control of by a third party, and stirred the negative emotions of the viewers, driving what seemed to be the worst Grimm invasion in the last century. Atlas robotic soldiers were remotely hacked and turned on the people, killing women, children, men, none were spared."

Flint felt his stomach turn, "Holy shit Onyx... what the fuck have you done..." though his words blamed Onyx, he to felt responsible as by his hand did the White Fang have the tools to carry out their mission. Even though the news didn't mention them, the entire fleet of White Fang ships missing on that day, it wasn't hard to piece it together.

"There were numerous casualties during the invasion, survivors recount the last moments of Beacon as they held a last-minute defence line for the citizens. Among the confirmed dead was Beacon's own Headmaster, Ozpin," the reporter continued.

The engineer gasped, "Well I'll be damned... they fucking got to you Oz... they actually got to you... how long until your next re-incarnation, old friend?" he spoke aloud to no one in particular.

"Adding to the deaths of notable figures, Nova Alexandrite Flareheart," Flint felt his heart stop, and his body shaking. The reports must be a mistake... right?

"The prince of the Flareheart Royal Family, who the entire world thought was dead, had re-appeared as a student of Beacon. His time was however tragically cut short as he was killed in action during the fight. His sister, Luna Sapphire Flareheart, and mother Elain Flareheart, among the list of persons considered missing." the screen then shifted to display clips of their battles in the arena, the interviews of Nova, and Flint couldn't deny, no matter how much he wanted to, that the persons before him, were, in fact, his family.

The sound of the tv, long forgotten as Flint let his scroll drop the floor, his heart shattering like smashed glass. The family he'd been working so hard to see again... were gone...

He hoped to god that this was a bad dream, but no matter where he looked, what he did, he was faced with the earth-shattering reality. All this work he'd done, all those weapons he'd produced... they were for nothing...

He was so lost in his own world he did not see the door to his lab open, and Onyx stepped inside.

"Flint, how goes the..." his words faltered when he saw the news report. "Fuck, I knew we should've stifled your access to this stuff..." he saw the faded look on Flint's face. The fire of life had died in his eyes and the man was naught but an empty shell.

Onyx sighed, "I was afraid it would come to this... so now you know that your family is no longer in our grasp..."

"Tell me..." Flint said, his tired eyes staring at the large man, "How did Nova die...?"

Onyx's flat look turned to a sinister smile, "The fool made an attempt to save his friend's life, and at that moment I cut him down... with the very blade you forged..."

Flint felt all the blood leave his veins, "YOU MONSTER! I'LL KILL YOU!" Flint launched himself at Onyx, but the bear Faunus just laughed and caught him mid-air by the throat.

"I'm not a monster... I'm just a thorough businessman... you on the other hand... you created Draco Belthor yourself, you forged the weapon that cut down your own son... the weapon that slaughtered the rest of your family... you're the real monster here..." Onyx said glaring into Flint's eyes.

Flint felt the fury drain from him, perhaps it was the grief or the guilt, but he accepted Onyx's words. It was true, he forged the sword, he created the weapon that killed them... he was the cause of this... he needed to repent for his sins...

"Well, I think it's needless to say if you don't continue working for us... then we will have no choice but to kill you..." Onyx threatened.

Flint paid him no heed, "With them gone... I have nothing else to live for," with one swift motion Flint kicked his shoe against Onyx's belt and lifted a knife that was strapped to the larger man's belt.

"WHAT ARE YOU...!" Onyx roared but halted when Flint unsheathed the knife and plunged it into his own heart. Blood began to pour from the wound as all life left the older man's body, Onyx watched in shock as Flint fell limp on the floor, blood pooling beneath him.

"Nova, Luna, Elain... I'm coming to meet you..." Flint said as his voice died out, staring up at the sky.

Once Onyx overcame his shock he roared with laughter. "RAHAHAHA! Flint you madman! I didn't think you had the guts to do it!" he walked over and pulled out the knife, blood spewing out of the wound. In the last breaths of consciousness that were in Flint's eyes, Onyx leaned down and looked at him.

"If you wanted to die... then you should have gone for your head..." he chuckled before channeling his power and forcing a mass of black into the open wound. The bleeding stopped, keeping Flint within an inch of his life. "Well now... you're no good to me like this..."

He pulled out his scroll and dialed, "Remus... yes, prepare the extraction chamber, I think it's time we test out your little prototype..."

* * *

**If you are interested, the name of the Fragment of Fire, Agniseki, derives from the combination of Agni- the Sanskrit word for fire, and shortened form of the word Houseki- the Japanese term for a gem or precious stone. Aeroseki is self-explanatory. following the same concept. **


	42. Chapter 42: On The Rise

**I just remembered that I never answered Anthony Glider's question from a while ago. I've actually had a few plans for Sienna Khan, so without actually spoiling anything, yes she will live, I never intended to have her killed because I also think there was potential with her character that RT wasted.**

**Sorry if this Chapter comes out late, I had a lot of stuff to do this week, and next two weeks will be even worse so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do 2 chapters a week, but I'll try.**

* * *

**Chapter 42: She Went Where?!**

* * *

Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, the face of the Schnee family and famous singer. Boasting of numerous academic and field accolades, having been seen fighting bravely at the Battle of Beacon, and the Breach. She was, in every sense of the word, the esteemed princess she was made out to be… so why did she feel so… empty?

There she sat, against the ever clear skies of the prestige city of Atlas, in her own little ivory tower, in the grand home of the Schnee Family. Many people would kill to be in her position, as from the outside it looked like a lush life with everything she'd ever wanted, but Weiss Schnee would trade it all in a heartbeat if it meant being with her friends again.

She never even got to say goodbye to them, as mere moments after the chaos died down, her father had her escorted from the area and flown directly back to Atlas. No room for protests, no room for argument, Jaques Schnee, head of the SDC, always got what he wanted.

The world outside saw the Schnees as the blue bloods of society, perfectly happy with everything at their fingertips… but on the inside, all that was left was a broken home with no love.

Between her younger brother, Whitely, whose personality was about as twisted as the lack of empathy in his eyes, or the mother who'd been driven into an alcoholic depression, the father who'd never known anything other than business, or the older sister who'd long since left them, Weiss wasn't sure where she stood.

She'd become the glue that held the pride of the Schnee family together, but… at the cost of herself, her individuality.

"At the end of the day… I'm just a puppet for that man…" she cursed under her breath, staring longingly out of the window.

The life she led was stifling, she longed to see their faces again, Luna, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Hex, Nitro... and Nova. The thought of his name hammered in her head like a bad omen. Her stomach churned and she wanted to tear her insides out, as the sickening feeling returned.

She hadn't seen it herself… but the cries of Ruby, the flash of White… and silhouetted body falling off the side of the tower far beyond her reach… the tears staining the eyes of Pyrrha as they escorted her on a stretcher. Nova was dead. Her mind said that this was all false, that he was alive and well, but the state of everyone, even if she didn't get to see it herself, it was undeniable.

Her heart ached at the thought she'd never gotten to tell him goodbye, to give him one last hug. Nova was more family to her than anyone in her direct household, Luna was basically her sister. To know that one was gone, and the other in pain, and she was beyond all power to help them… it stung.

Tears began to well in her eyes as her mind drifted into darker thoughts. A sudden knock on the door tore her out of her daze, forcing her to wipe away the tears.

"Come in," she said curtly.

In came a rather short man with an almost bald head. He had brown hair growing around the side and light brown eyes. "Pardon the interruption Miss Schnee, but your father wishes to speak with you…" the man said.

Weiss sighed, "Thank you, Klein…" and proceeded to walk into the grand halls of the Schnee manor. Her head hung in sulking as she trudged on unwillingly.

She was stopped by a young man, with eyes and hair just the same as hers, her brother Whitely.

"Good morning sister, it's nice to see you out of your room for a change…" he said overly cheerful. The smile and tone were fake yet he did not attempt to cover for it.

Weiss sighed, "What do you want?"

"MMmnnn, nothing… just that I heard father yelling earlier…"

"Was it mother?" she asked, trying to think of why her dreaded father was fuming this early.

Whitely put his hand on his chin, "No… she's already drinking out in the garden… it was a man, I think…"

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because, I'd heard he'd asked to speak with you, figured I'd warn you," Whitely said smiling, and placing his hands behind his back.

Weiss rubbed her right arm, "I… I'll be fine…"

"I know you will… you're strong. Like Winter!" Whitely returned.

This caused Weiss to stare at him shocked, "You never liked Winter!"

"True… but you have to admire her resolve…"

"You seem… different…" Weiss said suspecting something. When they were kids, Whitely was never this… nice, even if he sounded a little strained.

"I've been growing while you were away at Beacon…" he said trailing off, "Good luck with father!"

Weiss eyed him curiously he disappeared, "Thanks…"

* * *

She entered her father's study to find him arguing with none other than General Ironwood, over matters she didn't quite hear.

As she entered, Ironwood was prepared to leave. "Just know Miss Schnee, you have a home at Atlas Academy…" he said before leaving Weiss to wonder just what they were talking about.

"Can you believe there are still people out there that blame Atlas for what happened to Beacon?! To Vale?!" Jaques said as soon as Ironwood was gone. The older Schnee was an aged looking man, with a thick white mustache and a white head of hair, in a sparkling white suit.

"Well… they weren't there…" Weiss responded as she walked up to the desk.

"It's a wonder that bloody fool wasn't stripped of his position or his rank… I guess the council trusts him…" Jaques said stroking his mustache.

Weiss hesitated, "I trust him…?"

Jaques huffed, "Thanks to him Atlas is forbidden from exporting Dust to other kingdoms! A 'precautionary measure' as he puts it until we're certain no one is going to declare war. How anyone could find that logic sound is beyond me…"

Weiss bit back the urge to vehemently curse. That's what he was fuming about?! Not being able to sell Dust to other kingdoms?! People are out there dying, homeless or worse because of what happened, but he's concerned about money?!

She wanted nothing more than to have Myrtenaster tear his mustache off and pin him to the wall in shame but, like all her other items from her time at Beacon, they were stowed away. A symbol representing that her time as a Huntress… was over.

"The Schnee Dust company will be holding a charity concert in the coming weeks," Jaques said rousing Weiss out of her thoughts. She looked on in surprise.

"To show the people that we're still on their side…"

"T-that's wonderful news!" Weiss said genuinely surprised.

"I know… and I would like you to perform there…"

"Excuse me?!" Weiss asked incredulously.

Jaques held a sly smile, "Yes… many people forget that you were there! You fought bravely for the people of Vale!"

Weiss felt it ring through her body like a chime, bringing her back to the reality that she was nothing more than a trophy daughter…

"Are you asking me? Or telling me...?" Weiss said disdainfully.

Jaques folded his arms across his chin, "I think it would make _a lot _ of people happy…"

Weiss fought the urge to punch him right there, and instead, sighed, "I'll… do it…"

"Good…" and with that, she was off.

* * *

**-With Team MNRNJR-**

The team was moving at a rather brisk pace through the forests of the Anima continent, with Ruby holding a physical map, and Hex holding a more accurate, Dust powered holographic map that depicted landscape and terrain elevations. Ruby's map was mostly to let the red-leader feel like she was contributing to navigations…

"According to this… the next town is… the village of Shion!" Ruby said proudly, having accurately plotted their course of pathing.

Hex snickered and pulled out her own map, scanning the road ahead and planning their route, "Indeed, it would seem we're actually a few miles off…"

"Yeah! Shion Village! I used to go there all the time with my family!" Jaune said recalling his childhood.

"Oh yeah… don't you have like… four sisters?" Ruby asked turning back to her friend.

Jaune faltered, "I uh…. Seven actually…"

Ruby burst out in a fit of giggles, as did Nora and Nitro, "You know that does explain a lot…" the orange-haired Valkyrie said placing a hand on her chin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaune asked incredulously.

The gang kept walking on, chatting happily with one another, as if they weren't on a life-threatening quest for the fate of the world. As they approached the village, no one noticed when the clear blue skies suddenly turned a sour grey.

The subtle shift in environment drew their eyes forward to see the once-proud village of Shion, up in flames. Instantly they were on alert, rushing into the middle of town only to see burnt remains of houses and strewn bodies that were either half-eaten or already decomposing.

A single male soldier lay at the centre of town, injured and beaten, his legs twisted at ungodly angles as blood poured ever so slowly out of his mouth.

"What happened here? Who killed all these people?!" Jaune asked the barely conscious man.

He coughed, "Bandits, the whole tribe. Then in the panic…"

"The Grimm…" Nitro finished for him, clenching his fist in rage.

"We can't just leave him here…. I can carry him, Nora you can do first-aid, Hex is there something in your…"

"Jaune…" Ren said drawing his leader's attention. They locked eyes for a moment and Ren shook his head solemnly. "He's gone…"

Jaune felt his heart sting, "Then we bury him…"

Ruby averted her eyes, no matter how many corpses she'd seen, every single one of them reminded her of Nova's final moments. The light of life was gone from their eyes, the pale skin, the empty looks.

Ren and Nora stood at the center of the town where the man was, on the ground was a footprint, large and circular, like a giant horseshoe. It could only allude to one thing… a Grimm they hoped never to see again for the rest of their lives.

* * *

**-Menagerie, Village of KuoKuana-**

"LUNA?! ELAIN?!" Blake said incredulously, unbelieving of the sight before her. Two people she'd never expected to see again, were standing right before her.

Elain chuckled, "It's nice to see you again dear," she said lifting her hood to reveal her unmistakable blue and orange hair, and matching pair of wolf ears.

"What're you guys doing here?!" Blake asked again, genuinely surprised, and slightly miffed that her attempts at distancing herself from them only resulted in their reuniting.

"Carrying out… a final mission…" Luna said solemnly, daring not to take off her hood as, unlike her mother, her appearance was way too striking and iconic.

"What do you mean…?" Blake asked hesitantly.

Luna shook her head, "Not here, not out in the open… is there somewhere we can talk? In private?"

Blake bit her lip, then looked between Sun and the two girls, "Follow me…" she was going to have to face this sooner or later.

The four made their way down the main path of KuoKuana, approaching the large house that sat neatly in the middle of it all. In Menagerie, there were only two noticeably large houses, commonly named the Pillars of Menagerie. One was the grand house that sat in the center of town, the other was a large oriental style mansion, with a gorgeous orange flowering tree outside, surrounded by a tall wall.

The central house was known as the Belladonna household, and the once-proud house on the hill behind it, that was reduced to its skeletal remains, with scorch marks and ash stains marring its every feature, as if untouched for nine years, was the House of Dragons, the Flareheart Manor.

"So uh… which house is yours?" Blake asked looking around, wrapping an arm around Blake's shoulder. "Can we see it from here?"

Luna and Elain snickered while Blake's ears drooped in embarrassment, "Uh… kinda…"

"Is it that one?" Sun asked pointing to a small one-off to the right. Luna and Elain burst out laughing.

"Close enough sweetheart," Elain chuckled making the monkey Faunus scratch his face in confusion.

"It's… that one…" Blake said pointing to the massive mansion in the middle.

Sun's jaw dropped, "WHAT?!"

"Yup, and ours… or what's left of it… is that one…" Elain pointed to the remains beside the flowering tree, far behind the Belladonna household.

Again Sun was flabbergasted, "Ah- wah… ah…"

"Surprising as it sounded, we weren't kidding when we said we were 'Royalty'," Elain said using air quotes. They were royals in name only, having only seats at the council table alongside the Belladonnas, and the Frostfangs… the Grey Wolves. Though, their kind had long since left the Island.

The party approached the grand doors of the Belladonna household, and Blake hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Sun asked concerned.

Blake sighed, "I just… haven't seen my family in a long time…" with that she gave a resounding heavy knock, while the rest of them waited off to the sides, awaiting an answer to the door.

Not too long after, the door opened to reveal a short woman, with the lines of age in her eyes, though she looked quite young, with black cat ears, exactly like Blake's, staring wide-eyed at the girl.

Instantly Blake was wrapped up in a tight hug, "Oh my baby, my sweet baby girl has come home…"

Blake wasn't sure what she was expecting, but a warm welcome with open arms was something she'd never thought to receive after the state she left them in. Gratefully, she accepted the hug and returned it.

After they released, the woman spotted Sun and the two hooded girls. She as about to hesitate to invite them in since she was a little suspicious of cloaked individuals, but her jaw dropped when Elain and Luna lifted their hoods to reveal who they were.

"E-Ellie?" The woman gasped in shock, barely able to hold back her surprise as tears began to form in her eyes.

Elain smiled warmly, "It's been a too long Kali… nine years too long…" she choked out before the two mothers ran up and hugged each other tightly.

"First my daughter and now my best friend… today truly is a gift…" Kali said squeezing Elain. The wolf Faunus chuckled and returned the squeeze. "And this little one… Luna! I haven't seen you since you were but a baby…"

"Kali? Whose at the door…" A male voice said as a tall man, he was quite large, almost as tall as Onyx, his chest was hairy and he sported a full beard, his eyes were gold, just like Blake's.

"Blake…?" The man said, his voice failing as he ran up and tackled his daughter in a hug. Then he noticed Kali hugging another woman with blue and orange hair. "AND ELLIE?!"

Kali snickered, "Yes come now, inside. I'm sure you have a lot to tell us… given that we thought you were dead for nine years…"

* * *

Once inside the group sat together at a small table, drinking tea.

"It must have been so awful… Vale wasn't perfect, but it didn't deserve what happened to it… all those innocent people…" Kali said looking concerned at the group.

Blake grimaced, "It was god… I can't…" she said rubbing her arms.

"We were so worried about you…" Blake's father, Ghira, said.

Sun chuckled, "You had nothing to worry about. I've seen your daughter in action, she puts up a great fight!" he fist pumped.

Ghira glared daggers at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sun turned red, realizing how the statement sounded, "Ah what I mean is… she's an amazing fighter, and we've fought side by side a lot, and I've seen how well she can handle combat!" he said flustered.

Luna and Elain chuckled, "Ghira… calm yourself…" Kali warned and instantly the large man simmered down.

"And you, Elain… how in the world are you here right now…? We saw your house burn to the ground…!" Ghira asked turning to the wolf Faunus.

Elain didn't get to answer as another knock was heard at the door. Elain and Luna's noses perked up, smelling an unfamiliar scent. Instantly their hoods went up.

Ghira grumbled and trudged to answer the door. Blake, Sun, and Kali followed closely behind, while Luna and Elain sat back in the room watching from the open doorway.

Standing outside were two White Fang members, though they didn't look like normal soldiers. They looked like identical twins, sporting dark brown skin and long ears.

"Dad what're you doing talking to these people?!" Blake seethed, glaring daggers at them, practically baring her fangs, even Sun was on edge.

"Ah Blake, these two are Corsac and Fennec Albain. They represent the White Fang here in Menagerie now," Ghira explained gesturing to them.

"You mean those psychos are here too?!" Sun exclaimed looking ready to tear them apart.

"I'm not sure what you've heard about our organization young man, but I can assure you, it's not true…" Corsac said staring at him.

"Not true? Your people are the cause of all this!" Sun fumed.

"What're you talking about?!" Ghira turned to Sun and Blake looking alarmed.

Blake went wide-eyed, "YOU MEAN YOU SERIOUSLY DON'T KNOW?!"

"Know what?"

Blake felt her anger boil, "The White Fang were there at the Fall of Beacon. They opened the gates and set the Grimm loose on all of us… they're the reason countless lives are lost…"

Ghira felt a shock reverberate through his body, and he turned to them in anger, "Explain yourselves…"

Corsac and Fennec were quite calm, "That is precisely why we came to speak with you today your grace. The actions of the Onyx faction of the White Fang are not echoed to the rest of our organization…" Corsac said.

Blake fought the urge to skin them alive, "Are you kidding me?!"

"Yes… while the council has had no evidence before… this recent incident has given us sufficient proof to bring him down, and his followers…" Fennec explained.

"Incident?! PEOPLE ARE DEAD!" Blake screamed.

"And while it is a tragedy… we'd like your response to… cull these strays…" Fennec continued, turning to Ghira.

The large man grimaced and saw the rising conflict, and made the decision to end it now, "I'd like some time to reconnect with my daughter…"

The two bowed, "As you wish your grace…" and with that they were gone, leaving the party to return inside.

"Ghira… what's your connection to the White Fang…?" Elain asked darkly, eyeing the man intently.

The man sighed, "The White Fang is quite prominent in Menagerie, and while I'm no longer a part of them, the people still see them as freedom fighters, representatives of our people… and as such, I attend to matters concerning their council from time to time… though if what Blake and her friend here said is true… I'm not sure associating with them is the correct course of action anymore…"

Elain nodded, taking down her hood, "The White Fang is responsible for the fire nine years ago."

The words echoed like a deafening ring through the Belladonnas. "What?"

Elain nodded, "Onyx and his men burnt our home to the ground, and took me and my husband away, forcing us to abandon our children…"

Kali gasped and Ghira stood wide-eyed, staring at Luna.

The blue dragon rubbed her arms, "If it wasn't for Nova… I'd have been dead a long time ago. We stowed away on a ship and ran away to Mistral, under new identities."

"And while my children were alone starving on the streets, Onyx forced me to cook up… an Aegis formula…" Elain revealed.

"WHAT?!" Ghira practically flew out of his seat.

"Yeah… he's now in possession of an artificial Aegis gene, using nanomachines that act like cells in the bloodstream, amplifying one's physical, mental, and regenerative capabilities… allowing them to be recognized by the Fragments…" she said darkly.

"Why would you create something like that?!" Ghira asked looking horrified.

Elain flinched, "Not by choice… they have Flint, I don't know where, I haven't seen him since we were taken, but they still have him captive… Onyx told me that if I didn't comply then my children and my husband's lives were forfeit…"

The two Belladonna parents gasped, "That monster… you must've been through so much…"

Kali glanced at Blake, seeing her unsurprised by the events spoken about earlier, "It seems you know…"

"Yes, mom… I know about the Aspects… I know about everything…" Blake said glancing downward.

Ghira glanced her over, "Maybe not everything…"

"Uh… am I the only one out of the loop here? What the hell are you all talking about?!" Sun asked causing them all to flinch.

Blake placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'll explain later…"

There was a moment of silence that followed, to which Kali turned to Elain, "So… what brings you back to Menagerie, after all these years? I'd hardly think you'd want to come back given… the state you left in…"

"We're here to fulfill my brother's mission," Luna said speaking up. "To rally the people of Menagerie, expose Onyx and the White Fang, and turn the people's eyes to the threat that was in front of their very face… so we can take them down…"

Blake's eyes went wide, "That's… incredible… with the return of the royal family… then it might actually be possible! I would think Nova would be here to lead since his face is more well known…"

"Ah yes Elain, I've been meaning to ask… where's your son? He was quite the charmer as a boy, even if he was a little mischievous, he and my Blake would often play together as kids!" Kali smiled looking around.

Luna and Elain's faces instantly grew dark, and Kali instantly regretted asking.

Blake looked even more horrified, "Where's Nova…? He's not hurt, is he?"

"Yeah, I've been meaning to give him a piece of my mind, leaving his friends like that to fight off Grimm at Amity Arena," Sun said chuckling.

Luna and Elain shared a glance, and Elain nodded.

"Blake… when I said I was here to fulfill one last mission… I meant it as seeing my brother's last wishes come true," the blue dragon said, not looking directly at her.

Blake covered her mouth, tears forming in her eyes, "No you can't mean…"

"He… died… at the fall of Beacon…" she finished.

Kali and Ghira looked shocked, while Blake and Sun were practically tearing up, "Y-you're kidding right? Tell me this is a joke… please…" Sun stammered, showing the first signs of negative emotion in his entire life.

Luna shook her head, "We placed a memorial for him at Patch, near Ruby's home… The funeral was a few days ago,"

"Elain… I'm so sorry…" Kali choked out looking at the depressed visage of her friend.

Blake couldn't find the words as she buried her face in Sun's chest, crying her eyes out.

"If I may ask… how did he die?" Ghira asked looking to them.

Luna's sadness turned to fury in an instant, "That monster… that sack of shit they call Onyx… he cut him down." Her aura began to flare and her eyes glowing, items in the room began to hover including the table.

"Luna, please…" Elain placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder calming her. The others watched in amazement as the items began to slowly settle back down, the blue light in Luna's eyes fading.

"Sorry… I lost control for a second…"

Once they all quieted down, "So… about that plan…" Luna said with determination now.

* * *

**-Emerald Forest-**

It'd been roughly three days since he awoke from his near-death experience. Living with Adam and Bell didn't prove to be as mortifying as he'd thought it would be, now that their controllers or whatever were gone, the two turned out to be incredibly nice people, even if Bell was a little sarcastic and bitchy sometimes, she meant well.

Even Adam, who was originally a power-hungry madman, had simmered down, and he'd become only what Nova could describe as, a butler type personality, catering to the dragon's every need when he was unable to, talking to him like old friends.

It was early in the morning when Nova felt strong enough again that he could remove his bandages. His body had completely healed now. Donning the black shirt Adam gave him and his old pants, he began to get up.

"And where do you think you're going?" Bell asked as she stood in the mouth of the cave, the sunlight shining onto her back making her look silhouetted.

"I'm going to find Ruby and the others, they're probably worried sick about me…" Nova answered, stretching himself.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Adam asked, getting up from his cot, roused by the voices.

Nova shrugged, "I can track fine without a map, we're in the Emerald Forest, that's not too far off the West coast, and if I can get there then I can take a boat to Patch, which is where Ruby's house is."

"Okay… but you don't even have a fucking weapon!" Bell pointed out.

Nova grimaced, reminded of the loss of Asura. "I may not have my baby, but that doesn't mean I'm not 'armed'…" he raised his hands and drew out his claws, the ones on his left arm were particularly long and deadly.

Bell groaned, "You did _not _just make that joke…"

"I did and I'm going whether you like it or not…"

Adam sighed, "I guess we couldn't stop you even if we tried. West is to our left after you exit the cave, head in a straight line for about half a day and you'll make it to the coast. Port's about three miles north once you get to the beach."

Bell stared at him, "You're not fucking serious?! He's in no condition to be out there! What if he gets spotted?!"

Nova smirked, "I've got that covered…" He pushed the button on his armlet and transformed into a girl again. "This way no one will recognize me…"

"Ahem!" Bell gestured to his horns.

"Oh right… um…" he rummaged around on the ground and found his sleeping bag, and tore off a long strip, then proceeded to wrap it around his head in a neat turban, hiding his horns. "There, all better?"

The blonde groaned, "Fine… just get out of here…" she pointed out of the cave in annoyance.

Nova just chuckled as he left, "Don't forget my suggestion, head to Menagerie!"

"That dumbass is going to get himself killed for real this time…" Bell huffed.

"All we can do is trust him…" Adam replied.

* * *

It didn't take Nova long before he made it to Patch. Adam was right in his time estimations, though he didn't account for Nova's natural speed. What would've taken him half a day, he cleared in what was just four hours, and that was even with taking short stops to regain his strength. Chartering a boat wasn't hard either, even if he didn't have any lien on him, with a few flirtatious batting of his eyelashes, he used his feminine charm to distract people long enough for his sleight of hand to make quick work of their wallets.

"Girls really have too much power…" Nova smirked as he flipped through the stacks of Lien in his hand. He'd lost his card during the fall so he'd have to get one issued the next time he was in a major city, for now, he had to get by on the scraps of Lien he pickpocketed.

Once he was on Patch, however, his speedy progress had come to an abrupt halt. He had come face to face with an immense problem. He had no idea how to get to the Xiaolong-Rose family home from the docks.

When he asked for directions, most people simply gave the response of 'Probably somewhere near Signal' since Tai Xiaolong was apparently a well-known teacher there. That information did very little to help him since he had absolutely no idea where Signal Academy even _was_.

As a result, the young girl spent what felt like several, long hours, trekking through the vast forests of Patch. How he ended up the woods, he had no idea, it was probably the left he made at the crossroads six miles back, whichever direct 'back' was.

Eventually, the young dragon spotted a large cliff face that soared high into the air. Figuring it was probably in his best interest to gain altitude before proceeding any further, Nova made a move to scale the almost vertical drop.

His claws, which were as hard as steel, offered an easy way for him to scale the almost impossible rock face.

"These things are definitely 'growing on me'" he snickered as he finally climbed up to the top, and collapsing in a heap of exhaustion. The evening sun was now setting in the horizon, bathing the green forest in an orange glow.

"Alright now to get my bearings…" he muttered, getting up and brushing the dirt off of his clothes. Standing just in front of him were two small headstones, and Nova realized where he was. Carefully approaching the stones he saw the writing.

'In Memory of Summer Rose' and the one next to it, 'In memory of Nova Flareheart'

Nova gasped in shock, "They… thought I was dead?" he wanted to argue the logic but, thinking back, Ruby did see him 'die' and fall off the tower… and since he didn't show up right after they must've assumed the worst.

"Well… I guess I can't blame them…" he mused. Then it struck him like a chord, Ruby thought he was dead. Luna, Elain, Hex, Nitro, Weiss, and Blake… they all thought he was dead. JNPR probably also got the news.

"Oh, my Oum… Ruby…" he placed his hand over his mouth. He needed to set things right, his girlfriend was probably wallowing in eternal grief right now, his family too.

He took a look at the graves, "Ah… Summer, Ruby's mom. It's me, Nova. I know it's probably weird seeing me like this, but, I mean I'm also a girl, I hope that's okay with you. You probably got confused when they put my gravestone here and didn't see my spirit, or whatever, I don't know how the afterlife works… but, here I am, alive and well. I'm going to see Ruby now, so… take care…" he was about to leave when something stopped him.

The fact that he even had a gravestone bothered him to no end now that he was alive, but he couldn't exactly tear it out, because that felt… wrong.

Instead, Nova outstretched his new arm and pointed a finger gun at the stone. The Agniseki glowed a hot orange as a beam shot out of his finger like a laser. He made careful movements as not to make a mistake, and changed the words.

The headstone now read 'In memory of Nova Flareheart, A Leader, A fighter, and a brother to all. Still alive and kicking'

He chuckled at his own handiwork, "Not too shabby if I do say so myself…" he turned and transformed back into a guy. "To right the wrongs…"

* * *

Tracking through the woods, Nova eventually came across the Xialong-Rose household. The lights were on inside but the air felt dead as if there was no life still left in this place.

He approached the door and inhaled deeply. "Alright Nova, you can do this…" he wasn't sure why he was nervous.

He turned the handle and pushed open the door, surprised to find it open. The living room was empty, no one around. He looked around and heard the distinct sound of running water, and humming.

Nova turned and made his way into the kitchen to find Tai with his back turned, washing up the dishes, vaguely aware someone was behind him.

"Yang, if you want more food, I already put it away, besides you shouldn't be eating at this late hour," Tai said not bothering to look back.

Nova giggled, "You have food? Great because I'm starving, it's vegetarian right? Or you got fish?"

Tai was on alert instantly, whipping his head around even Nova had to flinch. His face was furious and on guard, ready to attack at any moment, however, the moment his eyes landed on Nova, all-time stopped for the blonde.

"Hey pops, long time no see," Nova waved with a smile. The plate that Tai was holding crashed onto the floor and he just stood there, pale-faced and in shock.

"W-What sort of apparition is this? A ghost? A semblance of some sort?!" Tai said readying his fists. "IF YOU ARE SOME FOUL DEMON IMPERSONATING HIM THEN YOU BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE!"

Nova laughed, "Woah there Tai, I'm not a demon or anything. I'm real. Nova Flareheart, in the flesh!"

Tears began leaking from Tai's eyes as he dropped everything and picked Nova up in a tight hug.

"ACK! OLD MAN! YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME FOR REAL!" Nova squeaked as he felt the air leave his lungs from the tight bear hug.

Yang stormed through the kitchen door, "Dad?! What's going on? I heard a plate breaking and yelling!" her eyes fell on Nova who now stood next to her father.

The dragon smiled sweetly and waved, "Sup Yang, you're looking good…"

The blonde girl fainted from shock.

"Is she going to be alright?" Nova pointed to the passed out girl. Tai just shrugged.

Yang opened her eyes to see the smiling face of Nova, sitting next to her on the couch, "WHA?!" she recoiled in surprise.

"Hello to you too, Yang," Nova said smirking and reclining on the chair, Tai was standing behind him.

"H-How are you… y-you're supposed to be dead!" Yang stuttered out.

"Yeah, the thing about that is… I'm not? Well, at least I thought I was dead, until a few days ago." Nova shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked folding his arms in curiosity.

"For all intents and purposes, I should be dead, but thanks to the Fragment of Fire, my semblance, and those nanomachines in my blood… I'm alive, and almost whole."

"Almost?" They both asked simultaneously.

Nova raised his left arm to show them, "I lost my arm… but the Agniseki grew it back for me…"

"The what now?" Yang asked.

"The Fragment of Fire, it's bonded to me now," he pointed to the stone embedded in the arm. Tai marveled at the new appendage. It looked almost… dragon-like.

"I wish I could do the same for you…" Nova gestured to Yang's missing arm, and her expression darkened.

"It's fine… I'm over it…" she said, though her expression said she was most definitely _not _over it. He looked to Tai but the elder Xiaolong just sighed.

"Ever since Adam Taurus took her arm… she hasn't been the same…" he whispered though Yang heard him, but made no motion to argue.

Nova grimaced at the memory, he was there when it happened. "Yang… you might not want to hear this but… it was Adam that saved me…"

The two blondes went wide-eyed, "WHAT?!"

"Turns out, there was a device, like a sort of machine, implanted in his body that made him the way he was… that fight I had with him, broke the machine and now he's back to normal," Nova explained.

"He was being controlled?" Yang asked cautiously.

"More like heavily influenced to borderline brainwashing, but yeah… he's a good person… and I'm sure he feels bad for what he did…"

"Feels bad?! BECAUSE OF HIM I CAN NO LONGER BE A HUNTRESS!" Yang exploded.

Tai glanced at her, "Hmm, maybe not all hope is lost…. I was saving this for when you looked like you were ready but it seems this is as good a time as any…" he left then returned with a box and handed it to Yang.

"What's this?" she asked hesitantly. He just motioned for her to open it. "T-This is…"

Inside the box was a prosthetic arm, and not just any normal one, a highly advanced one capable of movement and full control.

"The most advanced prosthetic limb known to Remnant. It's not even public yet, Ironwood sent this as… a form of apology, as a means of condolences…" Tai explained.

Yang held the arm tenderly, "But… after all those things… I'd lost hope…"

Nova placed an arm on her, holding a stern look, "Yang, even if I was dead, under no circumstances, should you EVER lose hope. The world of Remnant needs people to stand against the forces of evil now more than ever."

"But we're just kids! We shouldn't be fighting this war!" Yang protested, her face morphing into hurt and fear.

"I have to agree, Nova, this isn't a war you should be fighting…" Tai said.

Nova's face turned determined, "If we don't fight, then who will Tai? Those in power are useless, Ozpin is dead, and the only thing standing between Onyx and his queen, whoever that may be, is us! We have to fight now more than ever!"

Yang was silent for a moment, before clutching the arm tightly and nodding, "I… I'll do it…"

"Yang are you sure?" Tai wanted to protest. He didn't want another one of his daughters thrust into the middle of danger again.

"I've never been surer of anything in my life." She said determinedly. It was like Nova's reappearance in her life brought her courage, and Tai could see it in her eyes, the flames of determination re-igniting.

"Alright you'll have to get used to the arm though, starting tomorrow we'll be training you, right Nova?" Tai turned to the dragon.

Nova smirked, "Hell yeah!" he looked around, "Is Ruby asleep? I wanted to surprise her…"

Tai and Yang shared glances, "Um…. About that… Ruby took off to Haven, they're gone to uncover the truth about what happened…" Yang explained.

"SHE WHAT?! ALONE?! AND YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!" Nova looked at them with utter bewilderment.

"In our defence, she left without telling us anything, and she didn't go alone. That red-headed boy and the purple-haired girl went with her, and her note mentions some Jaune, Ren, and Nora," Tai said waving a note in the air.

Nova snatched it out of his hands and read it through. Once he was done he sighed in exasperation and fell back onto the couch, "Those two are probably lightyears away by now… but at least she didn't go alone… I can trust Nitro and Hex to watch her back… but what concerns me is Luna and my mom…"

Tai rubbed his head, "Those two I know for sure. The day they left they told me they were headed to Menagerie, to rally the White Fang or something…"

Nova smiled, "Luna's gone to carry out our original mission? That's actually great news… if she's successful then it would make things a lot easier…"

"Are you thinking about going after your sister? If this is like a political thing, shouldn't you be there with them?" Tai asked the boy.

Nova shook his head, "No, it's better the White Fang think I'm still dead. It means I'll have the element of surprise on my side… No… what I want to do is meet up with Ruby, though I'm not sure how…"

Yang and Tai glanced at each other again, "Well… I have an idea but… it's a long shot…" Tai said glancing at a picture of Raven that was on the wall.

* * *

**I've been debating on what direction I want to take Oscar as a character. I want to know, would you like it if I found a way to separate Ozpin from Oscar? Or should I evolve him as a character with Ozpin in his head? Either way, it won't affect what I like to title 'The Arc of Oscar', but it will affect his overall character development.**


	43. Chapter 43: Dark of Mistral

**Apologies for the very late chapter. This week has been super busy for me and I barely got any time to write.**

**In response to EthosTheET, yeah I know Agniseki sounds super familiar, but if you google search it the first thing that comes up is this story, so I have no idea where I've heard it before. It could be because it sounds like Agnikai from The Last Airbender but still...**

**Also we hit 108 Followers and 106 favourites as of the writing of this chapter so... I have no idea when this happened but I think it 's cause for small celebration!**

* * *

**Chapter 43: Politics and Crazy Faunus**

* * *

**-On A Farm somewhere in Mistral-**

A lone farm boy stood in the early hours of the morning, draining water from a hand pump in the golden morning sun. His skin was a light brown, freckles spotting his cheeks under his brown eyes and matching brown hair. He wore a white shirt and grey pants held up by orange suspenders.

He sighed heavily as he lifted the bucket of water, he was filling overflowed due to his wandering mind. With little to do besides his everyday tasks of tilling the soil, plowing beds, and doing the occasional weeding, his young teenage mind drifted, thinking about the possibilities his life would hold if he were anything but an average farm boy. According to his mother, the father whom he'd never actually met was a Huntsman, who lived a life of danger and excitement, fighting Grimm, taking down terrorists, going on adventures.

The more he thought on it the more his mind began to daydream, what his life would be like if his mother had sent him to one of those Huntsmen training academies... he's not sure how he'd fare in a fight, heck he didn't even have his aura unlocked, but what he did know though, is that anything was better than being stuck on a farm committing to the same chores day in and day out.

He trudged back into his barn, carrying his pitchfork behind him, and as he passed a rather old and dirty mirror, he could've sworn he saw someone else.

Double backing, he pathed to the mirror and stared into his reflection, as if half expecting there to actually be another person. What was strange to him, however, was that his usual brown eyes had an underlying green, though he assumed it was a trick of the light.

"H-Hello?" he called, scanning the mirror. Upon receiving no response, he brushed it off as mere paranoia, that was until, "Hello, I'm professor Ozpin!" the voice of the headmaster said as if coming from out of nowhere. The boy jumped back in a mix of fear and surprise as one would do when the spectral voice of a man who was supposedly dead suddenly echoes from thin air.

"I do apologize dear boy I didn't mean to startle you…" Ozpin's voice said, causing the teen to turn around wildly.

"What?! Who?!" he began covering his head and looking around for an intruder.

"You will not find me with your eyes, Oscar. I am, and please don't 'freak out' as they say, in your head," Ozpin concluded.

Oscar, as the boy was named, went wide-eyed, "What?! I'm hearing voices in my head… I've gone crazy… all this farm work has made me insane…"

"Not insane, and do bear with me, your reaction is quite… expected. I am technically dead after all."

Oscar began to hyperventilate, "Okay Oscar… there's a dead guy in your head… how do you explain this to your mom?"

"Please refrain from that as it may only cause more unnecessary confusion. Please control your breathing so that I may explain what is now happening to you," Ozpin said calmy.

Oscar bit his lip, weighed his options, on one hand he listens to the voice in his head, on the other he ignores it and still has a voice in his head. He didn't like his options. Deciding upon the former he sat on the bail of hay that was in the barn beside him. "Alright… I'm listening…" he said hesitantly.

"Good. Now, as you know, the professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy 'died' during the fall of Beacon correct?"

Oscar nodded.

"Right. Now, I know this may sound hard to believe, but I'm going to share with you information that will explain everything…" Ozpin said.

"What do you…" Oscar faltered when memories and images began flooding through his mind. Ozpin was no ordinary professor, but one that possessed magic, and upon his death he was reincarnated into the next suitable body, Oscar. The boy in question wanted to deny this information, he wanted to chalk it up to fantasy, but the fact is that he was now being flooded with memories of someone that wasn't him… and yet… they felt so familiar as if he experienced these events himself. The information swirled and gathered into his brain until he reached a point of complete acceptance and understanding.

It felt like brainwashing, if it applied to memories of yourself, but also not yourself.

"Ugh my head hurts…" Oscar groaned.

"Yes, that is to be expected…"

"Um… if I may ask… if you've reincarnated into my head… what happens to me?"

"A viable question. The answer is nothing, I will simply reside in here like a vocal consciousness unless you allow me control of your body." Ozpin explained.

"So… no complete erasure of yours truly?" Oscar asked.

"Nothing of the sort. You will remain as you are, just… now there's two of us, so to speak. Unless you give me permission, I am unable to override your consciousness completely and become you." He continued.

"Wait… why would I give you permission to take over my completely?" Oscar asked hesitantly.

Ozpin psychically shrugged, "My last host body gave me control, and in times of dire peril, often on the verge of death, my previous hosts gave me control over the body. It is entirely situational, and optional."

"DEATH?!" Oscar asked alarmed.

"Oh yes, I may have forgotten to mention that, as you are my host, you are now tasked with the weight of the world on your shoulders, good luck…" Ozpin said darkly.

Oscar dragged his hands across his face, "Oh for the love of…"

* * *

**-Patch-**

It was around noon when Nova awoke from his sleep, which was strange considering he was usually an early riser. His dreams were filled with Ruby and the smell of roses. He saw her in the forest talking around a campfire, her face was downcast and a lonely look marring her features. He couldn't discern her words, but he could tell she was sad, they all did. His dream changed scenes and he saw her now, fighting a dark figure, he saw Qrow fighting alongside them. Eventually, his dreams changed to pleasant ones as the night had progressed, dreaming of holding her again, curled in his arms where she belonged, where he belonged

His dreams were rudely awakened by the feeling of something wet repeatedly licking at his face. He opened his eyes blearily to see Zwei sitting on his chest, lapping at his face to get him up.

"I'm up, I'm up! Doggy alarm clock... never thought I'd see the day..." he mused as he tried to force himself to leave the comfort of the blankets. He had opted for the couch for his stay at the Xiaolong-Rose household but Tai and Yang insisted that he take Ruby's bed, much to his embarrassment. Sleeping in her bed had been like sleeping with her in his arms again, though it lacked her warmth and presence, everything still smelled like her, so it was quite effective in knocking him out cold.

"Ugh… Mornin'," he waved to Yang and Tai as he yawned and grabbed the entire pot of coffee that Tai made that morning.

"You mean afternoon? You slept for so long…" Yang mused looking at him. "Also if you plan on drinking that shit swill you might want to reheat…."

Nova just shot her an amused look and boiled the coffee just by holding the pot, before chugging the molten liquid.

"Right… I forgot you could do that…" she chuckled.

"The coffee is pretty good pops, you've gotten better," Nova said, now more like his usual self.

Tai smiled, "Thank you Nova," he turned to Yang looking smug, "At least _someone_ in this house appreciates me!"

Yang just rolled her eyes, "Right… when are we going to start training?"

Tai glanced at her, then pointed to the lack of her right arm and she just made an 'o' with her mouth. "Oh shit, right…"

Yang paced into the living room and looked at the metal appendage sitting on the counter and hesitated. Picking up this arm meant she was going to abandon her peaceful life and dive back into the world of danger.

"Think of what you could be Yang…" she whispered to herself, "Yang the housewife! To the girl that probably hates me now… or Yang the office worker, corporate slave…"

She felt the urge to drive her head into the wall, "Who the fuck am I kidding, I'm meant for one thing and one thing only… kicking the absolute shit out of bad guys!" she instantly picked up the arm.

The moment she touched the cool surface, memories flashed back, of Adam moving faster than she could blink and cutting her down, Blake injured then running away. She almost dropped it, but she held firm.

"No… I WILL DO THIS!"

* * *

"Think she put it on?" Tai whispered to Nova as they stared at the empty doorway to the house, from the front yard.

"Think she even knows how? Did you leave instructions?" Nova quirked his brow.

"I…" Tai raised his finger then paused.

Nova facepalmed, "You forgot to give her directions… nice…"

"I'll just go check…" the blonde was about to go inside when Yang came striding through the door, wearing the new arm. "Or not, it looks good on you sweetheart!" he waved.

Yang rubbed the arm, "It's alright I guess, it feels… strange. Like I can move it but… it's like a really numb hand."

Nova nodded, "Well that's to be expected I guess… so… think you're up to testing it out?"

Yang stretched out the arm, then flexed the fingers, curling them around each other, "Honestly? Whoever designed this thing is a genius, it feels like a part of me and I only just put it on. I think I can skip the whole adjustment period and get straight to using it."

Nova glanced at Tai, "What do you think?"

"I think that if my daughter says she's ready, then she's ready." He responded.

Nova shrugged, "Alright then…" he got into a brawling stance, "Come at me Yang, Tai wants to evaluate our CQC,"

"Now?"

"No, in thirty years... YES I MEAN NOW!"

Yang shrugged and launched herself at Nova, swinging her left arm at full speed toward his face. Nova instantly brought up his guard, then directed her weight to his right and countered with a straight right to her chest, this sent her skating backward, but still on her feet.

"Impressive reflexes," Yang commented panting from having some of the wind knocked out of her.

Nova smirked, "Or may you're just getting slow?"

Yang felt her brow twitch, he was trying to get on her nerves. She responded with a right swing to his temple to which he ducked and then countered only to have her right fist blindside him as he tried to move. Nova instantly recovered and threw a left but she blocked and then sent two quick rights and a left jab.

Instead of guarding, Nova jumped back to gain distance. Yang was a brawler, she wasn't one for medium to long-range attacks without her gauntlets, thus Nova was able to duck low and close the distance before she had a chance to register what he was doing, sending a straight uppercut to her jaw, sending her into the air.

Yang reoriented herself and backflipped to land on her feet, while Nova moved in using his superior speed, and pinwheel kicking her into a crater.

Yang was about to get up and start fighting again when Tai stepped in.

"STOP!" he said halting the two teens.

They looked at him confused, "What's up pops?" the dragon asked.

"I wanted to evaluate your CQC, not watch you two kill each other. Besides, I've seen enough."

"Alright dad, what's the verdict?" Yang said dusting herself off.

"Well let's start with Nova, you have fast reflexes and really high strength, your semblance also gives you an edge in fistfights since the variety of blows are limited. However, that being said, without taking into consideration your powers, or your semblance… you would lose in a fight against an actual martial artist." Tai said.

Nova was confused, "But pops, I totaled you the last time we fought… I know I'm rough around the edges but come on…"

"You won because I wasn't taking you seriously from the start, and you also used your powers. Your technique is unrefined, you're fighting based on instinct and reaction, not planning on what you want to do to your opponent." Tai explained further.

"But shouldn't the end goal be to beat the shit out of them?" Nova deadpanned.

Tai rubbed his temples, "Yes but fights are taken in steps. Just like how you chose where to aum your scythe to achieve a certain outcome, you need to aim your fists and kicks to the same flow. Every move you make must have a purpose, if there is no purpose then it's just wasted energy and time."

Nova rubbed his chin, "I see…"

"And now you, Yang…" Tai turned to his daughter. "You're problem is that your reflexes are slow at the start of fights. In a fight against faster opponents who could overwhelm you in a second, you'd be dead."

"Dad, how realistic is it to even be taken down in a second? No one has that level of speed…" Yang argued.

Tai folded his arms and gestured with his head to her arm, referring to Adam, and then to Nova.

"Oh right… but they're like super Faunus, not normal."

"HEY!" Nova yelled in protest but he was ignored.

"Yang, take it from me, a professional huntsman, there are more people out there with that level of skill than you would like to believe. Whether you like it or not, if you want to help your sister and walk this path with her, you need to get on their level and fight on the same plain as they are, otherwise, you'll be nothing but dead weight…" Tai said without a shred of remorse.

Yang sulked, "But… how do I become like them? I'm not some insane superhuman with powers or…" her words were cut off when Tai instantly blinked from where he was standing to right in front of her, his fist mere inches from her face.

"You don't need special powers to get stronger. Us regular humans have more potential than you think…" Tai said stepping away from his daughter.

Nova gawked, Tai wasn't kidding about not taking him seriously. If he had used that speed from the start, their battle would've been a lot tougher, with an unclear outcome.

"That wasn't your normal speed, Tai," Nova said observing him. "That was… aura?"

Tai smiled, "So you noticed… guess nothing gets past your dragon eyes eh?"

"Aura? What about it?" Yang asked confused.

"Aura can do much more than just fuel your semblances, or act as a shield. Your body uses aura both passively and actively. You unconsciously have aura act as a shield, and you can actively use it to fuel your semblance. If you apply this theory, then by definition your aura supply is limited by your defence." Tai said.

Nova and Yang were now very interested.

"What if I told you, you could control your defensive aura, and focus all of it into your attack power, or speed? Or even amplify your semblance?" Tai smiled.

"WHAT?!" they both said simultaneously.

"And what if I told you there is more than one way to regenerate your aura, without having to wait on it to naturally refill?"

Now both of their jaws dropped, "TEACH US!"

* * *

**-Menagerie-**

It was night time now in the Belladonna household. Elain and Blake's parents were fast asleep while the others were awake, restless, and disturbed.

"For a tropical country, it's rather cold at night isn't it?" Sun said rubbing his arms. The three teens stood on the balcony, staring up at the clear night sky, each of their minds plagued with thoughts that weighed so heavy it held their tongues firm.

"It's the lack of cloud coverage, usually its warmer than this," Blake mused leaning over the wooden rails.

Luna chuckled, "You know it would help if you put on a shirt."

"Never." He replied with a flat face.

The two girls just rolled their eyes.

"So, mini blue, how does it feel to be back home? You guys are from here, right?" Sun asked turning to the tiny girl.

Luna's face turned forlorn in an instant and Blake flinched, "It seems like a nice place, the environment is clean and the people are so kind…"

"You make it sound like this is your first time here…" Sun chuckled, not feeling the weight of the atmosphere, as usual.

"That's because it kind of is." She replied with a sad smile.

"What?! I thought…"

"Yes, I was born here… but I left before I was too young to remember. You saw the burnt down mansion, right?"

Sun nodded, "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask, your mom said something about the White Fang burning it down… I know it's not really my business but…"

"It's fine, you're kinda dragged into this mess too so you deserve to know my family's history. When I was six, the White Fang burned our house down, kidnapped my parents, and tried to kill us. That's basically the summary. I'll spare you the details…" Luna said looking out into the wilderness.

"That's really messed up… those psychos know no bounds do they…"

"The White Fang isn't a bunch of psychos!" Blake defended after quietly sitting and listening.

"How can you defend them? You saw what they did…" Sun countered.

Blake rubbed her arm, "That's not it… not all of the White Fang are crazy murderers, just Onyx's faction… even then most of them are just following orders without the power to defy them… I was one of them after all…"

Sun's eyes downcast, "Yeah… sorry I…"

"It's fine, I know what you mean, I just… get so frustrated…" Blake sighed heavily. "Those guys are out there making the White Fang look like evil terrorists when most of us just wanted freedom. It's not fair…"

Sun walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "You're probably right, it's wrong of me to keep calling them all psychos. If there are people like you still in the White Fang, good people with pure hearts that want nothing but good for their people, then I'm more than sure there's still hope for them."

Blake's eyes went wide, "Sun what're you…"

"I'm saying that you're an amazing kind-hearted person, even under that moody exterior, even though you try to push people away, it's because you want to keep them safe. You're a pure soul, and I just think you should know that" Sun said with a bright smile on his face.

Blake turned beet red, "Wha- wha?!" she began sputtering.

"Amidst all this darkness, you gotta look at the good things to keep strong," his smile was warm and pure as if he held nothing but admiration and respect for her.

"Awww look at you two, being all adorable and sweet!" Luna squealed interrupting them. Both teens blushed heavily and separated instantly.

"Blake, you said the White Fang operate in Menagerie without their masks, but… I found this one wearing one in the market today, I even have a picture," Sun fished for his scroll.

"WHAT?! Let me see…" Luna stepped up to him, but Blake held back.

Blake hesitated, "Sun… I came here to rest, to find myself… I didn't come back home to fight…"

Sun and Luna shot her a look that said 'are you fucking serious? You're doing this now?'

"… But… hearing what they did to Nova… I can't rest until I make those bastards pay… an eye for an eye…" Blake finished with determination. This earned a smile from the two.

Before she could check the picture, her cat vision spotted movement in the darkness of the bushes. She peered carefully, eyeing the surroundings, her night vision adjusting to suit, until she could see it clearly, a White Fang mask in the darkness.

Her eyes went wide, "We're being watched!"

The dragon and the monkey Faunus went on alert just in time to see a figure dashing out of the bushes at blinding speeds.

"A freaking ninja?!" Sun exclaimed.

"No, a fucking spy…" Luna seethed, as she bolted off behind them, Sun and Blake followed suit.

They dashed across rooftops and trees tailing the incredibly fast spy. Had it been anyone but Luna, the spy would outrun them, but unfortunately for the spy, she had a dragon princess tailing her.

Luna's eyes glowed bright cyan blue, she stretched out her hand and suddenly the spy's movements halted, and instead of landing on the next rooftop, she was instantly rooted to the one in front of Luna and the others, struggling to move.

"Good, now that you've stopped moving… maybe you can tell us who you are…" Luna said walking up and tearing the spy's mask off to reveal a brown haired girl with dark blue eyes.

"ILIA?!" Blake exclaimed, immediately recognizing her as one of her childhood friends. "WHY ARE YOU IN THE WHITE FANG?!"

Ilia didn't respond to her question, "You shouldn't have come back, Blake…"

"You know this girl?" Sun asked without looking at her.

"We were friends as kids, I haven't seen her since I left to join the White Fang…" Blake explained.

"You abandoned me, and then you abandoned the White Fang for Beacon, but now it seems you've abandoned them as well…" Ilia taunted.

Blake grit her teeth and clenched her fists in anger, she wanted to argue, but Ilia was right in her assumption. She was nothing more than a deserter.

"Maybe… but it's better than working for a psychopath like Adam, and Onyx…" Blake countered.

"Didn't you hear? Adam is dead. High Commander Onyx has stepped in as complete overseer of our operations now…" Ilia sneered.

All three teens' eyes went wide, "WHAT?!"

"Yeah, cut down by that false prince, what was his name again? Nova? Our master avenged Adam by killing him too…" Ilia smirked, though if it weren't for the darkness of the night, one could tell the evil charade was forced.

"You take my brother's name out of your filthy fucking mouth right now!" Luna growled, her eyes turning bright blue and constricting Ilia's movements, practically choking her.

"You will tell us everything we need to know… now!" Blake seethed glaring at her.

"Or what?" Ilia choked out with a smile.

"You're our prisoner, you will comply…" Sun threatened.

"Is that what you think?" she choked out again.

The three had little time to react as a glowing dagger shot through the darkness and whizzed passed Luna's head forcing her to drop her hold on Ilia to dodge.

Once free Ilia drew her weapon and stared them down. Blake and Sun were on alert looking for the source of the dagger.

"There's more than one of them…" Blake said eyeing the darkness.

"You really shouldn't have come back…" Ilia said again before sending her whip-like weapon straight through the unfocused Sun's shoulder, a shock of electricity ripped through his body sending him crumpling to the ground.

"SUN!" Blake yelled rushing to help him.

Luna turned around to find Ilia gone, no signs of her ever being there besides the hole in Sun's shoulder.

"Fuck… she got away…" the blue dragon cursed.

"We need to head back, Sun's in serious pain… hang in there Sun…"

"What happened?" Kali asked after she finished changing the bandages on Sun's wound. He'd taken a damaging blow but nothing aura wouldn't heal.

"A White Fang spy, watching this very home…" Luna said as she gripped the armrests of the chair.

"WHAT?! You can't be serious…" Ghira looked furious.

Blake shook her head, "Without a doubt, and there were more than one of them…"

"A secondary attacker, cloaked in the darkness, brandishing throwing knives… and I have a sneaking suspicion I know who it is, but that should be impossible…" Luna said rubbing her arms.

"Who do you think it is?" Elain asked her daughter.

"That guy Nova and I faced off during the duos round of the Vytal Tournament, Edan, I think was his name." Luna.

"That guy is here?!" Blake looked alarmed. "If he is… then… if the rest of his team are as well…"

"It'll mean serious trouble for the rest of us…" Luna confirmed.

"Wait… if Onyx's main team is here then… no they couldn't be…" Elain gasped in horror.

Kali saw the alarm on her face, "What is it Ellie? What's this mean?"

"They're going after Sienna Khan!" Elain exclaimed.

Everyone gasped, "WHAT?!"

"The White Fang is split into factions, they agree to certain movements as a council of leaders. I've never seen all of them myself, but Onyx and Sienna Khan are two separate factions, with opposing views. Onyx is probably aiming to overtake the White Fang influence here and overthrow her, uniting their two factions under his rule…" Elain said realizing his plan.

"But… that'll mean…" Ghira looked terrified. "We need to do something… but what?"

Luna looked hesitant, then spoke, "If you'll allow it… I think it's time the people knew about what happened." Everyone looked to her in confusion.

"What I mean is… Nova planned to tell the people about the truth, what really happened that night, about the atrocities of Onyx's faction. He wanted to rally people, unite both Faunus and Human against our common enemy," she continued.

Ghira nodded, "That does seem to be our best course of action, we can't track them so we hinder their movements by drawing public attention… Kali, can you relay word to our people, gather them outside, we'll host a conference of sorts, telling the world the truth."

* * *

**-White Fang Base Menagerie-**

Sienna Khan a black-haired, dark-skinned Faunus sporting large pointed cat ears and tiger stripes on her skin, sat on her throne in the grand red hall.

She was reading through the report that was sent to her on the Fall of Beacon and sighed heavily. "What is that fool thinking… a strike like this would undoubtedly paint us as nothing more than warmongering terrorists!" she bashed her fist against the armrest.

"Fergison, what's the status on contact with Onyx?" she asked the attendant to her right.

"We've had no contact due to the destruction of the CCT Tower, all links to his base in Vacuo are down…" the man responded dryly as if he was tired of answering this question.

Sienna sighed, "Of course… I suspected as much… and all attempts at reaching the other council members, any luck?"

"None ma'am, I'm afraid we'd have to rely on our messengers…"

"But that could take weeks! Is there any other form of contact?" she asked, not looking at her attendant.

There was no response, so she asked again, "Fergison, did you hear me?"

"Ack-k, ah…" came the indistinguishable reply.

"What? Something caught in your throat?" then she felt something warm drip onto her shoulder, forcing her to turn around.

There stood Fergison, clad in his uniform, except… his throat was bleeding, his eyes alarmed.

"FERGISON!" She yelled in alarm, scanning the room for the attacker as her attendant's lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

"GUARDS!" She called out trying to sound the alarm, but there was no response. "GUARDS!"

"Oh, you won't find anyone here…" a dark voice chuckled from the shadows.

Sienna was instantly on guard, drawing her weapon, a dust powered, chain-linked whip.

"Who's there?" she glanced around, trying to use her night vision.

"No one really… just… a messenger…" the male voice said now stepping into the light. It was Edan, Onyx's pet squad commander.

"You… I know you… you're one of Onyx's pets…" Sienna seethed glaring at him.

Edan chuckled, "I'm surprised you know who I am, I'm honoured," he gave a mock bow.

"Well… this saves me some trouble… leaving the matter of my dead assistant aside… why are you here?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"I think it should be _painfully_ obvious, I'd think the answer was staring you _dead _in the face!" he began laughing maniacally.

"Of course…" she rolled her eyes, "So… tell me… why attack Beacon? Does Onyx know that he's permanently damned our name?"

Edan looked at her curiously, "Why should I answer you? … Well I guess you'll be dead in a few seconds so why not…" he twirled one of his spectral daggers in his fingers, "He did it for the good of our organization. We don't want equality, we want to overthrow the humans, reign a new world order with the White Fang at the head!"

"And you think you'll get away with this?! If he thinks he can challenge the might of the entire of Remnant then he's nothing but a delusional fool, and you're an even bigger idiot for believing his bullshit!" Sienna roared, brandishing her whip.

"I'd like to think that his power is real… and you're the fool who sits on a throne trying to spread ideals about equality…" Edan said darkly, more daggers erupting from his hands as he readied to fight.

"A fool I may be, but at least I didn't send my lackey to do a job that should have been done myself!" she launched herself at Edan, but he quickly sidestepped and countered with a punch to her gut that sent her flying back, cratering into the wall above them.

"What the fuck?!" she choked out as she struggled to her feet. That blow had gone straight past her defences and struck her for real damage.

Instantly without a sound, Edan was on her again, closing the gap of several meters in less than a second, as if he just blinked.

Sienna's eyes widened as his fist came barrelling down onto her head, smashing her face into the floor.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you…" Edan said darkly as he continued to beat her until all tension in her body left and she crumpled. He picked her head up by her hair and stared eye to eye with her bloodied visage.

"You feel that? That's true strength… you are nothing but a weak, spineless…" he never got to finish when a blast of red energy shot by his face, causing him to whip his head around.

Standing at the grand doors to the room were none other than Adam Taurus and Bell Wings.

"You get the fuck away from her you hellspawn!" Adam roared as he blinked through the air and clashed is katana against Edan, now seeing his face up close, Adam's eyes widened.

"YOU! YOU'RE ALIVE?!" he said in alarm.

Edan snorted, "I could say the same to you… you fucking cockroach!"

Bell saw Edan jump into the air and came straight for her, "Hello little fairy! Nice to see you again!" he snarled.

Bell was shocked, "I saw you die… your body was mangled. Beyond repair… HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"

Edan smirked, "Well unlike you, I didn't have the luxury of a big wall of ballistic flesh to protect me… so I was 'dead'…" he said referring to Dune.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!" Bell roared in anguish, punching him so hard in the face that she felt skin tear beneath her fist. The blow sent him flying back into Adam's waiting blade, and Adam impaled him mid flight, sending the red sword through his stomach.

"Well… It doesn't matter how he survived… he's dead now…" Adam said looking at the limp body on his sword.

"I WOULDN'T BE SO SURE ABOUT THAT!" Edan yelled in a half-mad, half vicious manner as his head shot up with a smile.

Adam dropped his sword in alarm, even Bell watched in horror as the man they just impaled, got up calmly, and took the sword out from his own stomach. They expected him to bleed to death from the wound, but instead there was no blood.

Both ex-White Fang members watched in horror as instead of internal organs and blood there was steel and wiring, and on the face that Bell hit, where the skin was torn off, revealed a robotic skull.

"What… are you?" Adam asked mortified.

Edan chuckled, his skinless mouth speaking through nothing but chattering teeth, "Your worst nightmare… but for now… ta ta!" he waved at the two who just looked in confusion as smoke began to erupt from his body. Soon the entire room was covered in thick white steam. Once it was clear Edan was gone.

"Fucking hell, he got away…" Adam cursed.

"Never mind that, go check on Sienna, see if she's alright…" Bell said.

The two ran over to the fallen leader and breathed a sigh of relief, "She's alive… we got here in time…"

"T-Taurus? And… blonde kid?" Sienna choked out through the pain as she lay on Adam's lap while Bell tended to her wounds. "Thought you were dead…"

Adam chuckled, "Seems to be a lot of that going around here…"

"W-Why save me? I thought… you work for… him…" she said through fits of coughing.

Adam shook his head, "Not anymore… we're here to help…"

* * *

**-Mistral Forest-**

The road was dark and dismal, ever since they'd arrived at the broken town, the weather hadn't let up. No sign of clear skies for miles and the awful stench of death and decay followed them everywhere they went.

Something was amiss. The area was quiet… too quiet…

Ren held up his hand for the team to stop.

"There's something wrong…" Ren said, now everyone was on alert, drawing their weapons. "Follow my lead…" they all watched as Ren cautiously stepped out into the open, looking around for signs of danger. Nitro followed closely behind as they scouted around.

The moment they were in the direct open area, they were tackled by two blurs, crashing them into the cobblestone path.

Instantly the team followed up, getting into a formation around their allies. The two blurs came again from seemingly nowhere, striking at them at inhuman speeds. Ren ducked and rolled to avoid a swipe by what appeared to be blades and he shot in response.

The two enemies danced around the team striking at all angles, rebounding off of their strikes and attacking without warning.

Eventually Nora managed to counterattack sending the two enemies crashing through a nearby building.

"WE'RE NOT LOOKING FOR A FIGHT!" Jaune called as the dust cleared, the crumbling of stone and wood was the only other sound accompanied by what was apparently simultaneous maniacal laughter. "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Who are we? Oh, my dear friends, to think you'd forgotten me…" one said, the shorter of the two, as they emerged from the crumbling building.

Standing before Team MNRNJR, were two individuals, a teenager around their age, with rust coloured hair and amber eyes, and a taller brown-haired man with an elongated face and similar eyes.

Nitro and Hex's eyes widened, "Thorian Callus?!" Nitro seethed.

Thorian laughed madly clutching his face, "FINALLY SOME RECOGNITION! But… it's not Callus, it's Callows…" he bowed and gestured to the older man, who also made a mock bow.

"Tyrian Callows, it's a pleasure…" The older man snarled with a devilish smile, a large scorpion tail coming out of his back.

"What do you want from us?!" Jaune yelled defensively.

Tyrian and Thorian chuckled simultaneously.

"Want with _you_? Nothing actually… well except maybe you… you interest me…" Tyrian said stopping at Jaune.

"The only person we're concerned about… is you…" Thorian continued, pointing at Ruby.

"ME?!" Ruby asked in alarm.

"Yes… our queen has expressed her utmost interest in you…" Tyrian eyed Ruby.

"Cinder…" Jaune snarled in response, assuming that's who their boss was.

Both Tyrian and Thorian looked at each other before bursting out into a fit of mad laughter, "SHE WISHES!" they both said simultaneously.

"No… our queen is much more… refined…" Thorian said.

"Much more… powerful…" Tyrian played off his brother. "We need you to come with us… she wants you alive if possible…" he pointed at Ruby.

"What if she doesn't want to come with you?" Hex asked raising Loki and Eres in a fighting stance.

The brothers sighed, "I guess we have no choice…" Tyrian launched himself at Jaune, tackling him to the ground.

Ruby reacted by swiping at his abdomen but he easily jumped and kicked her aside.

Thorian aimed himself at Nitro, throwing his chakrams at the red-haired boy's face. Nitro sidestepped and rushed at him with his semblance and boosters but his fist only connected with air as Thorian sailed over his head, slamming his feet into his back.

Hex tried to retaliate by hooking him, managing to wrap him tightly in the chains.

"Ooh… neat trick…" Thorian smiled looking at his arms and legs restrained by the chains, "Too bad… my tricks are better…" he instantly slipped out of the restraints as if they weren't even tight, ducking low and slicing with his bladed chakram. Hex barely managed to dodge in time as the blade passed mere hairs away from her face.

Meanwhile Tyrian was thoroughly juggling RNJR at once. Easily ducking and dodging around their blades like they were moving in slow motion. His agility and overall flexibility made it impossible to hit him or catch him off guard.

He moved in a wide sweep, knocking away all of them in different directions, then launched himself directly at the downed Ruby.

"RUBY!" Nora yelled out in alarm as Tyrian's blades closed in on her.

Ruby closed her eyes, expecting the inevitable pain, but none came. Standing in the path of her demise was none other than Qrow Branwen.

"Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby exclaimed in alarm. "When… how…"

"I'll explain later, right now we need to deal with these guys…" Qrow said not looking back and readying his scythe.

"I… I'll help!" Ruby said getting to her feet and readying Crescent Rose.

Qrow shook his head, "No Ruby, you guys handle Tweedle-Dee over there," he gestured to Throian, "And I'll take care of Tweedle-Dum,"

"This complicates things…" Thorian muttered under his breath as he was locked in a stalemate against Nitro and Hex.

"Qrow Branwen! A real Huntsmen, as I live and breathe! It is an honour…" Tyrian said smiling.

Qrow visibly shuddered, "Listen buddy, I don't know who you are… but you're going to have to leave my niece alone…"

Tyrian made a tsk sound, "No can do, see my brother and I were assigned by her grace to retrieve the young girl…"

Qrow's eyes narrowed in anger, "Salem…"

"Who?" Ruby piped in from behind, completely confused, but her question went unanswered.

"Looks like I'll have to kick your ass then…" Qrow glared at him.

Tyrian batted his eyes, "Aw, you can try…"

Qrow felt a nerve twitch in his forehead as he thrust himself into battle. Tyrian got down on all fours and launched at Qrow at incredible speed, spinning in a dangerous bladed pirouette of death. Qrow blocked with his scythe and flung him back. Tyrian simply used the momentum as a rebound to launch himself again even faster, gathering force behind him as his bladed fists clashed against Qrow's Harbinger, resulting in a shockwave that rocked the nearby buildings.

Ruby stood in awe at the display of raw power between the Huntsmen, and she realized, just how weak she was. Her experience and technique were nowhere near the level she was seeing being displayed before her, and for the first time since leaving Patch, she thought _I might be in way over my head…_

Behind her, HNJNR had begun their own battle against Thorian. He wasn't as skilled as his brother, and it was clear that the difference in numbers was proving difficult, still, he made it seem effortless as he cut across Nitro's chest and kicked him into Hex.

Thorian then proceeded to dodge Nora's horizontal hammer swing and sweep under her legs, throwing her down before sending his two chakrams whizzing through the air to hit Jaune and Ren.

Nitro bolted with a supersonic punch that flew straight, hoping his speed would be enough to hit the boy, but he was easily sidestepped and sent crashing into a nearby house. "WHY THE FUCK IS HE SO SLIPPERY?!" Nitro yelled in rage as he brushed the concrete dust off of his clothing.

Hex tried chaining him down again but this time Thorian was more than ready, catching the chain mid-air and pulling Hex along with it. The purplette only shrieked in surprise as she was ripped off the ground and swung like a human flail knocking into Jaune and Ren who had just recovered from being hit by the Chakrams.

"SORRY!" Hex yelled as she felt her boot connect with their heads.

Overall Thorian was making a fool out of them, he was clearly more skilled and experienced.

"How the hell did Nova beat this guy?!" Jaune said rubbing the back of his head in pain.

"Yes, without your little dragon friends, you're all weak! You're just normal people, inexperienced amateurs picking a fight in a world you don't fully understand!" Thorian yelled as he tossed Hex into a nearby rock. "So why don't you just give up and submit!"

Back with Qrow, he and Tyrian had been fighting on top one of the houses, along a narrow rooftop. Tyrian easily dodged around Qrow's attacks, while the Huntsmen struggled to keep up with his enemy's erratic movements.

Despite Qrow's words, Ruby got into a sniper position and tried to help her uncle, only to realize she was unable to keep up with the rapid pace of movements.

Tyrian whipped is tail out like an extendable stabbing device forcing Qrow to duck low, then backflip out of the way of the retracted tail swipe. Tyrian made for a flying kick only for it to miss and send him crashing through the roof beneath his feet. Just as he was falling he shot his tail up and wrapped it around Qrow's foot-dragging him down with him.

Ruby rushed over to the building to help her uncle and was surprised to see him come crashing through the solid concrete wall as if he was shot out of a cannon. Qrow threw Harbinger in sword form across the ground anchoring it hilt upward, then used it to catch himself on the blade, stopping his eventual crash. He stood perched, perfectly balanced on the blade, his aura fizzling out depicting that it was depleted.

Tyrian's aura also did the same as he emerged from the wreckage.

Ruby grouped with her uncle and stood by him, together they launched a simultaneous attack on Tyrian who easily evaded their swipes and overwhelmed Ruby in almost an instant, forcing Qrow to block the strike.

"Do you want to be taken?!" Tyrian asked amused and confused at the red reaper joining the fight.

"No… but I can't stand by and watch people get hurt!" she yelled as she attacked him again. Tyrian shook his head and aimed his blade at her, Ruby barely had time to react as Qrow had to forcefully pull her away.

"RUBY WHAT DID I SAY?!" he chastised.

"THIS IS MY FIGHT TOO!" Ruby argued back.

Qrow sighed, "It's not like that it's…!" he was cut off when Ruby again thrust herself into battle only to be knocked back against the building, a large piece of wood randomly dislodged itself from the roof and was about to crush her, forcing Qrow to dash in and knock it away.

Tyrian saw this as his opening and shot his tail out, slicing Qrow across the stomach.

Ruby watched in horror as a large bleeding wound opened up in Qrow's stomach area.

In a grand fury Ruby latched Crescent Rose over Tyrian's tail and pulled the trigger, causing the recoil to cut the tail in half.

Tyrian recoiled in pain, "ARGH!" he screamed as he limped away.

The cry of pain alerted Thorian, causing him to see his brother scrambling in pain on the floor, and sighed.

"Well, it's been fun… but I must take my leave now…" he said to the others.

"You're not going anywhere… WHA!" Nitro screamed as Throrian punched the ground beneath his feet releasing a shockwave of golden energy, knocking them all back. Then, moving with his unbelievable speeds, dashed across the courtyard, picked up Tyrian, and disappeared into the forest.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby yelled rushing over to her uncle and checking the wound.

"He… just grazed me…" Qrow said before falling to the ground in pain.

"We need medical attention now!" Ruby called over to the others as they gathered up.

* * *

**So I realized I crossed over into Volume 5 territory with the menagerie arc, but I think instead of separating volumes 4 and 5, I'll continue along and blur the lines because a lot of the stuff covered in volume 5 could very well have been done in 4 given that they had a 20 min episode length.**

**For Oscar's character, I realize that he's very OOC here, but at the same time I prefer him like this, because his initial introduction into the series was very bland and underwhelming, at least to me, and I figured he should act more like a 14 year old kid and not a depressed old man.**

**Next time, Weiss breaks out, Nova and Yang improve in training and much more.**


	44. Chapter 44: Steps Toward The Future

**I've been trying to improve my writing, so let me know if I overdid it in some parts or if I should simplify things. I tried using simpler words for the most of the story but I figured since I switched my rating to M, I might as well just use my normal vocabulary when I see the chance.**

**In case anyone was wondering why some words are spelled weird it's because my brain's default setting is UK English, but... some words I just prefer their US spelling due to their simplistic visual appeal (i.e I mean the u in certain ou words just looks off in this font that I'm forced to put my work in)**

**You all know how team RWBY and most other teams either have individual character OSTs/Theme songs.**

**I've actually had a list of songs that are essentially Team ASHN's themes for a long time and I never actually said it so...**

**Team ASHN/ASHNRWBY's theme would be - Beggars by Krewella and Diskord, Side Effects by coldrain, We Are Legends by Valley Of Wolves**

**Onyx: Dangerous Man by Valley of Wolves, Villain by Wildfire, Titans In Desolation By The Enigma TNG**

**Nitro: YOLO by Smash Into Pieces, Gladiator by Zayde Wolf  
Hex: Starlight by Written By Wolves  
Luna: Calm Down by Krewella, Watch Me by Icon For Hire  
Nova was tough because a lot of songs on my playlist that I used to listen to on the bus heading home from university classes fit so I'll just list them out: Throne by Bring Me The Horizon, Boomerang by Smash into Pieces, Dreamin by The Score feat Blackbear, Chosen One by Valley of Wolves, Where Did It Go? by Asking Alexandria**

**There are multiple songs because they fit as the characters evolve and change.**

* * *

**Chapter 44: Along Came A Rider On A Pale Horse Named Death**

* * *

**-Patch-**

The burning sun-blasted heat on the trio as they sweltered under the inferno, training their minds and bodies for tolerance and discipline. Yang felt the beads of sweat steadily becoming streams as she sat under the burning sun, her skin felt on fire and her body felt overheated and exhausted. She wasn't doing anything stressful besides meditation but it felt like she was carrying the weight of a thousand boulders while running a marathon

Nova's face was scrunched up in pain, his body lightly shaking, not from the heat, no he was immune to that, what was driving his strain was the focus and meditation. The sheer levels of concentration he was being forced to undergo were unnaturally brutal.

"That's good, keep at this for thirty more seconds. Grab hold of that wild aura, force it to bend to your will! Aura isn't something that controls you, it's apart of you, in the air around you! You control it!" Tai said as he observed them quietly. The two teens sat on the open lawn, cross-legged, and with their eyes closed.

Their faces began steadily growing redder and their auras began to glow faintly, causing Tai's eyes to widen. What he was seeing before him was incredible. Tai watched as their faces began to relax, the pain gradually leaving their faces, as their auras began to converge from around their bodies to the atmosphere around them, like a thin veil over their heads.

"… And that's the full time!" Tai called forcing the two teens out of their meditation. Nova and Yang collapsed in a heap of harsh breathing and exhausted gasps of air. Nova looked ragged and tired, sweat pouring from every orifice of his body, Yang wasn't any better.

"What the fuck pops! You totally threw in ten extra seconds!" Nova grunted in frustration as he lightly hit Tai on the shoulder.

"Seriously dad, how the fuck do you manage to make the sun so strong?!" Yang asked through exhausted breaths.

Tai shrugged, "I'm not the one doing it, it's the effect of the meditation. You're sitting under normal environmental conditions but forcing strain on your aura. It's entirely in your minds."

Despite his words, it was a lot more complex than that. This type of meditation needed to be induced by a mentor, someone who would force their auras into a state of disarray, after which the subjects would spend their time trying to, not only regain control of the wild energy but also focus it. The best comparison was like taking a typhoon of ripping winds and forcing its destructive energy into one point. Not only was this method of training dangerous, where one wrong move could potentially cause violent feedback of aura that could damage them severely, but it was also almost impossible to master.

The sheer mental strain it placed on the mind and body was enough to amplify the slightest discomfort into agonizing pain, it was a training method not for the faint of heart.

"Does it need to be this harsh though?" Nova said stretching his arms into the air.

"You said you wanted the crash course in Advanced Aura Manipulation, not my fault you're on a deadline." Tai said smiling, "Though, you two seem to have almost gotten the hang of it… something that takes most huntsmen years to learn, hell, most give up before they can!"

Yang smirked, "Yup! We're geniuses!" she raised her hand to high five Nova, who complied.

"You've successfully managed to power your defensive aura into a physical shield, focusing it to a point above you. Now we're moving on to the next phase in the training…" the older huntsman said, stretching his arms above his head and then the rest of his body.

"Which is…?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Physical combat. We're attuning your aura to simultaneously switch between defence, offence, and speed."

"What, like right now?!" Nova asked incredulously.

"The more time you spend on this the further on Ruby and the others get, and knowing that bunch of kids, even Qrow won't be able to look after them all…" Tai said worriedly.

Nova tilted his head in confusion, "Uncle Qrow went with them? I thought you said they left alone?"

Tai shook his head, "After they left, I told Qrow immediately, he trailed after them, he's probably caught up by now."

Nova felt a weight lift off his shoulders, knowing that they at least had Qrow with them made him feel somewhat at ease. His mind began to drift to Ruby, wondering if she was doing alright without him.

He was ripped from his thoughts when a fist came flying straight to his face, forcing him to dodge by a hair strand.

"HOLY SHIT OLD MAN! GIVE A GUY SOME WARNING!" Nova screamed as he jumped back.

Tai smirked, "In battle there is no warning, so always be on guard," he got into a ready position, facing Nova. What he didn't expect was Yang's fist to crash into the side of his head, blindsiding him and sending him cratering into the ground.

"How's that for a warning?" the blonde girl stood proudly, her fist glowing a bright yellow signifying that her aura was focused on that attack.

Tai got up from the smouldering crater, completely unscathed as at the point of the impact his own yellow aura protected him, like a hard shield, leaving Yang to gawk.

"OH COME ON!" she yelled in frustration, "That reaction time is unnatural!"

Tai chuckled, "Not unnatural, quite the opposite. Most people don't recognize the depth of aura, what it can do, and the limitless potential of the mind. Even then, those that do recognize it, spend decades mastering it and can barely utilize half of its capabilities because they only train the body."

"How come you're so good at it then?" Nova pointed out.

"I've had… more hands-on practice… of the life or death type…" he explained.

In an instant he was gone as if vanished from thin air.

"Where'd he go?!" Yang asked, scanning the area.

Nova closed his eyes and remembered what Tai said yesterday during the early stages of their training. Awareness is deeper than just the vision. Sound, smell, the feeling of the air, change in wind direction, temperature changes, everything plays a role in awareness.

"Extend your aura! Create a sensory field!" Nova yelled to Yang as they stood facing opposite directions looking for Tai.

The two teens began to glow with aura, the faint light projecting outward like a zone around them. Nova could feel, smell, hear and sense every change around him ranging from a single blade of grass swaying in the wind to an ant crawling on the floor. The radius of awareness was limited to just a few meters in front and behind them, but to Nova, it was much further than that.

The range was limited by a person's aura capacity, those born with abnormally high amounts of aura had more potential with these techniques, those with limited capacities were hindered. According to Tai, if you were experienced enough, those limitations become negligible, but for novices like them it made all the difference between their ability to react to Tai's oncoming punches and getting ending up with a black eye.

Yang instantly flipped to her right, dodging a right hook from Tai that came out of seemingly nowhere.

"Good reaction!" Tai said his voice coming from Yang's right, she turned around just in time to see his brown blur dash from her field of vision. "But you're still too green! Stop relying on one sense at a time! You have five of them! Use them all!" he yelled again, this time from Yang's left causing her to whip around again, only to be smacked in the back and send crashing to the floor, taking real damage to her body.

"Your reactions are too slow! The moment you sense danger your aura should have switched from sensory to defence!" Tai said stopping in front of her and helping her to her feet.

"Dad you're insane! We just started and you're going at full speed!" Yang complained.

"Our enemies aren't waiting for you to get stronger! The fastest way to improve is by hitting the gas pedal and throwing out the brakes!" Tai said with passion, before disappearing in a brown blur again.

Nova stood stock still, raising his field of senses as far as he could. Tai was dashing around him, he could feel it in the wind changing in his field of awareness. The older huntsman was moving faster than an airborne Nevermore.

_THERE!_ Nova felt it, the moment Tai made a move to attack, a blade of grass to his left made a drastic change in wind direction for less than a second. In that fraction of a second Nova sent his aura from sensory to defence. With his dragon hearing, and the amplified senses, he could hear the muscles contracting in Tai's arm, he could feel the direction wind against his face, alerting him that the point of impact would be his left cheek. In that millisecond, his aura formed a shield around that point blocking the impact completely.

Tai was caught off guard when his fist connected with the steel hard surface of densely compact aura.

Nova stared back at him with a devilish smirk, "How's this for reaction time?" before Tai could register what was happening, Nova sent his fist flying to Tai's face, dropping his defences and focusing it all on the attack in that second. The fiery orange aura burning like actual flames around the leathery skin of his left arm as it collided with Tai, sending him crashing through the forest in a fiery blast.

Nova stood wide-eyed, staring at his smoking fist, and the path of destruction that followed after Tai.

"I thought he said no powers?" Yang pointed out, gesturing the charred Tai that was slowly walking back to them looking like he'd been hit with a grenade.

"Uhh… that wasn't my powers…" Nova responded meekly. "It was like… this arm, it reacted to my aura..."

"Some people *cough* have different reactions to having a one hundred percent amplified attack…" Tai said in between coughs, trying to get the smoke out of his lungs.

"Huh?" Nova was confused.

"Watch this…" Tai converted all his aura into his fist and swung hard at the ground, the result was a shattering shockwave that flattened all the grass around the area even though he didn't hit the ground. "My punches can create a pulse of force that knocks back,"

"So that's why we get pushed so hard when you punch us?" Yang asked with a head tilt.

"Precisely, my attacks aren't very special, Nova's attacks seem to generate heat, seems fitting given his… disposition. Why don't you give it a try," Tai gestured to Yang.

The blonde girl shrugged, and began to concentrate, scrunching up her face and forcing her aura into her right fist. She then aimed at a nearby tree and punched, hard. The result was a miniature explosion of aura, like a blast from a small bomb, rupturing the tree trunk and shattering the wood. Unlike Nova's fist, which was like a burning fireball, hers was like a blast of yellow aura that exploded outward in all directions.

"Wow…" she commented staring at her own hands, "That felt… incredible…"

Tai smiled, it was amazing how easily they were making progress as if this was all-natural to them. He figured it was due to their past experiences, they've fought tougher battles than most people ever would in their lives, they've been through hell and back and fought for their lives, not just for sport or for missions, but to protect and survive. Experience was always the best teacher.

"So… even though I've beaten Uncle Qrow in a fight before… he wasn't using these techniques, does that mean he was going easy on me?" Nova asked realizing that Tai and Qrow used to be on the same team.

Tai shook his head, "Qrow never mastered these techniques, he trained his body and skills to match us, which in of itself is an impressive feat. He probably was going easy on you though."

"How come he never learned? Was he incapable?"

"It's not that he wasn't able, in fact… during our training, Qrow was better than most of us… it's just that… his semblance prevented his mastery." Tai said, his expression growing dark.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

"Qrow's what we call… a bad luck charm. His semblance is misfortune, it brings bad luck to him or those around him, whether they be friend or foe. This aura manipulation is a double-edged sword. If you aren't fast enough with your defence reactions, or you overuse your aura, you leave yourself open to taking real damage. Combining it with Qrow's semblance is like strapping a hair trigger to a suicide vest and hoping it doesn't go off…" Tai explained further.

The look on his face told Nova that it wasn't just theory, that something happened in the past that caused the male Branwen to stop his pursuit of the technique.

"Anyway… enough chit chat… you two are still leagues away from being able to use this in actual combat. Round two!" Tai said getting ready to spar again.

The trio continued to train well into the day.

* * *

**-Atlas-**

There she stood, in front of an audience comprised of the rich, snobby, self-important and uncaring, clad in her grey-blue dress that seemed to mirror the theme of the Schnee household. Much like her decision to sing again, her choice in fashion was not her own. She wondered if her father selected this monochromatic, almost bland outfit because he wanted to show her that she was nothing more than his glass idol, a prized pet made to perform tricks when asked.

Her voice rang through the theatre with a somber ring, reverberating a powerful, deep-seated longing, and those who heard her could swear they weren't looking at Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company… no, they were looking at a bird in a cage.

The resounding applause for her impressive display of vocal talent felt like the drumming of a policeman's baton against the iron bars of a jail cell. Their vigorous admiration was more akin to hammering a nail into a coffin rather than the praise she was supposed to receive, as if further cementing the fact that, so long as she was in this household, she would never be free.

Among the seemingly infinite supply of commemoration and flowery words of admiration, droned out like predictable pre-written dialogue of a poorly crafted video game, there was not one single, original and genuine compliment. It was just a conglomeration of people trying to get on her good side so they could get closer to her father, nothing more than greedy pigs searching for their next buffet.

All she wanted was to see the smiling faces of her friends, especially Ruby, in all of her ludicrous behaviour, and Luna in her adorable antics… and Nova in his clumsiness…

Her body had acted on autopilot, her mouth moving while her mind wandered, casually greeting and exchanging pleasantries with the masses now that the party had moved to the ballroom.

"We offer Faunus the exact same wages as the rest of our mining staff, their argument's flawed right out of the bat…" Jacques said as he stood discussing politics with what looked to be businessmen and women.

Weiss rolled her eyes, being forced to stand there and listen to their idle squawking, like parrots spouting the regurgitated words they were taught by their masters. Most of them hardly knew what they were talking about, just vomiting the words they read on a recently read article.

_Equal wages sure, but he doesn't mention the taxes he incurs on the Faunus people, the unfair working conditions, and lack of rights…_ Weiss thought as she watched her father sprinkle gold dust on the fallacy that is the SDC.

Weiss' eyes drifted to a painting, standing at the far end of the grand hall, of Beacon before the fall. Glancing at her father, who seemed to be immersed in his conversation, she made a move to go in closer and observe the painting. As soon as she did, however, her father held her back, "Where do you think you're going?" he asked almost irritably.

_Not even allowed to walk without permission…_ her thoughts said though she mouthed differently, "Just feeling a bit thirsty… I'll grab something to drink…" she said trying to come up with an excuse.

"Sweetheart we have people for that…" Jacques said as he raised his arm to call a waiter, but Weiss held him down.

"No… I can do it myself… I'll be right back I promise," she pleaded. Jacques eyed her, wanting to argue but he was called to the conversation, thus allowing Weiss to escape freely.

She stood in front of the large painting, staring at the grand halls of Beacon, the red flags and white stone walkways, red bits of cloth flying in the air almost like rose petals, which reminded her of Ruby. Everything in the painting drew her memories back to her time at Beacon, a time when she was truly free from the shackles that bound her as the heiress of the SDC, free from the weight of the name Schnee.

"It's beautiful…" a male voice said to her left, "You two match," she spared no glance to him. It was a boy, around her age, with grey-blue hair that was combed over to his left side.

He was wearing a rich looking redshirt with black vest and matching tie. Everything about him said he was dressing to impress and his looks were practically all he had to offer.

"Yes, it is a lovely painting," Weiss said, not bothering to even look in his direction.

"… That was my attempt at breaking the ice. How am I doing so far?" he asked with a light smile.

Weiss fought every fiber in her body from letting out the world's most exasperated sigh. Instead she opted for a more, subtle, approach, "You leave much to be desired…"

The boy was undeterred, "Well I've always appreciated honesty. Henry, Marigold," he said extending his hand for a handshake.

"Weiss Schnee," she said placing her hand in his as a form of courtesy greeting.

"I know… I mean, I saw your performance… you were amazing!" he complimented, causing Weiss to inwardly puke.

Once he saw his compliment elicited no reaction, he opted for another approach to conversation. "So… thinking about buying it?" he asked looking at the painting.

"No, I don't think so." She curtly responded. This caused the boy to flinch at her harsh tone, but he kept his cool.

"Kinda pricey for a painting," he returned carelessly, still making a feeble attempt at holding conversation. Little did he know, every word he spoke was like a slap in the face not just to Weiss, but to the purpose of this event.

Weiss fought the urge to smack him, did he honestly come here without knowing what the event was for?

"It's to raise money," Weiss responded feeling agitated, her blood beginning to boil with every moment she spent talking to this miscreant.

"I'll admit, I only come to these things for the food and drink… and for the exquisite company," he said looking at her. "Is this another Mantle fundraiser or something?"

That was the final straw, Weiss was ready to pummel his smug face into the dirt, but behavioral code of her family argued otherwise, so again, she opted for the less than subtle approach.

"Get. Out." She glared at him. "Get out, or I'll have security escort you out."

"But I haven't done anyth-"

"LEAVE!" she practically yelled, still using her inside voice.

Henry left with a simple 'Whatever', leaving Weiss to grumble in silence. She was perfectly fine stewing in her hatred for this event and everyone in it had it not been for the unceremoniously loud comment of a rather obnoxious sounding party goer.

"But really, does it come as a surprise what happened to Vale?" a woman said drawing Weiss' attention. She dared not look for fear that the burning rage inside her spew forth with icy cold wrath.

"Honey…" the woman's husband said trying to calm her loud voice.

"What? You said the same thing last night! If they're so arrogant they think they can get by without proper kingdom defence, then I say, good riddance!" she said.

The words of the foolish and stupid bit her ears like hornet stings, courtesy, and cordiality be damned. Weiss Schnee was done being the mild-mannered, tight-lipped trophy daughter, she was out for blood now.

"SHUT UP!" Weiss yelled in fury, silencing the entire hall. "You don't have a fucking clue! NONE OF YOU DO!"

"Weiss…" Jacques glowered.

"You all just stand around talking about jack fuck all! Worrying about your hair, your money, your clothes! Not one single person in this goddamned room has once stepped onto the field of battle and fought for their lives. You stand there mocking people that have died! You're badmouthing people that fought to survive against a threat that very much overwhelmed them. You sit in your wealth all day long with nothing to worry about besides how many diamonds you have on your necklaces. NONE OF YOU KNOW WHAT IT REALLY FEELS LIKE OUT THERE! IF YOU DID YOU'D SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH AND HAVE SOME RESPECT!" Weiss unleashed the pent up frustration that had been building inside her for so long.

"Weiss that's enough! You're embarrassing the family!" Jacques said angrily as he grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away, but she held her ground.

"I am so sick and tired of being your fucking trophy! Let go of me!" Weiss yelled. When Jacques refused to release her, she yelled out again, "I SAID LET GO!"

She struggled out of his grasp and hit the floor.

"Some of my friends lost their lives in that battle… They braved the storm of the invasion to protect people like you… It's times like this I question if that really was the right decision…" Weiss said with tears flowing from her eyes, slamming her fist onto the ground where she lay.

A white glyph erupted from the ground as if responding to her emotions, against her will. "What?!" she looked in alarm. From the glyph sprouted a gleaming white Boarbatusk, summoned from her semblance, its eyes were aimed directly on the offending woman from earlier.

"Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Leave me alone!" she screamed as the summoned beast charged at her at full speed.

Weiss tried to cancel the summon, but it refused to respond. "I can't control it! It's not responding! I didn't even mean to summon one!" she tried to explain but it went deaf on the panic.

Just as the Boarbatusk was about to crash into the woman, it was shot out of the air by none other than General James Ironwood.

"Arrest her!" The woman said now recovering from her initial shock. "What're you waiting for? She's insane, she should be locked up!"

"From the way I see it, she's the only one making sense here…" Ironwood glowered before walking off, leaving Weiss to sulk on the ground.

* * *

"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, do you have any idea what your stunt cost us?" Jacques interrogated as he paced Weiss' room in fury, while she sat at the edge of her bed looking dejected.

"I-…"

"I'm not just talking about Lien here! Our reputation! Our…" he sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"I want to leave." Weiss said not looking at him.

"What?" he turned to her looking infuriated.

"I said I want to leave! I'm tired of staying in this wretched place!"

"This isn't about you!" He countered, "This is about the Schnee family name and you're incessant need to drag it through the mud!" this comment made Weiss lose her cool, tonight just felt like a string of angry explosions and Jacques Schnee was the one detonating all of them.

"ME?! You're the one conducting shady business deals with black market distributors to funnel your dust to other kingdoms without the knowledge of the Atlas council! You're the one running around shitting out words of 'It's for the people!' when all you want is to line your own pocket!" Weiss returned ready to fight.

Jacques' eyes went wide, "So you know about that…"

"Know about it?! It's hard to miss when you rant like a madman in your study! THOSE WALLS AREN'T SOUND PROOF!" Weiss was livid. " You have no right to antagonize me like this! I have done nothing _but _fight to uphold the Schnee family name and our honor-!" *SMACK* came the resounding sound of Jacques Schnee's hand slapping his daughter across the face, cutting off her speech.

Weiss held her face in shock.

"This behaviour of yours is… unbecoming of you… you won't be leaving Atlas… or this manor. You will remain here until I have deemed fit otherwise," he said almost too calmly.

"So I'm just your prisoner now? Big change _dad_, " she replied.

"Yes it has come to our attention that this behaviour is a result of our failure as parents, and you will remain at the manor for some much needed attention…" Jacques said slyly.

Weiss looked horrified, "Won't the public get suspicious when they don't see the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company ever again?"

Jacques smirked, "This is why, you have generously revoked your right to the company and its earnings as well as your title as heiress due to your…complications…"

Weiss gasped, "WHAT?! THEN WHO…"

"Your brother who was ever so worried about your health has undertaken the responsibility in your stead… good night… Weiss…" he said before walking off leaving the appalled Weiss to gawk at his audacity. She followed him out only to be met by her brother standing in the hallway.

"You know… you've been nothing but supportive of me since I got home… you wanted this to happen…" she said accusingly.

"Whatever do you mean sister?" Whitely asked playing innocent.

"I thought something was suspicious, you were never a nice person, at the end of the day you're still just a slimy snake…"

"It is foolish of one to disobey father's orders…" Whitely said with a half-crazed smile.

"I can't believe you…" she said as he slowly walked off, leaving her to storm back into her room in a sobbing fit.

All it took was one foolish move that wasn't even her fault, to tear down everything she'd ever worked for. All that time she spent putting up with her family's bullshit and for what? To receive a slap to the face and house arrest. Where was her mother in all of this? Drinking in her room, hiding from the raging shitstorm that is the Schnee family, neglecting the daughter she has, neglecting to support her and stand against the tyranny of Jacques Schnee.

Weiss was done crying, she was done feeling sorry for herself. If her father wanted to remove her from the family spotlight, erase her from the legacy that she fought so hard to build, then so be it. Staying here was only going to cause her more pain.

She cleared the spot near the window and reached for her desk, on it sat the case of her partner. Lying neatly in its bed of velvet was Myrtenaster, the one relic of her time at Beacon that she would not let her father take from her, and it was the one thing that he would regret.

Grasping the cool steel handle, she felt a familiar sense of power coursing through her. She was done being a bird in a cage, she was a falcon, and this weapon was her talons. Still her claws were rusty, and needed to be polished again… so she waited in her room, biding her time and practicing her summoning until she felt satisfied.

* * *

It was morning, just a few days after the incident. Weiss stood, practicing her summoning, she was making it quite far until she was rudely interrupted by Whitely standing in her doorway.

"Hello sister," he said arrogantly, leaning on the doorframe of her room with an expression that seemed to just glow with the words 'I've won'.

"Leave." Came the short and purposeful reply.

"So hurtful… and here I came to offer you a favour… father's taking me into town to meet some of his business partners, and I was wondering if you'd want me to pick you up anything… since well… you're stuck here…" he grinned as if to rub it in.

"Are you jealous of me? Of Winter? Of our abilities? Is that why you're such a little shit?" Weiss asked genuinely confused.

Whitely was unperturbed, " Honestly? Why would I? I find it barbaric… what could a single huntsman do that an army could not?"

Weiss smirked, "You'd be surprised at the powers of a dragon…" she said referring to Nova.

Whitely looked confused but just shrugged, "I don't have time for your wild delusions… I'm off…"

Weiss waited until she was sure he was gone before sighing and readying Myrtenaster. She faced the window and summoned a white Glyph on the floor that began to spin violently until *BOOM* an explosion rocked the manor.

"MISS SCHNEE ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Klein said bursting through the door. His eyes went wide when he saw Weiss standing next to a giant hole in the wall where her window used to be, a massive suit of armour, like a living knight, stood kneeling before her.

"I'm done with this place Klein… take care of yourself…" Weiss said, and with that she as gone, never to look back.

* * *

**-Mistral Forest-**

Team MNRNJR sat at the campfire, with Qrow bandaged, resting against a tree. Their little area of respite was the only source of light amidst the pitch darkness of Mistralian nights. The closer they got to Haven, the darker the nights became. According to Hex, their geographical location had nothing to do with why the nights were becoming so dark, but they didn't want to out-rule the concept since, the thought of some other force in effect was much worse.

Ruby, Hex and Nitro already knew the story of the Maidens was true, but Jaune, Ren, and Nora did not. Qrow had a difficult time trying to thoroughly drill the information into their brains so they didn't cast it off as mere fantasy and legend.

"So… there are four Maidens… super-powered women, who wield powers of what is essentially magic? And they're the keys to unlocking these four relics that are hidden in vaults under each of the four academies?" Jaune said as if questioning it himself.

Qrow nodded, "Yeah, Four Maidens at all times, meaning when one dies, that power gets transferred to the person they were last thinking off…"

"And you were trying to force this on Pyrrha…" the blonde said angrily, the hurt building in his eyes as he stared at the older huntsman.

Qrow took a long swig of his flask and looked him dead in the eye, "We didn't force anything… we offered her a choice… she was free to walk away at any time, but she knew the stakes and thus she chose accordingly…"

"But… why Pyrrha?" Nora asked looking somber, which was unusual for the hyper girl.

Qrow sighed, "It's not that simple of a question as 'Why Pyrrha?'. She was the most trustworthy candidate to receive the powers of Amber, the previous fall Maiden, our other potential candidates included Ruby… and Nova…"

Everyone else's faces fell, especially Ruby, she wasn't fit to bear the responsibility, and even though she'd take Pyrrha's place in a heartbeat, she's not sure if she could have carried out her task.

"Wait so why did you need to transfer Amber's powers anyway?" Ren asked drawing attention to the question.

"Amber was attacked, by whom we now know is Cinder. She stole some of her powers but not all of it, and we were afraid that if something wasn't done… we'd lose the next Fall Maiden to the enemy… "

"But something went wrong and somehow Cinder ended up with all the power, and thus we're in the position we are now…" Nitro said, clasping his hands around his chin in thought.

Ruby piped in, "You mentioned me and Nova were candidates to become Maidens… Me, I can understand, but why Nova?"

Qrow chuckled, "Well at first before his little trip to Mount Glen he was out of the question, but since his body got transformed into that an interchanging one… well it opened up a possibility, but there were too many variables to account for… besides he had his own supernatural dealings…"

Ren looked thoughtful, "Yes, I do remember Nova controlling fire during the tournament… and unless he possesses two semblances, I'd say you're not telling us everything…"

"Nova is… I think he's called, an Aspect of Remnant… or something… they're like the Maidens, but they're Faunus with the power to control natural elements of the world. They're supposed to help maintain balance whenever the scales of power tip to one side…" Ruby answered, surprising everyone.

"Impressive kiddo, looks like Randolf's words stuck with you…" Qrow said with a slight smile.

Ruby blushed, "Well, when you're boyfriend is a firebreathing dragon who just so happens to be a prince and also a superpowered force of nature… you tend to remember these things…"

"Wait so you guys knew?!" Jaune asked incredulously, looking to Hex, Nitro and Ruby.

The three of them nodded simultaneously, "We've known about the Maidens since our trip to Mount Glenn, and we've known about Nova since our mission before that…" Ruby responded sheepishly.

"And you didn't think to tell us?!" Jaune asked looking hurt.

"What would you have done if we did huh? Would you have believed us?" Hex asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well… I…" Jaune faltered.

"Exactly, you wouldn't have. Besides, if we did tell you, it'd just cause a shit load of unnecessary panic and confusion…" she finished making Jaune shrink back.

There was a brief moment of silence where everyone sat back, thinking over the information, until Ren finally spoke up.

"You mentioned… the enemy… before. From the way you talk, it's more than just Cinder Fall…" he said looking to Qrow.

"Yeah… you mentioned the name… Salem…" Ruby said recalling their fight with the Callows brothers.

Qrow almost fell over, and silently cursed, "Shit… nothing slips past you does it…" he bit his lip. "Salem… is our true enemy. Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, that guy Onyx… they all work for her…"

"So… who is she? Like some sort of big bad super-powered queen? Like a Maiden?" Nitro asked curiously.

"No… she's worse. Salem is who we call, the Mother of All Grimm."

Everyone stared wide-eyed, "WHAT?!"

Qrow nodded slowly, "Where do you think the creatures of Grimm came from? Such monsters didn't just pop out of nowhere. Sure some of them are probably naturally born, but the majority of their numbers are created by that witch…" he tried to take a swig from his flask but it turned up empty, causing him to curse in frustration.

"So, if I'm understanding this right, there are four super-powered Maidens, one of which is currently working for the enemy, working for a Grimm creating witch, who wants to steal these relics to take over the world?" Nitro said pulling all the information together.

"And Nova is one of the Aspects of Remnant who exist to bring balance to the natural world… so he controls fire, and the Fall Maiden controls fire, so he's here to balance that power. Luna's also got powers but I'm not so sure what she's balancing off…" Hex said mulling it over.

"That's pretty much our current situation in a nutshell," Qrow said reclining on the log.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight…" Ren said shivering at the thought.

"It's alright Renny, I'll make sure you get to sleep~" Nora teased with a smile, though it wasn't as bright as it usually was.

Qrow felt bad for these kids. They were just teenagers, being dragged into a storm, fighting a war with almost no support. They didn't deserve to bear this burden, especially Ruby. She was the youngest of them all, but… whether she knew it or not… she was the key to all of this.

"Uncle Qrow… I've been meaning to ask… what does Salem want with me? Why was I being hunted?" Ruby asked.

Qrow thought for a moment, "I'm not exactly sure… but my best guess would be, for your eyes."

Ruby blinked rapidly, "My… eyes?"

"Ruby you posses Silver Eyes, that's a very rare trait." He said, when he was met with a blank stare of confusion, he realized he would have to explain more. "Do you remember what happened after you saw Nova… you know…"

Ruby shook her head, "No, I don't really… there was a flash of light and…"

"All the Grimm in a radius around Beacon was turned to stone." Qrow finished for her.

Ruby gawked, "What?!"

"Yup, you did that Ruby. You turned them to stone with your eyes…"

"But… I don't understand, what do my eyes have to do with all of this…"

"A long time ago, there was a race of warriors possessing Silver eyes. In those days, your eye colour was a bit more common than it is now. These warriors were the bane of the Grimm's existence, they could exterminate hordes of the beasts just by looking at them. No knowledge really remains of their kind, so… if you were thinking about learning to use your power… you're on your own…" Qrow explained looking at the shocked reaper.

Ruby was at a loss for words. This whole time she was of the belief she was a normal huntress, fighting Grimm on her own power, and now she's being told she was also a superpower? It was a lot of information to digest.

"Don't think on it too hard kid… just keep doing what you've always been doing and the answers will find you. Get some sleep…" Qrow said before nodding off.

Needless to say, Ruby did not get much sleep.

* * *

By the time morning came, Qrow was doing a lot worse for wear. His wound had begun to reopen, and sickeningly purple colour began to seep into the cloth bandage. He was barely breathing, as cold sweat was flowing down his forehead, his skin growing a sickly pale and the wound that should have been healed hours ago, was open and just as fresh as the day it was cut. The poison flowing through his veins was not ordinary.

Team MNRNJR spared no time in packing up and escorting the barely conscious Qrow through the forest.

"Come on Uncle Qrow, hang in there…" Ruby mumbled as they dragged him through the increasingly dense forest path. The trees on all sides were dead, no leaves in sight. It was like a graveyard for mother nature.

Soon the party came to a fork in the road, to the left the village of Kuroyuri, to the right, the path up the mountains to Mistral. Both paths led to the same destination, just one was longer.

"Look Mistral! We must be on the right path… oh no…" Nora faltered when she saw the sign. Kuroyuri, their old home. Long ago, when she and Ren were just children, their home of Kuroyuri was attacked by Grimm… one dark horse in particular drew flashes of fear in Ren as he stood stock-still, staring at the sign.

"The path to Mistral takes us up through the mountains…" Hex said as she ran a sonar sweep of their area. Most of her navigation equipment was useless now that the CCT Tower was destroyed, but she could at least use small range mapping, however little help it was. "The path to the right goes to a nearby village, seems rather close…"

"I'm not sure all of us will make it through the climb…" Jaune said sparing a glance at Qrow, who looked paler by the minute.

"Then… why not go through the village? They must have some help!" Ruby said looking anxious.

"NO!" Ren said harshly causing Ruby to falter. "You won't find anything there!"

"Ren why are you acting so…" Jaune faltered.

"We can't… go there… it's…" he couldn't bring himself to explain, thus Nora held his hand for support.

"But Uncle Qrow isn't going to make it if we hesitate any longer… if there's even the slightest chance of hope, we need to take it… come on…" Ruby said looking determined and worried at the same time.

Ren cursed under his breath, he didn't want to path through that place… even if they couldn't help it… but he travelled on anyway.

The village was dead, the air was stale and rotten, not a single house was left standing. It was all just piles of ruins and rubble, an empty husk of a once-proud village.

Ren and Nora held each other close as they walked through the cold empty streets, their hearts hammering against their ribs as memories of their past came flooding through their minds.

The fear, the anger, the suffering.

"Well this was a bust…" Hex said as they moved through the ruins of the town.

*Clip, clop* came the sound of the slow thudding of horse hooves against stone as the team neared the central square.

"Do you guys hear that…?" Jaune asked looking around for the source of the noise.

Ren's face paled as his ears finally registered what he was hearing. "No… No… NO! NOT AGAIN!"

"Ren? What's wrong? Ever since we came here you've been acting…" Hex started but her words faltered when the distinct sound of a horse belting out air could be heard behind her, accompanied by the louder sound of clapping hooves.

The party slowly turned to the source of the noise, and in strode a pale horse, and its rider's name was death. In this case, what they saw before them was a black amalgamation, a creature so grotesquely horrifying, it could only be created in the imagination of the twisted.

It was a Grimm, a pitch-black horse made of shadow, with a skinny, elongated torso sprouting from its back. Its arms were grotesquely long, stretching from its height of around ten feet, to the ground. Its head was a human-like Grimm mask with two large curved horns sprouting from its forehead.

"What is that thing?!" Nitro said, readying Atomizer, allowing the metal gauntlets to cover his arm length.

Hex bit back her lip, "I've only read about this thing in textbooks… a Nuckelavee… almost as enigmatic as the Phantom… to think we'd find one out here…"

Ren and Nora held each other in fear. There stood before them, like the visage of the reaper itself, was the very embodiment of their nightmares. The creature that singlehandedly tore down their lives and shredded everything they once held dear.

Fear slowly morphed into anger as Ren left his position with the team, running out full speed, screaming at the top of his lungs, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"REN?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! GET BACK HERE!" Nitro yelled as he gawked at the ninja's recklessness. When Ren paid him no heed he sighed, "Alright so we're doing it this way then…" he too followed up behind rushing in at full speed.

Jaune deadpanned, "GUYS SERIOUSLY?!"

Ruby shrugged, and placed Qrow against a wall where he would be safe, "Let's make this quick… for Uncle Qrow…"

The creature let out a powerful howl that sent rippling waves through the air, knocking back the three boys.

"ARGH! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT NOISE?!" Nitro cursed, covering his ears from the deafening roar.

The beast began to move stiffly, the bones in its body cracking as if it was breaking them every time it moved, dislocating and relocating its own joints to purposely move in the most horrifying way possible.

"Yeesh, talk about nightmare fuel…" Hex groaned as she winced at the sight of the thing.

Suddenly its elongated arms outstretched like elastic, firing off in the direction of the downed Qrow. Jaune, reacting quickly, made a mad dash, barely managing to get him out of the way before the stretchy appendage mashed into the ground like a hammer.

"Okay so it's got long-range attacks, what is it Ruffy from One Part?" Nitro complained as he ducked out of the way of an oncoming attack.

"Fucking nerd…" Hex grumbled as she dived out of the way of one of its slam attacks. Then she threw her chain hoping to stop the beast's movement but it just got caught around its right arm. "Oh… shit…"

The creature then unhinged its own spine and began to spin like a pinwheel, swinging Hex along with it, crashing her through multiple already destroyed buildings before tossing her and her weapon to the ground, effectively breaking her aura.

Ruby and Nora winced at the poor girl, before being forced to return to the fight themselves.

The Nuckelavee swung its arm at Ren from an impossible distance, blindsiding the ninja and pinning him to the wall in an iron grip. It was about to send its second arm flying at him when Nora noticed this and turned to Ruby.

"Ruby! Launch me!" she said and Ruby complied, letting Nora hop into Crescent Rose then using the recoil to swing her into the air and high speeds, allowing her to collide with the arm before it could hit Ren, effectively nailing them both to the wall.

"Nice job Nora… now we're both stuck…" Ren grumbled as he looked up only to see directly up her skirt.

"Hey I saved your ass and… STOP LOOKING!" She yelled in embarrassment, though her expression said she most definitely didn't mind.

Jaune rolled his eyes, "Why do I always get stuck with the flirty ones…"

The Nuckelavee released them and tried to do another spin attack but this time they were ready. They all ducked low and fired ranged shots at it, except Ren who ran in with blind rage.

"REN YOU NEED TO STOP!" Jaune yelled but again he was met with deaf ears.

Nora was barely able to push Ren out of the way before he was knocked aside by the creature's rapid attacks.

"REN YOU NEED TO FOCUS!" Nora said shaking him by the shoulders.

"But… Nora that thing… how can you remain so calm?" he asked looking pained.

She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm not… but right now… if we want to win this… we need to play by our team. Stop letting your emotions get in the way of this… or you'll… I don't want to lose you Ren…"

The ninja's eyes widened at the tone of voice, the look she was giving him, "Nora I…" he was interrupted when the black fist of the creature crashed into the wall above them, forcing them to dodge.

"We need to split its focus. Jaune, me, you and Ruby will take care of its head. Hex, Nitro, and Nora get the horse…" He said with determination. They all nodded as if silently understanding the battle plan.

The moment the Nuckelavee's arm shot at Jaune, he expanded his shield and slammed it into the appendage, anchoring it to the floor.

Before it could react, Ruby began firing shots at it from the opposite side, dancing through the air wildly, drawing its attention, and bringing it to focus on her. Ruby expertly used the recoil and her semblance to stay airborne while dodging its rapid stretched attacks. In one swift motion, the moment the arm was under her, she crashed down with Crescent Rose, stabbing it into the floor.

The beast let out a howl of pain now that both of its arms were anchored.

"NOW!" Ren yelled signaling the others.

On his mark, Hex threw Loki around the horse's legs, anchoring the chains together, locking down its movement.

"Nora… you ready?" Nitro called up to Nora who was perched on top of the tallest building, just above the Nuckelavee.

She saluted down, "Damn right!" she called before free-falling down, spiraling her hammer in a series of spins to gain momentum.

At that same time Nitro activated his jet boosters and came speeding through the air, his fist at the ready. Together they both smacked the horse in the head with enough force to shatter its Grimm mask and crush its head back into the body, crippling the creature and effectively grounding it. This now left the torso and head of the monster at their mercy.

Ren calmly walked up to it, glaring it in the face as it screamed and thrashed just out of reach. He drew a small oriental dagger from his waist. It was old and ornately carved with a curved edge. A relic of his past.

"This is for my father…" Ren said as he swiftly cleaved its left arm from its body. The monster screeched in pain as the black appendage fizzled into black dust.

"And for my mother…" he continued this time, tearing off its right arm. Then he grasped it by the horns, yanking its skull head to face him so that in its final moments, the creature would remember, who it died too.

"And this… is for me…" and with one final strike, he carved its head clean off, tossing the skull onto the ground as it dissipated into black smoke, like the rest of its body.

Team MNRNJR collapsed in exhaustion on the floor, "Holy shit that was intense…" Nitro said as he lay flat on the floor.

"Hey… anyone else feels that breeze?" Jaune asked as he sat up from his spot, just in time to see an airship landing in the square.

Everyone gawked, "What…?"

"Hello? You kids! Are you all okay?" A male pilot said as he stepped off the ship. "We were on patrol when we saw the smoke… no one's been out here for ages…"

"Sir! You need to help my uncle! He's poisoned!" Ruby said frantically moving to pick up Qrow.

"Alright, get him on board, we'll see what we can do…"

They all boarded the airship and were on their way to Mistral. In the end, all their misfortune had one good outcome.

* * *

**So my projects got delayed by a week again, and I have an exam on the coming Wednesday, so I won't be able to do my preferred two chapters a week for a little while. I'll try to, but if things are just too busy for me to finish in time well...**

**I'll still try to stick to my usual upload dates of Fridays.**

**If the suspense of Nova and Ruby reuniting is killing you then, don't worry... soon...**


	45. Chapter 45: Long Awaited Reunions

**This chapter took a lot longer than expected to come out because I got really sick this week, a cold and food poisoning then I spent three days awake because I had an exam, and then a whole day recovering from the exhaustion.**

**So a couple things I gotta address.**

**First of all, I'm sorry if I don't reply to all of the reviews, I tend to only reply when I get a question. Don't get me wrong I absolutely adore the positive feedback, like when Grand Spurinko called this story a gold mine I just kinda flipped out and rolled around on the floor smiling like an idiot for hours. Every review you leave, whether I mention it in the next chapter or not, I genuinely appreciate it, be it positive or negative feedback, I welcome it all.**

**Secondly, I won't be able to update as regularly as I would like to because final exams for me have started and they'll be going on until June 10th, so updates might be very irregular. Idk if this hurts me more than it hurts you because writing this fic is my favourite thing in the world to do. I love it when you leave reviews, I wake up daily and one of the first things I do is go check to see if I get new reviews.**

**This is chapter 45, and for me that's a special number because I prefer it over the number 50. Everyone's lie 50 is half of a hundred and that's like a benchmark, but I live on irregularities so to me the number 45 which is half of 90 is like one of my fav numbers. It also has to do with when I started this fic, I expected to hit volume 7 around chapter 90, maybe.**

**To give perspective, I'm like 55 to 60% done with the things I have planned for this fic, and I feel like as the days go by and the story develops I keep opening up more opportunities to expand, especially since as I write these chapters I'm also rewatching RWBY and I notice things that give me ideas.**

**To my guest reviewer: Four Horsemen huh? I like that idea, and I think I have some things I can do with that...**

**I know I'm super late with this chapter, but as a form of apology, it's triple my usual length, so have fun ^_^ Also from now on whenever Nova's in girl form I'll use she/her cuz at this stage he's officially accepted that part of him and also it helps me envision my character better from a writing perspective.**

* * *

**Chapter 45: Long Roads to Reunion**

* * *

**-Patch-**

Nova and Yang had been steadily progressing with their training, and after a few days of grueling torture at the hands of Taiyang, They'd finally readied themselves.

The two teens were packing supplies for the trip, Tai had offered Nova some new clothes, but brown and yellow weren't exactly his colours.

"Yang, does Ruby have any spare clothes that are maybe one size too large for her?" Nova asked as he rummaged through the pile that Tai tossed him.

Yang placed her hand on her chin, "Maybe not her… but I think mom might've had something…"

"Mom? As in Summer?" Nova asked incredulously.

The blonde nodded, "Yup, she wasn't exactly a tall person… I'd say she was about half a head taller than Ruby… Why do you need something?"

Nova nodded, "I figure if we're going to travel across Vale into Mistral, I shouldn't exactly be walking around as Nova Flareheart… so… I'm going like this!" he pressed the button on his armlet and transformed into his female body, his hair growing a little longer to his lower back and body shape altering to suit. Standing before Yang now was Nova, except he looked very similar to Weiss.

"Wow… sometimes I forget you can do that… You look like Weiss now that you're hairs grown," Yang points out smiling.

Nova just shot her a cute smile in return, "Thanks, think if we throw me in a white dress I'd pass as a Schnee?"

"You'd have to get blue eyes but… no doubt about it… you probably could…" Yang mused before reaching into her closet and rummaging around, before pulling out a black skirt and top that looked very similar to Ruby's except it was long-sleeved without frilly ends, and was more tightly fitted, white rose symbols were laced around the waistline and patterned the skirt. "Here, this should be your size." She said handing the garment to the girl.

Nova gasped, "Yang you're giving me this? This is Summer's isn't it? Are you okay with…"

"It's fine, besides… I'm not going to wear it, it won't fit Ruby, and it's just gathering dust back there… I think, she'd be proud to have you wear it…" she smiled, a longing look in her gaze.

Nova gingerly took the outfit, "But… I'm not family…"

Yang flicked the dragon's forehead earning an adorable 'owie'. "Dude, I think I'm speaking for everyone in this house when I say, you are most definitely family… all you need to do is make it official," she winked.

"That's if she'd say yes…" Nova said thinking about Ruby. He missed her, not a moment went by when he wasn't thinking of her, if she was safe, if she was eating well. He thought often about Luna as well, but she was with his mother on Menagerie so he didn't worry about her as much.

"Do you think she's moved on…?" he asked nervously, as his mind began to wonder and his anxiety began to increase.

Yang shot him an 'are you kidding me?' look. "Dude, she literally swore on your grave that she wouldn't be able to love anyone else ever again, in front of everyone, at your funeral… I know my baby sister, she misses you more than you miss her…"

The dragon felt a twinge of pain in his heart, all the hurt Ruby must've felt when he didn't come back. He tried to put himself in her shoes, if she was the one that died instead of him, well, he suddenly felt the urge to burst into tears from the mere mental image.

Yang saw that look on his face, "Chin up, you'll make it up to her… just imagine the smile on her face when she sees you!". This made the prince instantly turn bright-eyed, Ruby's smile lit his world brighter than the sun itself. "Besides, big sis will ease you in so you don't cause panic."

Nova turned beet red, "I'm not calling you big sis…" he said playfully hitting her.

Yang just laughed, "Darn, and here I thought I'd get away with it…"

They stood in silence, going through old clothes and trying to find the perfect adventuring gear for a while, and, though Nova was quite content, Yang hand an increasingly worried expression.

"Alright, I'll bite, Yang, what's bothering you?" Nova asked looking to the blonde.

"It's nothing…"

"Bullshit."

"Ugh fine. If I tell you, promise you won't get mad?" she asked placing her hands on her hips.

Nova sighed, "Well, now that you put it like that I have to know…"

"You know how we said Ruby left without telling us?"

"Mhm…" Nova nodded.

Yang bit her lip and looked uneasy, "Well actually, before… Ruby left… she came to talk to me. She told me where she was going and what her plan was,"

Nova was surprised, but held his tongue, sensing Yang's distress.

"I didn't say anything because… well, when we spoke, I said some, really mean things to her, I said that all hope was lost and it was pointless to go out there, and things along those lines…" Yang said, now rubbing her arm. "I was in a pretty bad place, we'd just lost you… Blake had disappeared along with Weiss, I find out Pyrrha's in a coma and well… everything was just sort of exploding in on me and I just let out the gas…"

When Nova didn't respond she just kept talking, "I know I sound like I'm making excuses, and I know I'm not justified in what I said… Hex called me a coward… and she's right… even now, I'm terrified about what's out there… do you forgive me?" she asked looking up to the dragon.

Nova had his arms folded and his eyebrow raised, "Firstly, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. Secondly, all I hear is whining and complaining, You're worried they won't forgive you, but the first matter is to attempt to be forgiven. If they don't forgive you then you need to just live with that, if they do then it's all good, but the first step is to face them yourself…"

Yang felt tears begin to sting her eyes, and she sniffled, "But how can I live like that if they don't forgive me? What if they just cast me aside?"

"I can't tell you how to live your life Yang, but Ruby is your sister, and you love Hex right?" he asked, and she nodded in confirmation.

"Then I think the answer should be painfully clear."

"To stay by their side and protect them even if they don't want me to…" Yang said wiping the tears from her eyes. "THANKS, NOVA! You always know what to say…" she jumped up and did something she'd never actually done before, and that was giving Nova a genuine hug.

Nova awkwardly hugged back, expecting it to last a few seconds until he felt Yang sniffling into his back, "I never got to say it but… I'm just so glad you're back… I really missed you…"

Nova held an embarrassed smile and rubbed circles in the taller girl's back, "I'm glad to be back…"

Suddenly he was pushed from her grasp, "Alright out! I'm going to get changed, we might be both girls but it's still embarrassing..."

Nova turned crimson, "Ah right… I'll… go take the bathroom…" he said before scuttling off.

* * *

Tai heard the distinct tapping of footsteps on the stairs as he sat making them one final lunch before they set off.

"Oh Hey, Nova is that you…Woah…" Tai's jaw dropped when he saw Nova coming down the stairs clad in Summer's old outfit, and a black beret to cover her horns. On her hands was a pair of black gloves that worked with the long sleeves to hide the dangerous-looking left arm.

"Yang lent this to me… I hope it's okay…" Nova said rubbing her head sheepishly.

Tai had to blink a few times, "Nova, right…. Still surprises me whenever you're like… that you know?"

"Yo, dude did the clothes fit… oh, daaammmnnn!" Yang said as she also came down the stairs clad in a khaki and orange outfit, similar to her old one except the jacket was buttoned along the waist and it no longer exposed her mid-riff.

Nova blushed cutely, "I'm never going to get used to being called pretty…"

Yang resisted the urge to glomp her and squeeze her life out. "Ahem! Um Yes… so dad, what's the situation?"

Tai had to cough and straighten himself, "Uh… yeah so you two have two options. First, is the long route from here to Mistral, most of which isn't available by normal transport means, I'd say it'll take you four days at best. Your second option is.."

Yang shook her head, "Going to see 'mom', right?"

Tai nodded, "Yup, though… are you sure you're up for that? Your mother can be a bit…"

Yang grimaced, "She's not my mother… just the woman who gave birth to me. Anyone who willingly abandons their daughter and family to live as a bandit doesn't count as a mother…"

Nova flinched at her harsh tone, he'd rarely seen Yang get this way. "Raven Branwen? That's who we're going to meet right?"

"You sound like you have history," Tai pointed out seeing Nova's expression.

"Hmm, not exactly. The first time my team and I travelled across Mistral ourselves, we came across her bandits fending off a pack of Grimm. I was tempted to just let them die but… I just _had _to have a conscience." Nova chuckled, thinking back at how grateful they were, but offered no compensation. "Any idea where she might actually be?"

"Just move from town to town, and ask around, eventually you'll find her, she's not that hard to find if you know how to look," Tai explained handing a map to Yang with a series of circled stops to make.

"So, now another matter," the older man said again now turning to Nova. "You need a weapon."

Nova was slightly offended that Tai didn't think he could handle himself without one, "Um… I have the techniques you taught us…"

"As good as they are, techniques will never substitute for a weapon, they are the mark of huntsmen and their most reliable tool," Tai said folding his arms. "I think Qrow had like an old handgun or something around here…"

Nova paled at the thought of carrying around something so archaic, "UH… no thanks pops, I got these!" she said holding out her claws, the ones of the left arm looking more like five-pointed daggers than actual claws. "I'm a dragon, we have natural weapons… or have you forgotten I can also level a forest in seconds?" she played with a small flame, dancing in her palm.

Tai felt the need to facepalm, "Ah so the dragon princess _does _have claws… beauty with a sting, I feel sorry for the poor sap that tries to pull a move on either of you…"

Nova chuckled, "I know _exactly where _to inflict the ultimate pain…" she held an evil glint in her eyes, gazing at the bladed claws.

Tai unconsciously gulped, his hands wandering to cover his genitalia, "You're also a guy… do you know no mercy…"

"Absolutely none…" she said as the two girls walked out the door to meet a remodelled Bumblebee standing in the front yard in all her glory.

"Like it? I did some adjustments while you two were training. Her engine now clocks up to around three hundred and fifty miles per hour with the turbo on. Figured you might need the edge if you need to get out of danger." He smirked.

Yang squealed and tackled her dad in a hug, "THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you dad," she squeezed him.

Tai hugged back with a loving smile, "Just be careful out there okay? And bring your sister back in one piece preferably. You to Nova, look after my girls…"

Nova saluted, "You don't even have to ask," she then looked to the bike, "Is there like a side-car or something?"

Yang chuckled, "The day I put a side-car on my baby is the day I chop off my hair. Just climb on behind me and hold on tight,"

Nova began sputtering, "W-Wuh… argh fine… you win this one, but I'm still not calling you big sis…"

Yang snorted, "Whatever you say Schnee-look-alike,"

* * *

Yang and Nova pulled up at one of their final stops, every town they hit up on the road turned up either empty or the people just ran away at the mention of 'Branwen', either way things weren't looking all that helpful.

"Ugh it's so fucking hot outside…" the blonde said as she fixed her aviators on her face, taking one hand off the handlebars as they drove nigh full speed down the road, ignoring all motor safety rules.

"Yang shouldn't you be driving with two hands?" Nova asked clinging on to her tightly.

"Wanna see me do it with no hands?" she asked making Nova yelp.

"That's what I thought. I'm getting tired of all this driving, when are we getting to the next stop… oh…" Yang was about to ask Nova their destination when they arrived at a rather small gas station called 'Just Rite'.

"Pops marked this place but… doesn't seem to be a town…" Nova said airily. "Not sure if we'll find anything here either."

"Well, it beats driving for another two hours. Come on, let's go grab some refreshment for the road." Yang said as they parked up.

The two girls walked inside the rather unimpressive looking bar/convenience store. An old man stood at the counter, with grey hair and square glasses, to the far left was a passed out drunk.

They took up spots at the counter, "Oi, bartender, can you whip me up a Fire Storm? If you don't have that, it's just two shots tequila mixed into some cherry lemonade." Nova said plopping down her head on the table.

"I'll just take a water, no alcohol for me, can't be drinking and driving," Yang said.

Nova shot her a quirked eyebrow, "Really? Ironic that you're following that since you literally tripled the speed limit and ran four red lights on the way here."

Yang just laughed, "I gotta have a line to cross somewhere right?"

"Aren't you two a little young to be drinking?" The bartender asked, looking suspiciously at the two girls.

Yang and Nova shared a look and burst out laughing, "Oh man that's rich! Listen, pal, we might not look like it but we used to be Beacon students…"

The man's eyes went wide, "So… you were at the Fall?"

"Smack dab in the center of the battle, I got the fuck ton of scars to prove it," Nova said winking at the man who just sputtered.

"I- Ah, uh, my apologies… I'll fix you something, just don't let the word out I let minors drink," the man responded.

"You two are too young to drink?" slurred the drunken man at the end of the table, he groggily turned around revealing himself to be clad in a very familiar bandit uniform. If Raven Branwen was anything, it was strict dress codes that applied to her subordinates but not her. "You look like regular huntresses, and beauties to boot," he continued to slur.

Yang felt her brow twitch but Nova just elbowed her, "That's one of Raven's goonies, see if we can get him to take us to his camp…"

"What's it to you pal?" Yang asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nothin' just thinkin' that maybe you two sweet things would like some male company from a good lookin' guy," he smirked.

Yang felt the urge to vomit but Nova kept her cool, "Uh handsome guy? You know one?"

The man looked offended, "Ouch! Kitty's got claws… It'd be a shame if the word were to get out to the local law that two teenagers were drinking in this bar… I think you two should-," he was cut off when Nova got up from her seat and decked him so hard his body ricocheted off the floor and bounced back up so Nova could catch him by the collar. Even Yang had to wince at that.

"Sorry, he was pissing me off. Racist bandits are just so fucking annoying…" Nova said shaking the man awake. "You're one of Raven's dogs right? I'm going to need you to take us to her."

"And… what makes you think… I'll do that…" the man responded, his eye now swelling lightly.

Nova rolled her eyes and raised her fist again causing the man to flinch, "ALRIGHT! Point taken… but if I just lead you there my clan will skin me alive for ratting them out!"

"And that's our problem how?" Yang asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well after they're done killing me, they'll set their entire population on you, it's never gonna work out!" the man continued to complain.

"For once you said something intelligent," Nova said smirking at the man. "Alright, you guide us there and offer us up, as, like captives or something, that'll save your hide right?"

"I don't understand, why are we afraid to combat bandits again?" Yang asked raising a point.

Nova snapped her left hand, "Because, even if we beat the shit out of them, Raven's gonna be less likely to co-operate with us."

Yang nodded, "Right… well then we're off?"

* * *

The duo was led off the beaten road and onto a dirt path, by their bandit compatriot who was being held just above the road by Nova using one hand. If he gave them wrong directions they'd just let him go while peddling full speed, he probably wouldn't die but he'd definitely get his 'handsome' face dragged through a kilometer of asphalt.

"It's just up ahead!" The man squeaked as they neared a massive wooden wall with spiked tips lining the perimeter. Two guards stood at the front, so they parked just out of sight of them and made a short walk. The bandit man took the lead while Yang and Nova put on their acting faces so they looked like innocent teenagers.

"Yo guys!" The man waved to the two guards, who instantly went on alert at seeing the two girls.

"Halt! What's going on here?" The female guard asked, aiming her gun at them.

"Woah! Calm down, I just brought back two 'captives'," the man said with a wink that seemed to be some non-verbal signal that caused more guards to show up at the front.

Yang and Nova groaned, they should've known things wouldn't go smoothly.

"A hot blonde and another Schnee? Looks like someone is vying for a promotion with the boss…" the female guard said waving to the other soldiers behind her.

_Another Schnee? Do I look that much like Weiss? Also what the hell are they talking about?_ Nova thought, placing a hand on her chin and tapping it.

"So, which Schnee are you? You don't look like that Atlas soldier bitch so… I'm guessing the family's hidden daughter? I'm sure daddy would pay a fuck ton just to get you back…" The female guard said smirking.

Nova decided to play along, "Oh please don't hurt me, daddy would hate to see my face all smashed up…" she pouted. Yang just gawked in surprise at Nova's ability to act so realistically, from body language to accent she matched Weiss.

"Don't worry your pretty face. We'll take good care of you… GET THEM!"

Nova just rolled her eyes and looked to Yang, "So much for the 'peaceful' approach…"

In a matter of seconds, a series of loud screaming and the odd cat screeching, the duo were led into the camp by the bruised faces and purple limbs of the group that tried to pick a fight with two of Remnant's most dangerous women.

The camp was as one would expect, small tents made of animal skins and cloth, tribal bones, and carvings accompanied by flame lit torches. It was amazing they even had guns in the first place. As they neared the center of the camp, all of the stationed guards and occupants left their posts to see what the commotion was about.

On the far end of the compound, Weiss Schnee sat trapped in a wooden cage with cell bars that were clearly made for wider people. How did she get here? Well…

**-Flashback a day ago-**

_Weiss was on a one-person flight from Atlas to Vale, travelling via private SDC cargo ship for small deliveries. She was only able to acquire the flight due to staff's respect for what she did during the battle of Beacon, they were willing to overlook her father's ruling for her sake because they admired that out of all the Schnees, she was the one who fought on the front lines for them, they owed her their lives._

_The flight was going relatively smoothly until they received a distress signal from a passenger ship, and Weiss being the type of person she was, insisted she help them. This incidentally led to them being attacked by a swarm of Lancers. A special type of insectoid Grimm that travelled in swarms, led by a Queen. The soldier wasps were relatively small in size, which was large considering they were as large as small birds. The queen on the other hand was bigger than a car. She managed to fend most of them off before being overwhelmed. There was only so much one huntress in training could do against an entire swarm that usually took a whole team to kill._

_The airship crash-landed on the shores somewhere on the north coast of Vale, where she just so happened to be bagged and tagged by a group of wandering bandits. Such was the tale of misfortune of an abandoned Schnee. Punished Weiss, a girl denied her freedom._

**-End Flashback-**

She sat patiently in the cage for about a day. Her treatment was more or less humane since they didn't want to damage the goods, but they did take her weapon and dust supply and had her under watch for the entire time.

For the first time in twenty-four hours, Weiss Schnee was finally left unguarded.

Not bothering to look at the source of the commotion, she decided to seize the opportunity to escape. During her time captive, she wasn't just sitting idly bored. Behind her was a wall that no one could see through thus giving her perfect time to summon a small white armour suit, similar to the one she used to break out of her room, except about the size of a soda can, now it was just a matter of escape.

Back with Yang and Nova, the two girls stood proudly at the center of the camp, slowly being surrounded at all sides by bandits.

"Stop!" Came the commanding voice of Raven Branwen, echoing from her hut, which stood largely at the far end of the camp. It was grander than all the others, two torches stood outside wooden stairs that led up into the abode. "Who dares to enter my camp and humiliate my men?" she said stepping out of the tent.

Her eyes fell on the blonde and the white-haired girl next to her.

"Yang." She said taking off her Grimm Mask. Her hair was like her daughter's, wild and long, except it was pitch black. Her eyes were a bright scarlet, matching her red outfit. "After all these years, you've finally come to visit."

"Mom," Yang replied curtly, most of the bandits went wide-eyed, and slightly afraid now, knowing they just tried to beat up their chief's daughter. "You know I've searched for you, for years I've been trying to find you…"

"Yes, and through determination and hard work you persevered, so… any questions you have I'll be happy to answer," Raven said, a smug smile playing on her lips, which was rare for her. "You and your… friend… here can stay the night. I can have the cooks whip something up for you…"

"That's not why I'm here," Yang stated angrily, her features portraying animosity in every essence of the word.

Raven sighed, "What was that?" she said harshly, responding to her daughter's tone of voice.

"Ruby is somewhere in Mistral, she's with Qrow and she's going to need me, and my friend's help. I need you to take us to her."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you owe it to your daughter for abandoning her for all these years. Plus… you owe me a favour…" Nova said now stepping into the conversation with a smirk.

Raven felt her brow twitch, "And who exactly are you to make such a statement?" she glared at her.

"Someone who saved your clan two years ago. Or have you forgotten the Grimm invasion that nearly wiped your people clean when you were staying in the forests behind Haven?" Nova responded, folding her arms.

Raven's face remained stoic, "I do indeed remember that. Our clan does owe you… still I don't see how that warrants my help in this specific scenario…" she then turned to Yang, "I have to say… I'm a little disappointed in you. After all, you did find me… why not take that drive and find your sister?"

"Ruby was headed to Mistral but there's no guarantee she's made it there, plus, searching for her through Anima would take ages. You're going to save me time." Yang folded her arms. "Dad told me how your semblance works. You can 'bond' with people and make a portal that takes you directly to them. You have one for dad, me, and one for Qrow."

Raven snorted, "That fool… Listen kid, if your sister is with Qrow then she's a lost cause. You don't want to get mixed up with them… Ozpin and his lies…"

Yang was unimpressed, "I don't care about that. I just want to protect my sister."

"Admirable as that is, I still see no reason to help you."

"Raven, if you aren't going to do it for the daughter you left behind, then do it for the favour you owe me. I mean seriously if you can't pay the damn child support then repay your debt." Nova said twirling her hair around.

Raven glared at her, "I won't need to repay a debt to a dead person… See to it they are dealt with…" she said signaling her men.

"Oh you are one mega-bitch…" Nova said cracking her knuckles.

"You watch your mouth in front of our leader!" one of the bandits yelled and charged at them. Yang's eyes turned red with rage, literally, and punched the man so hard he crashed through three tents and two crates. Another jumped at Nova but she just caught him mid-air with her left arm and clocked him with the right, cratering him into the dirt.

When the dust cleared the two saw, through the wreckage on the far end of the camp was a very familiar white-haired heiress.

"WEISS?!" Yang said incredulously, staring at her in disbelief.

"YANG?!" Weiss said in alarm, "WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE?!"

"I came to see my mom, so she can take us to Ruby," Yang responded, pointing to Raven.

"Wait your mom kidnapped me?!"

"YOU KIDNAPPED HER?!" Yang yelled at Raven.

Weiss took the confusion as an opportunity to enlarge the soldier, breaking out of the cage allowing her to join up with Yang and Nova.

"What is that thing?" Yang asked as the three stood back to back.

"Long story, who's the chick?" Weiss asked nodding her head at Nova.

Yang snorted, "Oh Weiss you are going to love this…"

"Yo, Weiss-cream, it's been a while!" Nova said waving at the girl.

Weiss just tilted her head in confusion, "Who're you?"

Nova rolled her eyes, "Don't recognize me? Here this might help…" she pulled off the black beret on her head to reveal the horns.

"Luna?! What're you doing here?!" Weiss asked.

"Silly goose, I'm not Luna I'm..." Before Nova could fully respond a large blast of wind and light smashed through the area, "ENOUGH!" came the female voice of a light-skinned, blue-eyed girl with short black hair.

The blast of wind was so strong Nova summoned a shield of fire that glowed like the sun, encircling them before exploding outward, knocking back all of the bandits in the range.

"Now that the commotion is done…" Nova said looking at Weiss. The Schnee's eyes went wide, now seeing the distinct heterochromatic dragon slits that stared her in the face, the unmistakable scar, the larger black horns.

"Cease this chaos. Give the girl back her weapon… I'll see you three inside…" Raven said as she walked into the tent. "Come Vernarl…" the girl who wielded the wind from earlier nodded and followed her inside. Once they were gone, Weiss turned to the two, her hand covering her mouth in shock.

"You… you can't be…" she choked out, tears forming in her eyes.

"Come on ice princess, you can't kill me off that easily," Nova smirked, only to be tackled by the white-haired girl in a tight hug, followed by the distinct sound of sobbing.

"I… knew... it! I knew you weren't dead!" she said in between sobs. Nova smiled warmly and hugged her back. Yang joined in the love session.

"I'm so happy to see you guys! I missed you so much!" Weiss continued to cry into their shoulders.

"We missed you to ice princess."

* * *

Inside of Raven's tent was larger than the outside portrayed it to be, yet they still sat at a table that stood mere inches off the ground, kneeling on mats like traditional Mistralian style, which suggested to Nova that Raven was either a fan of the eastern culture or was of eastern descent, either way, it didn't change the fact that Raven was a huge piece of s-

"Shit mom, can't you get us some chairs?" Yang asked uncomfortably kneeling on the mat, then deciding to sit cross-legged after a few poor attempts at finding a comfortable position.

Raven just gave her a blank look, "No. Now, tell me, what business does two Schnees and my daughter have together, and why does one of you possess power that rivals a Maiden…"

"Maiden?!" Yang and Weiss exclaimed simultaneously.

Nova snorted, "Getting straight to business I see. Well you have a few things wrong there, lady, firstly I'm not a Schnee," she pointed to her horns that were now in full view. Raven eyed them curiously.

Nova sighed again, "Ugh gimme a sec…" she got up, left the tent, and then came back a few moments later wearing a different set of clothing. It was a black denim jacket with silver buttons over a black shirt with an orange flame symbol in the middle over the chest. Around his waist was a belt with a similar symbol that held up a pair of black jeans, followed by the standard combat boots. The outfit looked two sizes too large for her.

"Um… when did you…" Weiss looked confused.

"We didn't park that far from the camp… now then…" she pushed the button on her armlet and a flash of orange light enveloped the room until, standing before them was male Nova, the clothing now fitting around him properly.

Raven and Vernal were flabbergasted by the sudden change.

"What?!" Vernal exclaimed her eyes bugging out.

Nova just stretched into the air, and shook himself off, "My male body feels so much heavier than my female one it's weird… you'd think they'd share the same weight…" he said before sitting down.

"Who…" Vernal was ready to pass out.

"Nova Flareheart, crown prince of the Faunus, I'd say it's a pleasure but given our greeting…"

"How are you… weren't you a girl?" Raven pointed out looking flustered and confused.

Nova just snorted, "Yeah I am, and I'm also a guy, just don't think about it too much. To answer your earlier question, I am the Aspect of Fire, I assume you know what that means?"

Raven looked about ready to tear her hair out, but she held her cool, "I…I've heard legends of your kind… guardians of the natural world… bringers of balance…"

Nova nodded, "Very correct, so I assume you know the extent of my power?" he said glancing at his fingers as if he was checking his nails, though the hands were gloved making him look like a doofus.

"Are you threatening me?" Raven glared.

"Oh no, no I'm not. I'm just saying that if you were to try and pick a fight with us, things would probably escalate and wipe your clan out in the crossfire. I'm not a fan of killing people but, collateral damage is none of my concern…" he glared back.

Raven stiffened but calmed down a little, "Alright… enough hostility. I'm willing to comply with your requests if you're willing to listen to what I have to say…"

Nova glanced at his friends who just shrugged, "Alright, we're listening."

Raven inhaled deeply, "Judging by your reactions, you already know about the Maidens… but has Ozpin told you about your true enemy?"

Nova quirked his brow, "I've always had a feeling the rabbit hole went deeper than we thought… continue…"

"Long ago, back when I was still a huntress in training with Qrow, Summer and Tai… we were like you. Following Ozpin's orders blindly, taking on missions as he ordered. We even swore an oath of power to him… I assume you know of his magic?"

"Magic?!" Weiss looked surprised.

Nova just nodded, "Yes, I've always assumed he was capable…"

"Ozpin isn't who you think he is… he's a manipulative sociopath who holds no moral boundaries when it comes to using others to achieve his goal. He's forcing you to fight his war because he's too scared to do it himself."

"Who is he fighting exactly?" Yang asked.

Raven smiled, "Asking the right questions… He's fighting Salem."

"Who?" came the simultaneous question.

"Salem, is his mortal enemy. The Mother of All Grimm, a witch so powerful she makes Maidens look like toys. She and Ozpin have been at each other's throats for centuries, neither being able to gain the edge over the other. That's why he's been raising Huntsmen, to use as pawns in his game of chess…" Raven explained.

"So that's who the 'queen' is…" Nova said thoughtfully, drumming his hands on the table. "Alright so we're up against big bad monster queen, at the end of the day it's still the same goal. So what's your point Raven?"

"My point is… follow me out the back and I'll explain…" she said getting up from her seat.

They all followed her out to the back of the tent, Vernal stayed behind.

"Observe," Raven said as she walked up to a tree that stood a few feet from the back, the closer she got, the more aura began to envelop her body, except it wasn't exactly aura, it was more powerful and brighter. Eventually her body became smaller and smaller until, instead of Raven stood, a raven. A black bird of the harvest. The raven flew around the tree before transforming back into Raven.

"This is what Ozpin did to me… and Qrow… we swore an oath of power to him and he turns us into birds!" Raven said snarling.

Nova quirked his brow and folded his arms, "Oookayy… isn't that like… kinda cool? Can't you freely fly and what not? Hide in plain sight and gather information? I can't help but see this as a good thing…"

"That's not it. The point I'm trying to make is that Ozpin is a liar, a deceiver, he's manipulating you into fighting his war, a battle you have no reason to be a part of!"

"Is that why you left dad? Is that why you left us? Because they worked for Ozpin?" Yang said looking peeved.

"Your father was a fool. A soft fool who is blinded by faith. I left to look after my tribe, my family."

"BUT WE WERE YOUR FAMILY!" Yang said her anger flaring along with her semblance.

"I don't expect you to understand…" Raven said not looking at her.

Nova placed an arm on Yang's shoulder to stop her from doing anything rash.

"The only thing I understand, Raven, is that you have your priorities mixed up. Your daughter should come before anyone else. Secondly, you're wrong about one thing…" Nova said walking up to the woman.

"And what's that?"

"You say we're Ozpin's pawns, but, I never said we were doing this for him." Nova looked her dead in the eye.

"Huh?" she looked confused, "But that brat, Ruby, and Qrow…"

"You're assuming she left to continue Ozpin's mission. She really left because she wanted to find out the truth, she wanted to know what caused the fall of Beacon and she wanted revenge for… something…" he said remembering how he was assumed dead. "Personally? None of us here give two shits about what Ozpin wants. I've trusted him, and I still trust him to cooperate so long as our objectives coincide, but at the end of the day, I'm not loyal to him and I never was!"

"Weiss and I just want to protect Ruby. I don't really give two shits about this war, but if it puts Ruby in danger, if it puts my friends in danger, then it's my problem." Yang said now standing beside Nova.

"My friends stuck by me, and now it's my turn to stick by them. Besides, I have a score to settle with some people…" Weiss said joining them.

Raven looked shocked, she'd thought that her daughter was blinded by her soft family. That they just held blind loyalty to Ozpin and were just feeding his game.

"So… dragon boy… what's your motive?"

"I want to tear the White Fang's High Commander Onyx's head off and kick his body off a cliff. That's my motive."

"Revenge is it? A respectable goal but…"

"And to make a better future for my sister and my family, and when I say, family… I mean all of us…" he said hugging Yang and Weiss while still staring at Raven.

The older woman shook her head and sighed, "Family… well… I just hope you know what you're doing…"

* * *

**-Mistral-**

Mistral was unlike anything Team MNRNJR had ever seen, tall trees, dense forests, and jungles, humid environments, mostly mountainous terrain, even the city's greatest commerce hub was built on a square platform on the side of a mountain. It was as if the entire place was segregated into levels, like a hierarchy with the very top being the Huntsman Academy of Haven.

"Whose idea was it to walk again?" Nora complained as the party ascended the grand climb up to the academy.

Qrow chuckled, "Well, it's your first time here, so I figured we'd take a more… scenic route," he said. Compared to how he was before, his skin was a much healthier colour and his bandages were gone. His sense of style didn't exactly change and Ruby wasn't sure how or where he managed to find the exact same outfit lying around in a store, but she wasn't about to question it.

"This place is huge! Look at the market place! There are just so many weapons!" Ruby gushed as they passed the central area of commerce. Humans and Faunus were in droves, buying and selling, or just idly browsing.

"Yeah, people down there will sell you just about anything… whether they should or not…" Nitro said as he passed by a black market weapons dealer selling unbranded jet fuel and casually waved to him. The man just smiled and waved back.

"The underground market and regular commerce are combined up here and most people don't care. Just because they do shady business doesn't mean they're shady people. The real nasty ones are in the lower levels. The lower you go the darker the streets get… in more ways than one." Hex shuddered to remember her childhood. She'd seen things down there that she would never wish on anyone, not even her worst enemy.

It felt strange to be back in Mistral for the Zephyr siblings. It was like coming back to a home you'd rather not remember even if there were some fond memories.

"Oh yeah I forgot you two were from here! What's it like being back?" Jaune asked looking to them. Nitro and Hex shot each other an uncomfortable glance.

"It's not exactly nice. The people on the upper levels are fine but… Hex and I have most of our memories in the lower levels…" Nitro said looking pained.

"The Zephyr family had you working undercover ops down there right? Don't take this the wrong way but I find it hard to believe that one of the richest families in the world would let their only son prance around in the sewer of society without much protection." Qrow said looking back as they climbed the stairs.

Nitro snorted, "Well when you're twelve years old and your dad says that you need to prove your worth to the family by undertaking a mission only you could… there's not a lot of room to negotiate…"

Hex shuddered, "Our family's not bad… it's just dad has some weighted expectations…"

"Where are your parents by the way? Do they live around here?" Nora asked casually.

"They're not that much lower than Haven itself, the house is hard to miss if you're on the way back down the mountain," Nitro responded trying to avoid the conversation. His shoulders were tensed up and Hex could see the visible discomfort on his face. It was to be expected given the less than ideal parting terms.

"We should totally go see your peeps!" Nora suggested, waving her arms in the air and turning around with her eyes gleaming, though she deflated when she saw their expressions. "Not so good history huh…"

Nitro opted to answer but his words failed when the party crested the peak of the never-ending stairway. Haven was gorgeous, in every essence of the word.

The buildings were neatly placed as if every corner and the curved edge of the masterfully crafted eastern style buildings were carefully plotted for the most eye-catching scene. The grounds were open with no jarring walls and it felt more at home to nature than any other academy in the world. It was like a village that was built around a forest, not over it. The grand architecture blended perfectly with the natural environment as if man and nature had entered a mutualistic bond. The only thing that seemed off about the place was the apparent lack of people.

As they crossed the courtyard and approached the grand central building, team MNRNJR had to stop for a moment and admire the scenery.

"We made it…" Ruby said clutching the golden dragon tooth that hung around her neck. A single tear forming in her right eye, threatening to leak out. "We made it Nova…"

"He would be proud to see how far you've come… how far we've all come…" Hex said smiling as she placed a hand on the reaper's shoulder.

Ruby wiped the tear from her eye, "Yeah… I just wish he were here to see it."

Qrow hung back behind the team, glancing around for the indication that someone was around, but nothing. It was quiet… too quiet.

The inner halls of the academy were just as empty, marring only the ghosts warming the furniture as company.

"Hellooo! Anyone here?!" Nora called, her voice echoing through the empty halls.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone here," Ren pointed out.

"Well… I guess school isn't exactly in session right now…" Jaune said opting to see the light in things.

"No… this isn't right…" Qrow said taking out his weapon.

"There's usually at least one or two students hanging back, especially with the state of inter-continental communications, it's weird that we're not seeing anyone, not even grounds staff…" Hex said pulling out her weapons as well. Everyone else followed suit.

Qrow walked up to the door of the headmaster's office and kicked hard, the others rallying behind him, ready to fire at the first person that showed their face. Which, as soon as the door opened, turned out to be a short old man in an exquisite brown robe with gold embroidery.

"WAAAAAH!" The man screamed and fainted. Qrow also fell over from lack of balance, having been standing on one leg this whole time.

The teenagers just stood there looking at the comical display between the adults with confusion and disbelief.

"Uh… Professor Lionheart?" Ruby asked looking at the downed old man.

"Ugh…" Lionheart groaned as he got up, "Damnit Qrow! You scared me half to death!"

"Me?! Why weren't you there to greet us at the entrance? I thought something was wrong!" Qrow countered as he got to his feet.

Lionheart pulled out a pocket watch, "Oh dear… It seems I lost track of time…"

"Your lack of time management nearly got you shot Lionheart." He said helping the man dust off.

"Ah well you'll have to forgive me, I was busy reviewing forms for… well almost everything. You lot must be the students Qrow told me about…" Lionheart said his eyes wandering over the teens.

"Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Hex, and Nitro Zephyr, at your service!" Ruby introduced them all. Lionheart's eyes went wide as he saw the Zephyr siblings.

"Mr. and Miss Zephyr… nice to see you again…" Lionheart was shocked. "I thought you two were…"

"Dead? Missing? Glad to see you wrote off our disappearances so easily headmaster." Hex glared at him.

Lionheart felt his breath hitch in his throat, "I… after the unfortunate incident involving those two… your parents came down pretty hard on the academy… demanding justice and whatnot… I told them that I was doing all I could but I couldn't stage a military act of war against a terrorist group…"

"I didn't even notice you were gone, your school records said you were legally issued permission to go to Vale under Vytal Festival exchange, though I don't ever remember signing those forms… or updating the records… so it begs the question… how did you do it and why?" Lionheart eyed them as he sat in his chair.

Hex and Nitro snorted simultaneously, "Professor, believe us when we say, we had reasons to do the things we did, and I do apologize for any grievances it caused you, I just don't think we're obligated to answer you since we're not your students anymore..." Hex said with the highest degree of acting possible. The others were impressed.

"Yes well… water under the bridge now… I do hope you don't mind me asking, where are those two friends of yours? Nova and Luna was it?" Lionheart asked looking around.

"Not here. Now… we have business to discuss." Nitro said abruptly causing the headmaster to flinch, but stood his ground.

The others breathed a sigh of relief, the whole exchange was discomforting but at least they were able to overlook their past differences and view the bigger picture. Qrow saw that look in their eyes, those two siblings didn't trust Lionheart, not one bit.

"Sorry about that, what is it you came to discuss exactly?" Lionheart asked turning to Qrow.

"Who's guarding the relic?" came the swift question.

Lionheart's eyes went wide as he looked at those in the room, "You've told them?"

"Yes but besides the point. Who. Is. Guarding. The. Relic?" Qrow interrogated.

"Qrow you travel on foot through miles of Grimm infested forest to question me about my handling of the Relic? On top of it all, you've told one of the greatest kept secrets known to man to a bunch of students? It seems rather reckless if you ask me Qrow…" Lionheart deflected.

"What's reckless is you not checking in with Oz for ages!"

"There was nothing to check in before the Fall of Beacon!" Lionheart countered. "Vale wasn't the only one affected by that day. Everyone saw what happened, saw that little girl being torn to pieces, those soldiers turning on civilians… all that negative energy…. Mistral controls the largest territory in the world when the Grimm came pouring in by the hundreds… you can imagine how difficult it was to deal with it all. We lost so many good huntsmen…"

"When it was all over, there were, even more, hurdles to cross."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked nervously.

"First it was the dust embargo… then the closing of borders… then the White Fang began popping up in places around Mistral where their influence should not have existed. On top of everything, we still don't know where the Spring Maiden is!"

"All the more reason to have the Huntsmen and Huntresses here!" Qrow countered. "We need people to protect the relic and to find the Spring Maiden. There are too many variables to leave it unguarded!"

"Qrow we don't have the people to spare! I already sent a few huntsmen and huntresses out to go search for the Spring Maiden but we have had no luck. She was a good student you know, the Spring Maiden. She was diligent in her studies but when the power was entrusted to her so suddenly she began to break down from the pressure and ran away… I haven't stopped looking for her since!" Lionheart explained.

"About that… I may know where she is…" Qrow said causing everyone in the room to look surprised.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah… it seems she'd been picked up by a group of bandits… specifically the Branwen tribe. I've been tracking my sister for some time now, and I found that they're main base is in this location," Qrow said as he pulled up a holo map from his scroll. It was a camp located not that far off the borders of Vale.

"Well this is fantastic! We can just grab a squad of huntsmen and go after them!" Ruby said rationalizing things.

Qrow snorted, "If only it were that easy. The first problem is in that we don't have the manpower. We could go in ourselves but, bandits aside, my sister won't give up the girl freely… plus I doubt the Maiden would come quietly either. It'll take a lot more than just us to take them down."

"Well… now that we've officially out ruled this… we'll need some time to strategize," Lionheart said, looking as though he wanted out of this conversation.

Qrow nodded, "We'll keep in touch…"

As the team walked out Qrow looked at them, "You kids head back to the house… I'm going to do some digging around town, see if I can find some of my old huntsman friends… plus I need a refill on this," he said waving the flask.

* * *

Qrow waltzed into town, spending his time looking at different boards, trying to find some clue as to where all the rest of the huntsmen had gone. From his interaction with Lionheart, he could tell something was up. Trained huntsmen don't just up and disappear like that, especially not some of the people he knew. They were good people, and even better fighters, so where the hell were they…

Eventually he'd all but given up his search and settled down at a bar to drink away his worries.

"Where the hell are we supposed to go from here… I'm almost fifty-percent sure Lionheart's a snake and we're no closer to finding the Spring Maiden now than I was two weeks ago…" Qrow mumbled to himself as he downed a glass of murky brown liquid on ice.

There was the quiet tapping of footsteps behind him, causing Qrow to turn around. Normally it wouldn't have warranted his attention, but the bar was empty, and anyone turning up at this hour in this part of town either had business or were shady, either way he didn't want to be caught off guard.

Except he was caught off guard because standing before him was a kid wearing what looked to be very stylish farmer overalls with half green half brown eyes, freckles, and brown hair. It was none other than Oscar Pine.

"Aren't you a little young to be walking in here?" Qrow asked sizing up the kid.

Oscar looked a little nervous, "Um… I'm supposed to tell you… I would like my cane back…?"

Qrow looked startled at first, then looked to his waist where hung the pristine white handle of Ozpin's cane and tossed it to him. "Hmph… it's good to see you Oz…"

* * *

Team MNJR were back at their place of stay, a rather large house that belonged to an old friend of Qrow's, who wasn't in town at the time.

Hex was working on her equipment while Nitro was sprawled on the floor, groaning. Nora was sitting on Ren who was laying on the couch in the living room while Ruby and Jaune sat at the dining table. Every single person in the room looked about as bored as bored could get. At least they were until there was a sudden knock on the door.

They all were instantly on alert, glaring at the source of the noise. Jaune hesitantly got up and opened it to reveal a very shy looking Oscar.

"Umm… is there a Ruby Rose here?" he asked nervously.

At first they were all confused as to why some kid was asking for Ruby when suddenly Qrow came tackling in from the side, swinging around Oscar's shoulder with glee. "PFFTTT YOU KIDS ARE SHHOOO UPTIGHT! Come on kid, you got some catching up to do…" he said as he wobbled in and collapsed onto the couch.

"Uh… Uncle Qrow? Are you drunk again?" Ruby asked looking at her uncle in disdain.

"Maybe ~ Anyway I found him!" Qrow pointed at Oscar, though it was more of him sticking his finger vertically in the air and waving it in the boy's general direction.

"You have silver eyes…" Oscar said looking at Ruby who was quite surprised at the very familiar statement.

"Um, sorry. My name's Oscar Pine but you know me as…"

"Wait for it…" Qrow said from his downed spot.

"Professor Ozpin, apparently," Oscar said though he himself looked just as confused as everyone else when they heard him.

Oscar then proceeded to explain the nature of his circumstances, as they all listened in with surprise.

"Imagine how it was for me when I wake up one morning and find myself sharing the body with someone who's apparently several centuries old … If I didn't share his memories, I'd have checked myself into the looney bin!" Oscar said as he waved his hands while sitting in a red armchair. "So this guy has me travelling across Mistral for what he says is the 'fate of the world'. Crazy Tuesday am I right?"

Nitro snickered, "I like this kid."

"You guys are weirdly accepting of all of this…" Oscar observed, glancing at the expressions of everyone in the room.

From his perspective they weren't much older than he was, and he couldn't help but wonder if the esteemed professor had a thing for roping teenagers into matters of universal calamity.

'_Trust me Oscar, I don't like this any more than you do but these are the best huntresses and huntsmen we have. I wouldn't place more trust in anyone in the world of Remnant than I do for them,' _Ozpin said in his head.

"Oh right I forgot we share thoughts," Oscar said out loud and everyone just tilted their heads in confusion. "Sorry just talking to the voice in my head, as in Ozpin. Yikes… never thought I'd say that out loud…" Oscar flinched at how he sounded.

"Gosh, I'm so sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves!" Ruby said piping up realizing she forgot formal courtesy.

Oscar blanched, "In all fairness, given the circumstances, names aren't exactly on my priority list of things I'm concerned about. No offence," he said looking at them.

"None taken, I feel yah," Hex said nodding.

"Oh give me one sec…" Oscar scrunched up his mind as if thinking really hard, his eyes flashing green briefly before returning to normal.

"Ruby Rose, a hyperactive prodigy. Nora Valkyrie, also hyperactive and slightly crazy. Lie Ren, quiet, and resourceful. Jaune Arc, a late bloomer but a reliable leader. Hex Magenta Zephyr, technology expert and resident super-genius and lastly Nitro Zephyr, loyal and reliable powerhouse." Oscar said pointing to them all in order, earning surprised looks and some bashful expressions.

"How did you…" Nitro opted.

"Just reading off what Ozpin stored here for ease of access," Oscar shrugged as if this was normal.

Qrow laughed, "Kid you're freaking them out. It's better if you just show them your little parlour trick."

Oscar sighed, "Fine, just so you know, I'll still be here." He said before his eyes flashed green as well as his body for a brief moment.

When he spoke again it was as if his voice had become different, "Nice to see you again students," Ozpin said in Oscar's voice.

"Professor… Ozpin?" Ruby asked as if unsure.

"Yes, I am, though Oscar is very much present as well, he has merely lent me control over this body temporarily," Ozpin said.

"How… is any of this possible? What… who are you?" Jaune asked.

"This curse was placed on my by the gods for my inability to defeat Salem in the past… Qrow says he's filled you all in on what's going on so to speak. Essentially, whenever I die, I am reincarnated into a host or new body after some time. Sometimes between a few years to a decade, though this has been the first time it was nigh instantaneous. It is my burden to bear the curse of eternal life until Salem is destroyed." Ozpin said.

"Doesn't seem like much of a curse to me," Nitro pointed out.

"Oh I assure you it is. Immortality gets very old, very quickly. It is a never-ending cycle of suffering…" Ozpin said that last part quietly. "Qrow's told me about your talk with Leonardo. He's not just being uncooperative, he's disobeying specific instructions I left him." Ozpin said.

"What? I thought all the headmasters took orders from you?" Ruby pointed out.

"That was how it was supposed to be, but now it seems Leonardo has been directly disobeying my orders. I don't want to make assumptions, but I can't out rule the concept that he might be the enemy Nova pinpointed either. In fact, the more I think about it the more it makes sense, someone in a high position of authority from Mistral with the power to sneak fugitives behind regulation walls. Still… we can't act recklessly. You all need some serious training before we start fighting them."

"Huh? But we're plenty strong already…" Nitro said.

"Hmph, you Mr. Zephyr think with your fists first and not your head. Your actions are rash and your semblance control is imperfect." Ozpin pointed the cane in his face.

"You Miss Zephyr have a severe lack of stamina and aura control. You are too reliant on your equipment to make up for your flaws." This caused Hex to flinch.

"Miss Rose you can only fight with Crescent Rose, without it you're weak. Mr. Arc as nice as it is to see you've improved, you still lack a semblance. Miss Valkyrie and Mr. Lie Ren are also highly untrained and rely on basic tactics, no matter how skilled you all are, you are far from being ready to fight Salem and her army. The only person among you who is even remotely ready is Mr. Flareheart… who doesn't seem to be here at the moment… and Miss Flareheart… and Wulf… and the rest of team RWBY… where are they?"

"Weiss got hooked back into Atlas by her dad, Yang's at home because of her injuries, Blake's fucked off to who knows where. Randolf's gone to Mantle and Luna's gone back home to rally against the White Fang." Hex explained listing off everyone.

Ozpin looked thoughtful, "I see… and what off Mr. Flareheart?"

Everyone in the room instantly had their eyes downcast, looking disheartened.

"He's… he's… no longer with us…" Ruby said fingering the dragon tooth around her neck.

"That is… regrettable news… this changes much of my plans…." He sat back down in his chair, "As unfortunate as that is, it just means you all will need to train even harder. We're all in this together now, there's no going back." Ozpin stated. "I will be training you all personally from here on out so, don't expect me to go easy on you…" his words faltered as Oscar's body glowed green again and he fell over on the chair.

"Ugh… my head hurts… Oz I don't know what a hangover feels like but this sure as hell feels like one…" Oscar said clutching his head in his hands.

Everyone just burst out laughing, "Welcome to our band of crazy Oscar,"

* * *

**-Branwen Bandit Camp-**

The bandit leader's eyes glowed a bright red for a moment, "It seems my brother is stationary at the moment. He's in a house, in Mistral. I can portal you there," she said folding her arms.

The trio shared elated glances, "She made it to Mistral?! That's incredible!" the girls and Nova squealed, which looked strange to Raven considering the boy was, well a boy at that time.

"Raven, exactly how far can you place your portals?" Nova asked as they walked out to the back of the tent to prepare for departure. His face was contorted in concentration, if Ruby had made it to Mistral, then he should probably try to make up for lost time...

"Why exactly should I tell you?" Raven quirked her brow. Giving up the range would be revealing her ace to someone who didn't exactly make themselves her ally. She was essentially being blackmailed into compliance.

Nova shrugged, "Don't ruffle your feathers bird brain. I just want to know if I can get some distance between me and the others." The bird brain comment made Raven want to pummel him into the ground, but she knew that if she tried it would result in catastrophic area damage.

Yang and Weiss folded their arms, "What's your angle flame-breath? Are you chickening out 'cause you're about to reunite with your girlfriend?" the blonde asked.

Nova bit his lip, "Not exactly... I just think I should get something for her, a sort of gift for putting her through all the pain..."

"You know that wasn't exactly your fault right? But... I guess you should bring something..." Weiss said placing her hands on her hips.

Raven groaned, "Consider this a favour you owe me, I'll portal my daughter and the Schnee to Qrow, and I can portal you a few meters away from the previous portal, out of sight."

Nova's eyes perked up, "Seriously?! That's great! Thanks Rave Rave!" he hugged the disgruntled bandit leader much to the surprise of the others. They could all visibly see Raven's brow twitch and a vein swell in her forehead but eventually she relaxed.

"I'm assuming you expect us to keep quiet about this until you decide to do the big reveal?" Yang asked shaking her head.

Nova smirked, "Counting on you 'big sis'," he smiled and Yang turned red.

"Hmph, only because you said it, come on Weiss," Yang huffed as she wheeled Bumblee, a massive red portal appeared in front of them.

"Is that thing safe?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"Well, I'd like to believe so?" Yang shrugged as she hopped on the bike, Weiss climbing on behind her. "Only one way to find out..." and with that, they disappeared through the portal, once they were successfully gone, Raven sighed and closed the portal.

"Alright you're up next. Just remember you. owe. me" Raven glared at him.

Nova on the contrary looked giddy, "Whatever you say my feathered friend!"

"I am NOT your friend!" Raven seethed, grinding her teeth as if he was her worst enemy instead.

A similar red portal appeared again within the next minute allowing Nova to pass through, "You know you like me! Friend!" Nova waved as he walked through, knowing very well that he was grinding on Raven's nerves to no end.

* * *

Back in Mistral, Qrow stood on the balcony of the house, overlooking the view of the city. He sighed deeply as he took a swig from his flask. In the time between him finding Oscar and now, he'd come across no new leads. Almost all the Huntsmen he once knew were either dead or missing in action. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, any attempts at talking to Lionheart just ended up in a dead-end, further confirming their fears. He needed just a little bit of hope.

Behind him, a large red portal opened up, drawing his attention. "Raven?" he asked curiously, unsure as to why his sister suddenly decided to visit him, usually if she had business, it wasn't very good, and he wasn't in the mood for more bad news.

His fears were soon subsided as the familiar sound of an engine rumbling was heard coming through it, the sound of a motorcycle he was too very well aware of... "It can't be..."

Sure enough, outrode an unmistakable yellow and black motorcycle with its equally blonde driver and a certain white-haired Schnee closely behind. His eyes widened in surprise and pure shock as Yang Xiaolong and Weiss Schnee came through sporting semi-smug looks.

"EVERYONE COME HERE! WE HAVE GUESTS!" Qrow called through the house a massive smile on his face as he turned to the two girls.

"Hey Uncle Qrow, how's it been?" Yang smiled waving to him. Instead of a response Qrow leapt at her and tackled her in a tight hug, while Weiss just stood awkwardly to the side.

"It's good to see you firecracker," he said as he ushered them inside. The moment his back was turned and he was thoroughly distracted, another red portal opened up, except, not on the balcony porch where he was, but off to the side... over the balcony, where it went unnoticed.

"WAAAAAAAH..." was the distant sound of screaming.

"Did anyone hear that?" Qrow asked perking his head up.

"Probably the sound of some idiot screaming, nothing to be concerned about..." Yang said smiling scarily.

"Oh okay, come on let's go inside!" Qrow accepted it without question and Weiss just looked at him baffled.

* * *

Inside the house, team MNRNJR was busy preparing dinner when they heard Qrow call out. Ruby cheerily filled up a pot with fresh tea and a few cups and brought the tray out into the living room. "Sorry we only have a few cups, we weren't exactly expecting guests... Dinner will be ready in a few..." her words died in her throat as her eyes fell on the form of her sister and Weiss, standing there nervously. Her jaw dropped and so did the tray, all the cups shattering on the floor, forgotten as Ruby just stared at her sister in disbelief.

There were a few moments of silence that involved a gaping Ruby and a quite nervous looking Yang. "Yang... I... I... I'm so sorry! I should've stayed and talked to you more but I wasn't sure if you wanted me around and..." Ruby began to stammer out much to Yang's bewilderment, so the blonde did the only thing she could think of and hugged the girl.

"Ruby, I should be the one to apologize, I said some really mean things and..." Yang began to cry as well, tears forming in her eyes. She was so afraid of facing Ruby again, that she wasn't prepared for her own sister whom she'd hurt to apologize in her stead, the very thought made her break down inside.

"I forgive you, what matters now is we face the future together..." Ruby said muffled by Yang's bosom.

Weiss stood there smiling awkwardly, unsure of how to act under the given circumstances, until Ruby and Yang opened the hug and allowed her in, to which the ex-heiress gladly complied. There involved a lot of sobbing and making up, until the rest of the team came into the room.

"Yang...?" Hex asked as she stood at the foot of the stairway, looking shocked to see the blonde, her hair was undone and her usual clothes had been swapped out for more casual wear, a simple dark purple t-shirt that said 'Hacker and Slasher' on it in yellow letters, and a pair of black sweat pants.

Yang felt her heart stop upon seeing Hex. She'd been so focused on trying to apologize to Ruby that she'd forgotten to formulate her apology to her girlfriend... or ex-girlfriend she wasn't even sure what they were.

Everyone in the room took a few steps back out of the picture, filing into the kitchen to give the two some space.

"Hex... I'm... I'm sorry... after what happened to Nova, I lost my mind in a way. I'm not saying it excuses the things I've said or the way I've acted, and I'm not asking you to forgive me. I deserve every bit of hate for what I've..." Yang was cut off when Hex tackled her in a tight hug.

"W-What?" Yang was caught off guard.

"You said some pretty mean shit, and you acted like a bitch." Hex said looking into her eyes, and holding her by the waist. "I can't exactly bring myself to completely forgive you right now... but Yang... I could never hate you..." she smiled, reaching up a hand to cup the blonde's face.

Yang's eyes widened, "D-Does this mean...?"

Hex snickered, "You're here now, I said to come find me when you found the girl you once were... and it seems like you did... so..."

"But I acted like a complete piece of... MMHMN!" She was silenced when Hex slammed her lips onto hers with full force. Yang instantly melted, her arms shaking around Hex's neck and pulling her in deeper, their mouths mashing against each other getting hungrier every moment they spent connected. Eventually, they broke for air, staring into each other's eyes.

"Are we back together?" Yang asked nervously.

Hex smirked, "What do you think~?" she leaned in again but was stopped by the sound of loud clapping. They both pulled away to see Nitro and the others re-entering the room.

"OOookkayyy before you two start eating each other's faces again, I'd like for us to at least eat some real food?" he gestured to the kitchen where the sudden smell of freshly made stew wafted through the air, causing everyone's stomach to grumble.

"We have _so _much to tell you guys about!" Ruby gushed as she pulled them in and they began chatting about their adventures.

* * *

**-Earlier with Nova-**

"Raven is totally closet about her emotions, I'm willing to bet she's actually a really nice person who has trouble expressing her feelings!" Nova said aloud as he crossed through the portal. It was a strange feeling, traveling by portal. There was no endless corridor of red or swirling luminescence. It was instant, one moment he was walking from the camp the next he was standing on nice, solid... air?

"Huh? That's weird, where did she..." Nova faltered when he realized he was not looking at the solid ground, nor was he right side up. "Oh fuck..."

Raven had placed the portal... in the air. The moment he stepped through it was like walking off a cliff. "RAVEN YOU BIIIIIIIIIITCCCCCHHHHH!" he screamed as he flailed through the air. Through a series of crashes, animal noises, and falling trees, he managed to land safely on the nice, warm, rock hard, bone-breaking ground. He'd somehow managed to crash into the middle levels of the Mistralian market place.

"OUCH! FUCK!" He yelled aloud as he pulled a twig from its embedded spot in his rear. "You know... I'm starting to think she might actually dislike me..."

He walked into the market square and began browsing for materials. He'd been planning for a long time to make a necklace for Ruby as he did for Luna, and he figured now was as good of a time as any. He'd usually require access to a forge to mold the metals, and a few days of work, but now that his powers could heat to white-hot levels, he could easily melt most metals.

"I may not have my card, but at least I still have the money I lynched off of..." he patted his pockets only to feel them empty, and the only thing that popped into his head was the smiling, conniving face of Raven, looking awfully smug. "...well played Raven Branwen... well played..." The next few minutes was Nova pickpocketing scraps of Lien off of practically every rich looking tourist in the market place. It was just too easy given the fact that the place was already crowded, and this high up form the ground, most people didn't expect pickpockets.

The next stage was acquiring dust, which proved surprisingly difficult but not impossible. Scraps of pure silver were easy enough to find since most black market dealers had a steady supply of precious metal if you knew how to ask, and being the ex-local street rat he was, Nova knew exactly how to ask and bargain.

The last problem was finding the gemstone. The evening was driving on and most shops were closing up. Nova would have given up hope had his eyes not landed on a street stall, on the far corner of the market place, under a blossoming tree that was entirely pink **(A cherry blossom tree)**. An elderly woman sat under it, her skin was wrinkled and dry, her grey hair and dark skin accentuated her short stature such that she looked like a cute old lady. The stall was a small tent, nothing impressive except for the lines of bright gemstones that lined the stall shelves on blue velvet.

Nova made an instant line for the stall, barely making it in time before the lady was ready to start packing up. "Ma'am, how much are these?" he pointed at the gems that were on the front row.

"Fifty-Thousand Lien, uncut," she replied curtly. the price made Nova flinch.

"Are you serious? Lady that's daylight... err evening time robbery!" he countered, trying to get a better price.

"Hmph, if you don't like the price then..." she began to get up and started packing away.

Nova recoiled, "Wait!" he stopped her. No price was too high for Ruby, and even if he didn't have that much money on him, he could probably strike a deal. "Um... listen, I was at the battle of Beacon and I lost my card, but... if you can sell me a jewel for twenty-thousand I can pay the rest when I get my card back. I can guarantee I can pay you, double the original amount if you want!" Nova blurted out hoping to stop her from packing up shop.

"Sorry kid, no dice. I can't just bank it on some 'promise'..." she said folding her small arms. She moved a few boxes around to pack and that's when Nova spotted something, a brown rock ball, too dirty to be a gemstone yet it was sitting there on the shelf... There was just something about it that stood out to him, a feeling, buried in his soul. He moved around the tent to view it close up, and that's when his arm started to hum lightly as if it was telling him that this stone was something special.

"Hey lady... how much is this?" He asked, picking up the small rock. It was roughly the size of a pocket watch, semi-spherical in shape, more like a walnut, but slightly flatter.

The lady seemed to perk up, her entire demeanor shifting, "That old thing? That's just a rock, why would you want that? I keep it around for sentimental value..."

Nova hummed, "Call it a hunch, I guess." What he didn't know was that his left arm was glowing, specifically the Agniseki embedded in it. The lady took notice but said nothing about it.

"Here's what, you tell me why you're so desperate and you can have that for free," she said sitting down on a stool she kept around to rest her legs.

Nova quirked his brow, "That's it? Well... it's for a girl... she's not just some girl either. She's amazing, and adorable, and the sweetest person you'll ever meet. She's got this smile that just makes the world seem just a little brighter every time she does it, and a laugh that makes my heart stop every time I hear it... she's everything to me..."

"Well she most certainly must be more than just 'a girl' if she made you pickpocket twenty-seven different tourists to get spending money," the lady said drumming her hands on the tabletop.

Nova blinked in surprise, "How do you..."

"The same thing could be said for that thing embedded in your arm, Fragments of Remnant are not easy to come by..."

Now Nova was alarmed, "What?! Lady... who are you?"

The old woman chuckled, "Didn't your parents tell you it's rude to ask an old woman so many questions? Let's just say I'm someone who knows. Now go on and take that thing for free, go on get!" she started poking him with her walking stick out of her tent.

"Take care of yourself, your highness," she said before Nova could turn around. The term caught him off guard again and he spun around to ask her how she knew, but she was gone. The tent and the woman were just gone, as if they vanished into thin air, leaving no trace they were ever there in the first place.

"Nice job Nova, you fall thirty feet through the air and now you're seeing creepy old ladies, you've finally gone and lost it..." he said as he looked down at the rock in his hand. The streets were practically empty now that the sun had set and night had rolled in. He placed the rock in his left arm and he could feel the Agniseki react as if telling him to apply his power.

"Well... if you're sure about this..." Nova began to pour his fire into the rock, it absorbed the raw energy like a sponge until, in a bright flash that was too bright for his eyes, the rock seemed to explode in his hands. When Nova looked at his palm, sitting in the middle was a beautiful ornate ruby. It was almost purely translucent with a rich vibrant colour, and in the middle was a streak of silver, like a stretch of light, visible enough to the eye but not so large that it diluted the gorgeous red.

"Woah... what are you...?" Nova asked the gem as if expecting a response, but the more he turned it in his palm the more he figured it was just a normal gem, a normal gem that was hidden in a rock and sold by a creepy mysterious ghost lady. "Normal gem my ass... well at least it's pretty enough for Ruby... heh a ruby for Ruby... nice..." and thus he got to work on forging the metals, which believe it or not went faster than he expected.

* * *

It was the around 9:00 p.m when Nova finally made his way back up to the house where Raven had originally dropped them off. The hike was grueling given the distance he'd fallen and it really didn't help that he hadn't eaten in two days. The downside of having a metabolism that burnt the food away from his system was that it literally burnt it out so fast he got hungry every hour. The lights were still on, so it suggested people were still awake. Now he had two options, go in through the front door like a normal person, or sneak in through the balcony like a criminal.

Needless to say... Nova took the most optimal route and opted for the balcony. He managed to climb as discreetly as he could through the trees and plop himself onto the porch, the only thing that stopped him from proceeding any further was the sound of someone talking. Choosing to stay out of sight, he peeked around one of the pillars that were outside and observed the person. The dragon felt his heart stop when he saw who it was.

Ruby Rose stood, leaning on the rails and staring up at the moonlight sky and its vast expanse of stars. Her black and red hair parted around her face in a style that looked different from when he'd seen her at Beacon. She looked much more mature, her face still as beautiful as he remembered it, but somehow, all her experiences coming to this point just made her look even more astonishing to him. Everything about her felt more mature, from her choice of clothing, with the white shirt and black dress that went just above her knees, and the slightly torn knee socks that just made her look like the world's most beautiful survivalist. The only thing that was wrong was the saddened look marring her features.

"Yang and Weiss came back today, and it looks like Hex and Yang are back together, so that's great news..." she said toying with the dragon tooth around her neck.

Who was she talking to? Nova had to listen in closer.

"Blake and Luna are still not here but, I think if destiny means anything, we'll see each other again... The only other person that's not here is you... I just wish you were here with us, Nova... I miss you so... so much..." she began to choke on her words as tears threatened to leak from her eyes. "Every day that goes by I think about you... and every night I dream about seeing you in that state... I just hope that wherever you are... you're watching over me..."

Nova had heard enough.

"Really? You're talking to that piece of junk?" Nova said from the darkness.

Ruby instantly froze up and spun around alert, "Wh-who's there?" she asked sounding scared.

"Calm down red, honestly you'd think it'd be easier to recognize my voice," Nova said with a light chuckle.

"Seriously, I'm not playing games here, whoever you are you better show yourself now or I'll find you myself!" Ruby said drawing Crescent Rose from behind her.

Nova laughed again, "Oh come on love, I never knew you to have such an itchy trigger finger. Though, I guess it's to be expected when the love of your life is the world's greatest huntress in training."

Ruby felt her blood run cold at the use of the old pet name. Her heart hammering against her chest as the blood running through her veins was flowing at such a speed it made her ears ring, every breath she took felt like a thousand as a figure emerged from the darkness and into the bright moonlight. Time stood still as she began to realize just who was there, the string of fate was tied to the dead and she couldn't bring herself to look away.

"Hey Rubes, long time no see." Nova stood in the shining moonlight, his white hair blindingly white against the silver celestial rays, his horns pointing out, those unmistakable mismatched eyes and that damned smile...

Ruby stood jaw dropped, her mind shattering into a thousand pieces as she struggled to cope with the person standing before her. "Y-You're not real... just a figment of my imagination... yeah you've gotta be... or is this an enemy attack?" she asked herself, glancing around with Crescent Rose in hand.

Nova burst out into a fit of laughter, "Figment of your imagination?" he stretched out his right arm and pinched it, "Nope seems pretty real to me, I don't know what you're talking about... I swear to Oum girl, you were never this paranoid unless it was hiding your cookie stash from Nora, in which case you tended to get _very _paranoid..."

Ruby just broke down, all mental functions halted and she just stared with a glassy look as if her mind had up and left her head.

"Helllooo? Nova to Ruby Rose... are you there? Damnit... I think I broke her..." Nova muttered as he opted to walk forward.

Ruby dropped Crescent Rose with a loud clang, and Nova barely had a chance to react as a burst of rose petals crashed into him, knocking him hard against the concrete banister. "Woah there red, you're gonna kill me for real this time..." he said as the girl clung to his shirt, holding on for dear life as she bawled her eyes out. Staining his shirt with hot tears that seemed to flow endlessly. Nova could only wrap his arms around her tenderly, and gently stroked the back of her head, smiling and crying almost as hard as she was.

"I-It's you! It's... really... you isn't it?! I'm not hallucinating right? You're really here?!" she asked in between sobs, staring up at him, teary-eyed and almost in disbelief.

Nova smiled warmly and caressed her cheek with his right arm, "If I wasn't real then could I do this?" he leaned down and cupped her face, bringing his lips on to hers in a gentle kiss filled with love and longing. His lips softly pressing to hers as she melted into his arms, he tasted like cinnamon rolls and what she could only describe as adventure. He opted to break it but Ruby just pulled him back down, moving herself so she was sitting in his lap, pressing her mouth to his, and brushing her tongue against his lower lip, asking for entrance. Surprised at the suddenness he opened his mouth slightly, giving Ruby just enough room to snake her tongue into his mouth. The kiss escalated even further until their lungs burned.

"Wow... just... wow..." was all Nova could say as he leaned against her forehead. "I missed you so much holy shit..."

Ruby smirked and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, "How... are you here?! I watched you die... we all did... how..."

Nova laughed, "I'll explain later when I see everyone because it's a lot to explain, and I really don't want to do it more than once... so for now... can we just enjoy this?" he covered her right palm with his own, and she laced her fingers with his, leaning down onto his chest, nestling her head in the crook of his neck. He smelled like campfires and nature with a faint whiff of cinnamon, just like she remembered. The scent that just filled her with a sense of completeness and belonging.

"Oh right, almost forgot about this..." he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the necklace he had made earlier. The flawless Ruby with silver markings embedded inside was intricately laced into a silver cage, the edges of the gem were encrusted with fire dust that gave it a light glow, not bright enough to illuminate but not dim enough that it wasn't unnoticeable. It was strung up in a strong yet think silver chain.

"Nova this is..." she gasped as she saw the beauty of the necklace. "Where did you get the money for this...?"

"I didn't buy it, I made it. It's one of a kind, just like you. A flawless ruby for my flawless Ruby," he said as he reached around her neck and placed the necklace while simultaneously removing the dragon tooth. "There, you look even more beautiful with it on..." he said admiring her in the moonlight.

The smile that radiated off her face was more blinding than the sun itself in his eyes and he swore he needed shades, it made his heart flutter like it was a piece of paper in a tornado, he wanted nothing more than in that moment, to capture her smile because it was the more gorgeous than any painting or picture ever made. Amongst all the celestial bodies in the vast expanses of space, not one luminescent body could come close to the brilliance that radiated off of her at that moment.

"I love you Ruby... more than anything else in the world..." he said wistfully and unconsciously, causing Ruby to turn crimson.

"I-I love you too..." she leaned down and took him in another passionate kiss.

Once they were done, they sat there for a few more moments, enjoying each other's company and relishing in the time they shared as if every moment they spent together was making up for the times they weren't.

"You said you didn't buy this thing... but you must've had to buy the materials... this chain alone must've cost a fortune... where'd you get the money...?" Ruby asked looking at him.

"Um... well you see... so I kinda lost my bank card during the Fall of Beacon so..."

"You stole the money didn't you... Nova I've told you a thousand times! Stealing is wrong!" Ruby said sternly, lightly hitting his shoulder.

"Hey in my defence, I only pickpocketed the really rich, and even then I didn't steal more than a couple... hundred Lien... give or take... anyway, the gemstone was free from a kind and creepy old lady," he explained.

"Uhh... it's not cursed is it?"

"I don't think so...?" he answered with a shrug.

She shot him an 'are you serious?' look before they both burst out into a fit of laughter, which was interrupted when Nova's stomach growled loudly.

"Sounds like someone is hungry," she said poking his stomach playfully.

He chuckled, "Well I haven't eaten in a few days so..."

"Everyone's waiting inside it seems, they're all still awake, that'll give you a good time to talk about what happened," she said pulling him by the arm.

"Well... gotta face the music sometimes right?" he said offering a lopsided grin as he headed inside.

* * *

**So I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. It took me several days of several hours straight to write this, and I really bit into my time for this one, but it came out in a way that I can be proud of. **

**Hopefully my exams don't kill me before I finish the next chapter. Until next time, stay amazing guys.**


	46. Chapter 46: Don't Punch Your Friends

**I've been away for a bit, exams are still going on but I managed to squeeze this chapter in even if it took longer than I usually do, I wanted to make it longer but I'm not sure my time frames would allow me another one until next week.**

**Anyway, Enjoy ^-^**

* * *

**Chapter 46: Old Friends and some Mutual Enemies**

* * *

-**Earlier that Evening-**

The party was sitting around the table eating a late dinner. Due to the arrival of Yang, Weiss, and Oscar, they had to up their cooking quantities to feed nine, considering Yang ate enough food for seven. Qrow was moved to his bedroom upstairs to sleep off his alcohol-induced coma, thus leaving the teens to their socializing.

"How the fuck did you manage to lose your map?!" Yang asked as she burst into laughter. MNRNJR was retelling the stories of their adventures across Mistral.

Nora snorted, "That crazy dude from the Vytal Tournament, what's his face? The one with the rusty hair. Yeah he and his wackjob brother ambushed us, trying to kidnap Ruby."

"Ruby?! What would they want with her?!" Yang asked genuinely surprised. Jaune shrugged dramatically with his mouthful of food.

"No idea! Qrow says it's because of her silver eyes or something but we're pretty lackluster on the details…" Hex responded.

"Yeah he took quite the beating trying to protect us," Nitro pointed out.

"And almost died," Ruby said looking down at the table. "If it wasn't for that rescue ship… we don't know what would've happened… I was worried that…"

"That you would lose someone else…?" Weiss finished for her.

Ruby nodded, "I can't… lose anyone else… not ever…"

Yang and Weiss shared another look as if debating to tell her, while Oscar just looked at them completely out of the loop.

"I need to get some fresh air, you guys continue eating," Ruby said as she excused herself from the table and walked upstairs to the balcony. No one dared stop her.

He swallowed his food and looked at them, seeing how the mood around the table shifted to unease and discomfort, "Forgive me for asking, this does sound like a touchy subject, but… You guys were really close to this… Nova guy? Girl? Sorry, Ozpin's memories are confusing…"

"Oh, shit sorry kid, I guess you don't know…" Nitro said placing a hand on his shoulder, "I'm glad you asked that question though,"

"Nova was the greatest of us all. He was our leader, and like family to us." Hex said smiling wistfully.

"I thought Ruby was your leader?" Oscar pointed out.

"That is true, but so was Nova, sort of a joint team thing. We used to be called ASHNRWBY, Jaune and his team weren't part of our squad. One leader for eight huntsmen was a problem so Oz set us up with two joint leaders. Ruby and Nova. The latter of whom was honestly the biggest dumbass alive," Nitro continued.

"He was an amazing leader, kept a cool head under pressure, kind-hearted to a fault, and the strongest fighter we had. He was powerful, like… really powerful… and he was Ruby's boyfriend," Weiss explained cheerfully.

Oscar almost choked on his food, "Woah, Ruby didn't strike me as the type to think about anything other than weapons and sweets, let alone find a boyfriend. And you're her sister right? You were okay with that?!"

Yang snickered, "Yeah, at first I didn't want to give her up without a fight but he…err… she kicked my ass six ways to Sunday in a one on one duel, so I relented. Besides, don't think I'd have been able to get between those two. That's genuine true love right there."

Oscar glanced at them, "So, don't take this the wrong way but, if he was so powerful, how'd he… you know…" he made air quotes.

"Not sure exactly, the only people that were there during the fight where he lost was him, Pyrrha, and our mutual enemies Cinder Fall and Onyx the high commander of the White Fang," Weiss explained, completely comfortable with explaining it like she wasn't talking about the dead because she wasn't, but they didn't know that.

"Wait Pyrrha? As in Pyrrha Nikos?! She was there too?" Oscar almost choked.

"You know Pyrrha?" Jaune asked now interested.

Oscar nodded feverishly, "There isn't a single person in Mistral who doesn't know about her. The prodigy from Argus who chose to go to Beacon Academy instead of Haven, the unbeatable gladiator Pyrrha Nikos!"

"Wow you sound like quite the fanboy," Nora said amused.

Oscar blushed from embarrassment, "Ah no, not really, I watched her fights on tv during some tournaments, and at the Vytal Festival… a tragedy that happened… ever since I saw her… I wanted to be like her, but I mean a lonely farm boy could only dream right?"

Jaune tussled his hair, "Yeah, she's amazing. There isn't anyone out there like her, well save for maybe Nova I think. If she weren't comatose in the hospital right now, she'd tell you that you should chase your dreams, because every step toward them can make them a reality… at least… that's what she told me…" Jaune said longingly.

Oscar was confused at Jaune's expression, he was speaking as if he knew her intimately. Nora saw his bewilderment, "Jaune's actually Pyrrha's boyfriend, that's why he's saying that," she snickered.

Oscar almost spat out his food again, "Holy Shit! *cough* are all of you like crazy important people or something? Oz… what did you drag me in to…"

They all burst out laughing, "Trust me Oscar, you ain't seen nothing yet. Just wait 'til you meet Luna," Hex said waving her hand.

Oscar adorably tilted his head in confusion, "Who...?"

"She's our resident princess. You've got the infamous Weiss Schnee, and then you've got Luna Sapphire Flareheart. She's the S from our ASHNRWBY. And when I say princess, I mean that literally. She's a literal princess." Yang explained.

Oscar felt his head get dizzy, "Uh… wait, Flareheart? Is she related to Nova?"

"Yup, that's his sister. She's on Menagerie right now with her mom, they're supposed to meet back up with us at some point after they're done with their business… no idea how they're gonna find us but we'll cross that bridge when we get there," Nitro said thinking about them.

"She's about your age… you're what? 15?" Yang asked.

"Fourteen," Oscar corrected.

"Okay so she's a year older than you, that means you're the youngest of our band of misfits!" Nora cheered rubbing his hair, causing the young teen to turn red from embarrassment.

He had no idea why, he'd just met these people yesterday, but they were so open and friendly to him, he felt… at home. He thought it was because he was Ozpin's reincarnation, but… they never once called him Ozpin, nor asked him for anything Ozpin related. They just… accepted him into their ranks, no questions asked…

Their atmosphere was interrupted when they heard a moderately loud thud.

"What was that?" Ren asked now on alert.

"OH sorry, I hit my head on the wall while laughing…" Nora said embarrassed.

Ren rolled his eyes, "Do I need to get ice?"

"No… just rub it for me?" she pouted with puppy dog eyes. Ren just sighed but pet her nonetheless.

Oscar was beginning to see the pairs within their party. There were Yang and Hex, Ren and Nora, Nitro seemed uninterested, Weiss just looked happy to have friends, Jaune was dating Pyrrha who was currently hospitalized, and Ruby's boyfriend was dead. _Yikes, that got dark pretty fast…_ he thought.

'_Yes well, it does come with the job after all. The life of a huntsman is not all flashy swords and being a superhero,' _Ozpin said in his mind causing Oscar to jump out of his skin. Thankfully no one noticed.

_'Oz, a little warning next time?!' _

_ 'My apologies, though I'm not sure how you expect me to do that…' _

_'Right, sorry… what were you saying?'_

_'Everyone here at this table has gone through some level of pain and trauma over the course of their lives as huntsmen in training. As you so clearly labeled out, Mr. Arc lost his partner to an injury that has her hospitalized. Miss Rose lost hers to battle, Miss Xialong lost her arm and the list goes on… my point is, somewhere along the line you too may have such an experience… I'm not saying anytime soon, but I want you to be prepared for when that inevitably happens.'_

_'You sound like you're foreshadowing my future,' Oscar countered._

_'No, I'm merely stating that it is inevitable, as many things are,'_

Oscar was drawn from his thoughts when he heard the soft thumping of footsteps above.

"Oh, sounds, like Ruby's back… wait… there's more than one set of steps…" Ren said.

"Probably just Qrow waking up from his hangover, hungry," Nora brushed it off.

* * *

Ruby came down the stairs, but something about her was different. Her hair was messed up slightly, and she looked a little dazed. Her eyes were slightly puffy as if she'd been crying, but the expression on her face said anything but sad.

"Woah, Ruby are you okay? What's with that grin?" Nora asked almost creeped out.

Ruby wiped her eyes and turned to properly face them. They could clearly see on her neck was the most beautiful necklace they'd ever seen, the ornate red and silver gleamed in the room lighting dazzling them.

"Holy shit Rubes, where'd you find that?!" Nitro pointed out.

Ruby laughed, "Well… that's why I'm smiling so much… well part of the reason… OH FOR THE LOVE OF OUM WOULD YOU GET DOWN HERE ALREADY?!" she yelled up the stairs and everyone just watched in confusion.

"Alright fine, yeesh, I was planning out my grand entrance but I guess _some _of us are a little impatient," a male voice said, one very unfamiliar to Oscar.

A blaze of fire came spiraling down the stairs, but not a wildfire, more like a tame glow with brilliant colours. It came to a rest beside Ruby, the flames dying down now, allowing them to see that it wasn't a sentient ball of fire but a person.

He stood almost a whole head taller than Ruby, with slightly wide shoulders and a slender frame, though his arms and body said anything but skinny. He had a scar that looked like it'd been scratched out with three claws on his right eye, and his hair was a brilliant white, almost like Weiss' except he had orange hair tops and large black horns. The most striking thing was his face, it was criss-crossed in some areas like dragon scales, and his eyes were mismatched reptile-like slits.

"Who…" Oscar wanted to ask but he was drowned out by the man.

"Sup misfits, your nerd overlord has returned," he did a mock bow, "Did ya miss me?" he said smirking with one side of his mouth, revealing his sharp fangs.

All utensils at the table, minus Yang, Weiss, and Oscar's, dropped with loud clangs.

"Wow, you know I really thought there would be more 'Hooray! Nova's back! I missed you so much Nova!' and crying you know?" Nova said turning to Ruby, as he leaned on her shoulder with his elbow.

She chuckled, "Well, what'd you expect when you see a dead man walking? I mean my brain crashed for like three seconds."

"N-N-Nova?!" Jaune stammered out getting to his feet.

"In the flesh, and no I'm not dead. It's a long story…" he said stepping toward the table.

"But what if you are dead?! What if you're a ghost come to gaunt us?!" Nora gasped in shock pointing her finger at him.

Nova felt his sweat drop, "Nora... I'm very much flesh and blood..."

"THEN YOU MIGHT BE A ZOMBIE! OR A POSSESSED CORPSE!" She hopped up onto the table, "Yang! Hold him down, I'll get the exorcism manual!" she said pulling out a vial of what seemed to be holy water and a wooden stake.

"Where did she get that...? NORA SIT YOUR ASS DOWN OR I WILL BURN YOUR PANCAKES!" he threatened with a flaming fist.

Nora made an 'EEEP!' and shrunk behind Ren, "It's definitely Nova... or a pancake hating monster... REN SAVE THE PANCAKES!" she said practically strangling the poor boy.

"Glad to see nothing's changed around here..." he said with a smile, and his eyes falling on Oscar, "Almost nothing..."

Nitro got up from the table and walked up to him slowly.

"Aw did yah miss me bro?" the dragon asked, opening his arms for a hug.

Nitro didn't respond as the moment he got up close, he raised his fist.

"Uh.. what're you…" *POW!* Nova got clocked in the face and thrown halfway across the room, luckily no furniture was broken.

"THAT WAS FOR MAKING ME WORRY!" Nitro said his fist slightly smoking. Everyone just looked on in silence.

"Alright I deserved that…"

He was cut off when Nitro picked him up in a warm hug, "And this is for surviving… I missed you man… I missed you so much…" Nitro choked out as he sobbed into his shoulder.

Even Hex got up and joined the hug, "We both missed you, you fucking dumbass…"

Jaune had fainted, Nora was bouncing up and down and Ren looked like his brain had shut off as he was drinking tea but he was stuck in that position.

"Uh… anyone want to explain what's going on?" Oscar asked voicing up.

"A new addition to our party? Well things have gotten weird since I've been gone… I think we all have some catching up to do right?" Nova said prying the Zephyr siblings off of him.

Ruby slipped her hand into his, "Tell us everything…"

* * *

Nova plopped down on the couch with Ruby leaning on his shoulder as he proceeded to explain everything that happened to him that night.

"Woah… so Onyx actually beat you? How strong is that guy…." Nitro said in awe.

"Too powerful if you ask me… his powers reminded me of Luna's. I think it has to do with that Fragment of Remnant that was around his neck," Nova said leaning his elbows on his knees in a thinking position.

"But normal people can't harness the Fragments' powers right? You need to have the Aegis gene," Hex countered.

"That's the weird part. Onyx isn't an Aspect, even though I've never met him before this, as an Aspect we can tell each other apart, I think…"

"What do you mean you think?" Ren asked curiously.

"Well, not that I've met any other Aspects other than Luna… but just looking at her, I can tell she is an Aspect… it's like a sixth sense of sorts. Only one other person has given me that feeling, Adam. With Adam his powers felt… wrong, like the Aegis gene, was rejecting him. It felt like the power was trying to push itself away from him… but with Onyx it's different. It's like he's… forcing the power to stay inside him, as if the Aegis gene is under his command… against its will, if that makes sense." Nova tried to explain.

"That makes absolutely no sense but say you're right, does this mean he's managed to perfect your mom's Aegis formula?" Yang asked, proving once again she was sharper than she tried to make herself seem.

"I think so… because that would explain why he took the Fragment from Adam… when I fought Adam the second time he was… weaker, than before…" Nova said.

Yang looked irritated, "That was him being weak? Could've fooled me…" she spat.

"Yang we're not the same people we were back then…" Nova said looking at her and she softened.

"Yeah you're right…"

"What's that mean?" Ruby asked watching the exchange.

"Yeah you still haven't told us how you survived," Nora said pulling out a bag of popcorn from Oum knows where.

"Where did she…" Oscar raised his finger but Ren just shook his head as if saying 'Don't question it'.

Nova looked around, "Damn where's Qrow's flask when you need it…"

"Since when did you pick up drinking?" Ren asked raising his eyebrow.

Nova sighed, "You'll get me when I explain."

The dragon dragged his hands across his face, "Alright so at the end of our battle, Onyx shattered Asura and I realized we'd lost. Pyrrha'd lost to Cinder and I lost to Onyx… we weren't going to make it out of there alive being drained on aura and exhausted on power… so I made a last-ditch effort and took a bullet for Pyrrha so to speak… I figured at least one of us should make it out alive."

Jaune walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that…" Nova looked up to face him. "Thank you for saving her… I really can't express how grateful I am… I swore that if I ever saw you I'd thank you, and say this…"

Nova was confused, "Jaune you don't need to thank me, I was doing my part as a friend… wh-WHAT ARE YOU-!" he was alarmed when Jaune knelt on the floor at the edge of the couch and everyone watched in shock.

"I'd like to follow you, as your friend and… well I'm not good with words like these but… I pledge my loyalty to you…" Jaune said with his head bowed.

Nova started to get flustered, "J-Jaune wh-what?! Pledge your loyalty?! Dude! W-w-we're friends! Fellow huntsmen, raise your head! You owe me nothing!"

Jaune shook his head, "No, sorry Nova, but Pyrrha and I owe you our lives for Beacon. Besides… every prince needs a knight with him right?" he said looking up sheepishly.

"I'm not going to be able to stop you am I…?" Nova said hesitantly.

"Nope, I, Jaune Arc swear to serve under the blade of the Flareheart Family as a sword and shield to the prince in waiting," he said out loud.

Everyone just gaped, "Woah… so Nova's really royalty?" Oscar asked.

Nitro nodded, "Yup, crown Prince of the Faunus… still we've only seen him as a friend and like family all our lives so this whole royal thing still feels weird to us."

Once Jaune scooted back to his seat Nova continued his story, "Well now that that is over… where were we?"

"Top of the tower, you just got cut down by Onyx," Weiss says trying to regain her own composure.

"Right, so… after I got hit, the force knocked me off the edge. Last thing I saw was this white light covering the place and then nothing. What was that white light by the way?" he asked turning to Ruby.

The reaper shrugged, "I don't really remember. After I saw you get cut down I sort of lost it… Qrow says it was the powers of my silver eyes but I'm not sure what that means yet…" she said.

"Well… someday we'll figure it out, together." He said pecking her cheek with his nose to which she smiled and blushed.

"Okay save the PDAs for after we're done with the story, okay guys?" Nitro asked folding his arms.

Nova chuckled, "Alright, so yeah I was pretty sure I was dead, and for all it means, I should be. Remember the Fragment of Remnant that I had with me? The red stone in Asura's eye?" everyone nodded in confirmation except JNR who were just confused.

"Long story… they'll fill you in. Anyway, so that thing apparently kept me alive. When I awoke, I was buried under like half a building with enough broken bones to give chiropractors nightmares for days. I managed to push the stone off me because of my semblance and the Agniseki," Nova explained.

"The Agniseki?" They all simultaneously asked.

"I'm getting to that, just stay with me on this. So, I push the building off and my armlet's damaged so I'm a girl at that point, but my left arm is compressed in the ground, like the rubble around it got crushed into smaller stones that got compressed under all the pressure that it locked my arm down there."

"How'd you get it out? Also you were a girl? What does that even mean?!" Oscar asks confused.

Yang snickers, "Stick with us long enough and you'll find out." Oscar felt bullied in an odd sense of the term.

"How'd you pull out your arm? Did you use your semblance again?" Nora asked.

"That's the thing. I didn't get my arm out."

"What?! But your arms right there," they all pointed to the long-sleeved, gloved left arm.

"Focus, we're getting there," he snapped his fingers, "So, I tried to use my semblance to dislodge my arm, but that wasn't working, and the ground was too compact to break, plus I was pretty sure if I tried anything I'd snap something the wrong way. So I tried to slowly pull it out but… the bones were basically cracked and I had to muscle control so when I pulled hard… it snapped out."

"What do you mean… snapped out…?" Ruby asked looking pale.

"I mean, skin and flesh-tearing, breaking the bone at the elbow and tearing my own arm off… willingly…" Nova shuddered remembering the pain. "I tried to stop the bleeding but it wasn't going too well, I collapsed from blood loss and a pack of Beowolves overheard the commotion and smelt blood…. I thought I was going to die for real… that was until… Adam saved me…"

"Adam?!" They all said simultaneously, except Yang who already knew.

"Turns out he was being mind-controlled...kinda...this whole time and my fight with him destroyed the thing in his neck that was controlling his brain. He's actually a good guy and him and Bell, you know the short blonde girl with the big shield? Yeah they saved my life and took care of me," Nova explained. "They sorta pledged their loyalty to me as well… maybe not as grand as Jaune here did, but in a manner of speaking they did. I sent them to Menagerie to help my sister with the White Fang problem, when I was well enough to leave them I headed for Patch where I find out that my girlfriend is on her way to Mistral, on foot might I add, and everyone thinks I'm dead!"

"Wait so you knew?!" Ruby said looking to Yang. "AND YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING?!"

Yang flinched, "In all fairness he said not to say anything until he made his 'grand entrance'." She rolled her eyes.

Ruby hit Nova over the head, "That's for not coming to me instantly,"

Nova rubbed the lump that was forming, "Hey if I did then you wouldn't have gotten that necklace?" he offered. She just kissed him on the cheek for his troubles.

"You still didn't explain your arm," Nitro pointed out.

Nova grinned and took off his jacket and gloves revealing his left arm. Everyone gawked at the sight of the red leathery arm with orange markings and gemstone embedded in it.

"Is that…" Ren said in awe.

"Yeah, when I was with Adam, he said the Agniseki, which is this thing here, the Fragment of Fire, healed me and made a new arm… it's a part of me now…" Nova said displaying the arm on the table.

Ruby ran her hands over the skin, it felt warm, and not unlike his actual skin, yet it felt stronger.

"Yeah, imagine me and dad's surprise when he showed up with a weird hand. I nearly had a heart attack, I thought the dead had come back to haunt me or something," Yang said chuckling.

Nova laughed, "Heh, Yang was quite 'disarmed' when I found her!" he cracked up.

Everyone deadpanned causing him to quirk his brow, "What? Too soon?"

Yang chuckled, "Nah it was good. Anyway after that smoky here wants to head out but dad decides he wants to train us in some techniques that we'll be sharing with you later. After some pretty brutal training we track down my mom's camp where we also find Weiss, who still hasn't told her story yet by the way… and we used Raven's semblance to portal us here,"

Weiss grimaced, "I'll tell you guys later."

"SO, what's been going on with you guys?" he asked turning to them. They all shared glances before explaining their story.

* * *

"Wait, back up. You're saying you're ninety-percent sure Lionheart's a traitor, and you _told him _where the Spring Maiden is?" Nova asked incredulously.

"Well not us but Uncle Qrow… but it's not like they can do anything the Spring Maiden's with Raven Branwen." Ruby explained. "The same person… you came in with…."

"That explains what Raven meant when she said my power contested a Maiden's…" Nova said remembering the encounter.

"That girl! Vernal!" Weiss said recalling.

"Okay well, at least I know she's relatively safe… Raven won't give up her precious family." Nova continued.

"Still doesn't make this any easier… Mom's like halfway across Anima, we're no closer to the Spring Maiden than when we started, and neither is Lionheart. So, our only option now is to bide our time, get stronger, and be ready for when shit hits the fan." Yang said cracking her knuckles.

* * *

Once everyone had calmed down and gone their separate ways for the night, it left Ruby, Oscar and Nova in the living room practically bored out of their minds. Why were they awake when their days have been exhausting you ask? Well, it's because after days of being on a survival high, they've more or less grown accustomed to being awake for days… except Oscar, he was just nervous to go to bed.

"So… you're name's Oscar right?" Nova asked turning to the boy.

The boy nodded, "Yeah, and forgive me if I'm a little disoriented… a week ago I was a farm boy whose most exciting thing to do was watch the cows roll over in their sleep. I barely know you guys."

Nova nodded, "So, how's the whole… Ozpin ordeal?"

Oscar knew the question was coming but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. "Well, to put it mildly, I'm losing my mind here. Oz tells me I'm going to be fighting people? Like life or death? I'm fourteen, and I know this might sound bad but I have no fighting experience, like not even a fistfight as a kid! And now I'm being told I'm supposed to go up against monsters and maidens and Oum knows what else…" he buried his head in his hands.

Nova felt a pang of sadness looking at the boy. He knew exactly what it felt like being suddenly forced into a situation like this, having responsibility just thrown at you out of nowhere with no warning and they expect you to follow through.

"I'm not gonna say 'It's going to be okay', because… we're all living proof that shit will most definitely not be okay." Nova said getting up and draping an arm over the boy's shoulder. He wasn't sure if he was overstepping his boundaries to a stranger but if they were going to be traveling together they might as well overcome those barriers.

"Then what am I supposed to do? I don't think I'm cut out for this… for any of this…" Oscar said raising his head out of his hands.

Nova ruffled his hair, "Listen kid, whether you're cut out or not… Ozpin's in your head, and that wasn't his choice, nor was it yours. You're stuck with this responsibility now, and the only thing you can do is walk forward and improve as you go. Besides, you're not alone," he shot him a soft smile.

Oscar's eyes widened, he wasn't sure why the dragon's words affected him the way they did, but he was right. Nova didn't tell him that everything would be okay, he didn't make promises like 'I promise I'll protect you', he didn't say anything he couldn't uphold.

He was told the facts of the matter, and how to deal with it. There were no false pretenses or sugar coating…

_'He's right you know,' _Ozpin said.

_'Yeah… I can see why the others respect him so much…' _Oscar responded calmly.

_'Indeed, Mr. Flareheart possesses a very rare trait, the mark of a true leader. You could stand to learn a lot from him,' _Ozpin continued.

Oscar was genuinely surprised, _'First time I've heard you speak so highly of someone,'_

_'I do not offer praise unless it is factual merit. You would do well to listen to whatever lessons he will impart on you. He is quite wise for his age,' _

_'How old is he?' _

_'At the moment? I believe he's close to seventeen if he's not already,'_

Oscar's eyes widened, _'He's just like Ruby? He seemed… much older…'_

_'Yes, that may be due to his many life experiences. All the more reason to take everything he says to heart'_

"Anyway Oscar, if you need to blow off some steam or things get too harsh, I heard Ursa riding is a lot of fun!" Nova said quoting Nora.

_'Almost everything…'_ Oscar could feel Ozpin grimacing and the thought made him chuckle. _'May I speak to him?'_

"Oh sure," Oscar said aloud before turning to Nova, "Ozpin wants to talk to you."

"He's gonna do the thing again," Ruby pointed out from the opposite couch.

Nova just tilted his head in confusion until he saw Oscar flash green and his demeanor changed.

"Mr. Flareheart, it's good to see you alive and well," Ozpin said in Oscar's voice.

Nova smirked, "Well now, last time I heard about you Oz, you were dead,"

"I could say the same to you Mr. Flareheart," Ozpin smiled.

"Here we are, two ghosts talking. So, have you told them about Salem?" He gestured to Ruby.

"As it so happened, I didn't need to. Qrow took the liberty of doing that for me, and since you're mentioning her name, it seems someone has informed you as well? Miss Branwen I presume?" Ozpin asked, taking his cane into his hands and leaning on it.

Nova nodded, "And she told me about that little pact she and Qrow made with you."

"Pact?" Ruby asked hopping into the conversation.

"He turned them into birds," Nova said frankly, looking slightly amused at her shocked expression.

"Huh?!"

"Yes, I did grant them power in their best interest, though Ms. Branwen didn't seem to see it that way." Ozpin explained. "I assume she made you an offer to join her?"

Ozpin's tone of voice at that time was… suspicious, as if untrusting and wary.

Nova nodded, realizing a bit of Ozpin's real character was leaking out.

"And I trust you rejected her correct?"

"Well she did propose some decent points… but that's beside the point really. Salem employed Onyx and not only dragged my problems in with everyone else but endangered my family… and my friends… that's more than enough reason for me to want to take her head." Nova responded darkly, glaring Ozpin in the eyes as if saying 'You can trust me'.

Ozpin seemed to like that response, "Glad to see you haven't changed Mr. Flareheart. It seems this body is getting rather tired… so Oscar and I shall head to sleep. Good night Mr. Flareheart."

"Night Oz," Nova said with a smile though he wasn't exactly happy about their exchange. Once he was out of sight Ruby turned to Nova.

"What was that about?" she asked getting up from her couch and plopping down next to him.

Nova sighed, "Nothing just Raven said some things to me about Oz…" he glanced back to the stairs and extended an sensory aura field to detect life presences. Ozpin was most definitely not there anymore so he was safe to talk.

"Sorry about that Ruby… just…" he leaned in closer, "Don't trust everything Oz says…"

Ruby was shocked to say the least, "What do you mean? He's our headmaster, he's lead us through…"

"Did he really Ruby? I've been having these suspicions for some time now but Oz wasn't truthful to us since the start. Back when were still at Beacon, I asked Oz about the enemy queen. He had full opportunity to talk about Salem and the Relics back then… but he chose to stay silent. I only learned about this from Yang's mom, someone who's practically made it their life to be an enemy of Ozpin. Even now, Oz isn't telling us everything… just what we need to know in circumstance." Nova said looking her dead in the eye.

Ruby wanted to argue, but the more the information sunk in, the more it made sense. Since when did Ozpin give orders to them that took their safety into account. Ozpin was dictating orders to them with bare minimum information.

"But… how are we supposed to act?" she asked clutching his left arm, running her fingers through his new skin.

"Don't act any different. At the end of the day our goals are the same. Let's just hope that his withholding of information won't net us in trouble." Nova said. "Oscar's a good kid. I can tell that much. He's not like Ozpin, he's a victim just as much as most of us are…"

Ruby sighed and wrapped her arms around him and nestled her head on his chest, "I'm tired of all this… mistrust and life or death… all this drama… I just wish things could go back to the way they were before the Fall…"

Nova smiled and kissed the top of her head and stroked her face, "It's not all bad… we're in a different country, free to act as we please. It might not be the vacation we dreamed about… but it's still some form of freedom… we should make the most of it while we can."

The two got up and headed upstairs, when they got to Ruby's room Nova stopped, "Well… I guess this is good night," he said smiling, looking slightly sad.

Ruby shot him a half-smile, "And where do you think you're going?"

"The couch? I mean you don't have any space for me up here…"

"Love, I thought you were dead. I've been away from you for way too long. There's no way in hell you're _not _sleeping with me tonight." Ruby said reaching up and cupping his face.

Nova turned bright red, "W-W-WHA! Ruby… w-w-we're n-not r-ready…"

Ruby was at first confused by his stuttering until her phrasing of words sunk in, "N-No… I m-mean just sleeping… in the same bed…" she said nervously.

Nova shook himself, "Y-Yeah… that sounds nice…"

They climbed in the bed together, Ruby snuggled on his chest, her arms draped around him as her head was nestled in his neck.

"It feels nice to be able to hold you again… the real you…" Nova said rubbing her cheek with his right arm.

"Hmm? What do you mean the real me?"

"Well… when I was staying at your house, Tai and Yang let me sleep in your bed… and well everything smelled like you so I used to bundle up the blanket and pretend it was you," he explained embarrassed.

"Awww, you missed me that much?" she asked getting up and leaning over his face with hers.

"More than you think…" he responded, leaning up and closing the distance between them. Ruby pressed into him further, their lips moving in feverish synchronization as their desires began to bubble up. Kisses became hungrier, and tongues became practically conjoined. If it wasn't for the sudden loud snoring of someone, probably Nora, reverberating through the atmosphere, they would've lost themselves to passion.

They both froze as reality came back to them and they broke apart for a moment.

"NO THE PANCAKE MONSTER! Nova... bad...dragon..." Nora said most likely sleep talking from the other room causing them to groan in annoyance.

"Um… that was… nice…" Ruby squeaked as she came back to rest on his chest.

"More than a little… I want to thank Nora but also strangle her at the same time…" Nova said chuckling.

"Yeah… maybe we continue that when there are less people around~?" Ruby asked suggestively.

Nova fake gasped, "Ruby Rose! Are you… flirting with me?"

Ruby giggled and playfully smacked him, "Come on, let me enjoy tormenting my boyfriend a little."

"Alright, you win." A comfortable silence fell between them, "Since we have some time… you wanna go on a date tomorrow? I can take you to all my favourite places in Mistral," he asked.

"Hmmm…. Let me think…" Ruby said knowing she was tormenting him.

"Rubbbyyy…."

"I'm kidding, I'd love to." She kissed the underside of his chin. They eventually fell into a comfortable sleep.

* * *

**-Menagerie-**

The day was upon them. Blake, Sun, Luna, Elain, Ghira, and Kali stood before almost half the population of Kuo Kuana, there was a lot of Faunus present, reporters and journalists from all over Menagerie flocking to the Belladonna household, eager to listen to what the great Chief of the village had to say about the current state of affairs.

The only thing that constituted this to be a formal announcement was the single podium that stood at the base of the steps of the house, otherwise, there were just the persons present.

Ghira stepped toward the podium and raised his hand for silence. Once the audience was successfully quieted, he spoke. "It is good to see so many of you turning out to this occasion. Firstly, I'd like to address some of the rumors surrounding the island, and I believe it necessary that all of you here today become aware of the current situation."

There were a few murmurs amongst the people, most significantly, the ones standing in the crowd were the Albain brothers, Fennec and Corsac, clad in their standard White Fang uniform.

"The matter at hand… the event known as 'The Fall of Beacon'. Regardless of your feelings towards the human race, I believe we can all agree that what happened was a tragedy. We don't know who the true aggressors are, but what we do know for a fact is that Onyx, one of the separate branch leaders of the White Fang, was partially responsible for those events. This was confirmed by the White Fang here on Menagerie."

There was a massive collective gasp.

"I helped form the White Fang many years ago because I envisioned a world where I and all Faunus could walk alongside the humans on equal footing. The other members, in and out of the Fang wanted faster results, thus I stepped down, though not because I was incapable. I believe many of you here today were there for a certain event that marked a tragedy of our own. The loss of the Royal Family."

There were now even more murmurs, most people remembered the Royal Family as being part of the council that governed their island. Despite being Royalty, they didn't hold monopoly of the governing power, they were simply seen as important people.

"The day after, I stepped down from my position as the White Fang leader, the grief of the death of my best friends Elain and Bortz Flint Flareheart, was too much. They were well-respected members of our community, and beacons of light to those of us who are old enough to remember them. That was almost a full decade ago. Now, it is my pleasure to pass the address on to a very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce, Luna Flareheart, princess of Menagerie."

Everyone in the audience gasped in shock as Luna stepped forward and removed her cloak, revealing herself before them. She had to use a stepping stool to access the mic since she was so short.

The Albain brothers stared wide-eyed and began to tense up. The girl was supposed to be dead, at least that's what they were told… everything was about to crumble…

"I-It's good to see you in good health... your grace..." Corsac said bowing his head, though he looked to be rather unsettled. Luna knew exactly why he was so disgruntled, and that thought made her smile inwardly.

Many of the older Faunus at the gathering bowed their heads as she walked up to the mic. In doing so, many of the younger audience followed suit, though there were those who chose not to bow.

Luna was a little startled at first, she wasn't expecting them to be bowing to her, but she kept her composure. "Please, raise your heads. You need not bow before me, I am simply royal in name only. You do not owe me or my family such drastic ends of respect, but I do ask for your attention."

Those that were bowed, returned to their original standing positions and those that weren't bowing suddenly felt the urge to, the young lady before them carried an air of authority and command despite being younger than the vast majority of people present.

"Many of you may remember me from our battle during the Vytal Tournament. I'd reintroduce myself but Chief Belladonna has done that for me." She said with a light smile.

This earned some light giggles from the audience.

"As someone who was at the Fall of Beacon myself, I can also confirm the presence of the White Fang during the battle and with me are Blake Belladonna, Sun Wukong… and my mother Elain Flareheart, who can also testify to this." At the mention of her name, Elain removed her cloak as well, standing before them, not in her lab coat, but in a beautiful blue kimono, loaned to her by Kali.

"M-My Queen! T-The gods have brought her back to us!" An elderly man from the audience exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon Elain. Instantly he knelt down on the ground, and many others who recognized her did the same.

"Please, raise your heads, and give your attention to my daughter. I am no one's queen. I'm just a simple scientist with no political input." Elain said waving her hand.

"I'm sure you all may be asking yourselves, 'How are they alive? We saw their home go up in flames!' and 'Where have they been all this time?'. All these are valid questions, which equate to one answer. The White Fang, and to be more precise, the High Commander Onyx."

Everyone gasped as conspiracies began to formulate.

"Before any speculations, I will tell you the facts. Almost ten years ago, the fire that burned down our manor was caused by Onyx's branch of the White Fang. He did this to kidnap my mother and father. My brother and I were supposed to die that night, but thanks to our Uncle Quartz Flareheart, we managed to escape to Mistral where we lived in hiding until Onyx found us again, and caused us to flee to Beacon.

I am not saying this because I want your sympathy, I am telling you all this now because you, the people, need to be aware of the truth. The White Fang has been compromised, and it is only a matter of time before Onyx has full control if he doesn't already.

Most of you have already heard by now, about the death of my brother Nova Flareheart, at the Fall of Beacon. The man that cut him down was none other than Onyx himself. My brother didn't deserve this! Those of you that recall what he said at the Vytal Tournament, he wanted peace between our races. Equality between human and Faunus. To quote him, 'We are all people just the same'. The casualties at Beacon were not just human, there were Faunus to. The White Fang tore at them indiscriminately.

Onyx doesn't care for the Faunus, he only cares for his own ambition." Luna finished, they could see her eyes tearing up, though she did not shed a tear.

"And who are you to say what's good for our people?!" a voice rang out clear across the dead silence of the crowd. All eyes turned to see Ilia wearing her White Fang mask walking to the front of the crowd.

Everyone in the crowd gasped in shock as she strode through approaching them. "You 'Royals' suggest working with the very people that have tormented us for millennia. Where were the humans when our kind was tortured and enslaved before the wars. Where were the humans when the SDC took away our rights and forced us into labour? Exactly! They were the ones doing it! And now you want us to work together? Against the man who is trying to bring a new change to the world?"

Luna stood calm, "But where were our people when my family was thrown and left to die? Where were our people when my brother and I were starving in the streets? They were the ones hunting as! Both sides have their fair share of bad, we are no strangers to the same sins that humans have committed. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind, and if we project our past treatment on the humans then we are no better than them. It was humans that saved my brother and I and it was humans that fought alongside the Faunus at the Beacon to protect each other."

Most of the people nodded in understanding, many of them begrudgingly agreed, they were no fans of the human race but they weren't so petty as to subject.

"Both sides share evil? Then why haven't you told them? That it was your family that was selling private Faunus secrets to the humans? That's why the White Fang torched your home!" Ilia countered.

"And what proof do you have of that? Onyx has done nothing but spread lies and propaganda for his own gain…" Luna said calmly, desperately trying to keep her emotions in check.

"What proof do What proof do _you _have that he is?"

"I have proof!" A male voice erupted from the crowd. The crowd was a wild array of chaos and shock as someone they did not expect in the slightest appeared. Three people to be precise.

All eyes went wide as Adam Taurus, Bell Wings and Sienna Khan walked through the crowd and knelt before Luna. The crowd began to speak above murmurs.

"That's Sienna Khan!"

"And the tall one with her, that's Adam Taurus!"

"Who's the short blonde?"

"No idea"

"Adam!" Ilia's eyes widened in shock.

"Your highness," Adam said bowing before her.

"Adam?! W-What are you doing here?!" Luna said with hostility, ready to attack.

"Your highness, please, we come in peace…" Bell said stepping forward.

"What would Onyx's lackeys know about peace?" Luna said with contempt.

"Your highness, I'd suggest you listen to what they have to say… they've saved my life… I can vouch for their worth," Sienna said with a bowed head, which was strange to see for Ghira, because the Sienna Khan he knew wouldn't kneel before anyone, not even her own superiors.

"Miss Sapphire, I think you should listen to them… if Sienna vouches for their worth then so will I," Ghira said stepping forward. He wasn't sure if to call her Luna or Miss Flareheart given the circumstances so he went with her middle name for safety.

"Alright… you have my attention…" Luna said glaring at them and folding her arms.

In that moment everyone could swear they weren't looking at a fifteen-year-old girl, but the image of a true queen.

Adam swallowed thickly but managed to speak under her gaze, the sheer pressure she was exerting instilled fear in him, unlike her brother, Luna felt genuinely terrifying… though if Bell could testify, she'd say both dragons were equally scary.

"My associate and I have abandoned Onyx and his branch of the White Fang. We no longer believe in his cause, after having seen the atrocities he committed against not only our race, but to innocent civilians during the Fall of Beacon, we have deserted him." Adam said, now glancing around. The Albain brothers were missing in the confusion.

"As former hands to the man himself, we know for a fact that Onyx's next course of action is to attack Haven Academy and seize control of Mistral there," Bell explained.

"And how do you know this? Why should we even believe a word you say? You people killed my brother…" she seethed.

Adam gulped, "Your brother he's… he was a great man and what happened to him was regrettable, but…"

"But?"

"Onyx… was controlling us, our minds… with a device embedded in the back of our necks," Adam said getting up and turning around to show her the scar, Bell did the same. "We're telling you this information because we want to make up for all the wrongs we've done until now. We wish to start over and help you."

"I-If you don't believe us… the information is on this scroll…" Bell tossed a scroll to Ghira who caught it and began to go through the data.

"HEY, THAT'S MINE!" Ilia yelled in protest, realizing Bell had pickpocketed her without her knowledge.

Ghira's eyes widened, "I-It's all here! The plans for the Haven attack, the orders to kill Sienna Khan… we have all the physical proof right here!" he said showing the scroll to the others. Blake and Sun also skimmed through in awe at the sheer detailed schemes.

Luna sighed, "Why the sudden change of heart? You had perfect opportunity to run, yet you chose to come back here? What's your angle? Did you hope that by giving up this information I'd forgive you for what you've done?"

Adam shook his head, "To tell you the truth, we were… sent by a mutual acquaintance… and he said you'd need some help, and he was right. If we weren't here then Sienna Khan would be dead and the White Fang would be unified under Onyx's rule."

"Mutual Acquaintance?" Luna was confused.

"We'll speak on this later… for now I believe you have a waiting audience," he said gesturing to the mass of gaping Faunus.

"Ahem, yes…" she paused gathering her thoughts, "Now that we know what Onyx himself is planning, I ask you, the people of Menagerie. Will you not aid us in the fight against this injustice? Against this madman that indiscriminately kills Faunus and Human alike? I'm not saying you should abandon your homes and pick up arms, I'm asking for small acts, just spreading the truth and resisting the lies is enough, but those of you who are capable, will you not join us in fighting against him?" Luna asked imploring the audience.

There was a loud eruption of cheer as many agreed with her words. Once the chaos had quieted and the gathering concluded, they all sat inside the Belladonna household to discuss what happened. Ilia and the Albain brothers had disappeared in the chaos.

* * *

"So… Onyx sent an assassin after you?" Ghira asked turning to Sienna.

She nodded, "Yes… were it not for these two I'd be dead… though many of those loyal to me are no doubt already dispatched by him…"

"It wasn't just any assassin, it was Edan… our old 'friend'," Bell said with air quotes.

Luna looked shocked, "Him?! Fucking hell…"

"And he's been altered somehow… I stabbed right through him and he brushed it off like it was nothing… he was made of… wires and metal…" Adam said looking at his hands.

"Like a cyborg?" Sun prompted.

"Yes, actually… who are you?" Adam asked looking at the monkey Faunus.

"Sun Wukong, resident badass," he said proudly.

Adam took a sip of his tea and was about to question the boys connection to the incident when he noticed his proximity to Blake, and came to a conclusion, "Ah… I see…"

"Earlier you mentioned a mutual acquaintance," Luna said drawing his attention, "Who are you speaking of?"

Adam glanced around and sighed, "I'd prefer to keep that a secret, I was asked specifically not to say…"

"If you want us to actually trust you… then I'd suggest you say who it is right now…" Elain eyed him cautiously. She didn't trust the man, not one bit, Adam Taurus was partially responsible for her son's death… and she wasn't about to let that go.

Bell looked at him, "He did say not to tell anyone… but I think it's okay to tell them right?"

"We were given specific orders not to." Adam returned.

"And since when did he become our boss?" She asked, and Adam responded with a raised eyebrow.

Bell sighed heavily, "Ugh, well be that as it is, I'm still tellin 'em, they deserve to know."

"Fine but you're the one who has to answer to him when we're done with this," Adam rubbed his temples.

Blake watched the exchange with nervousness. Adam was acting like his old self, like the Adam she knew before he joined the Fang, like the friend she once had. Yet, that concept made her feel uncomfortable in of itself. Adam was the reason she left the White Fang, he was the reason she hid herself for so long, and yet here he was, in the one place she didn't want to ever see him again… in her own home.

Adam noticed her choice to remain silent and distant, and he couldn't blame her reaction. After all he'd done he'd be surprised if she'd reacted any differently.

"Listen, the person who sent us," Bell said, bring their attention to her, "Was his royal pain in the ass himself, Nova the flaming asshat."

"WHAT?!" Everyone gasped in surprise.

"Y-You… you're lying! MY BROTHER IS DEAD!" Luna said angrily, her eyes glowing and she looked about ready to murder Bell.

"She speaks the truth. Nova survived… well to be more precise we saved his life but, details aside, he's alive and at Patch, something about meeting up Ruby Rose again," Adam said.

"B-But how…" Luna said tearing up, Elain began to choke up as well.

"He's alive…" she said as if not believing it herself. "He's alive!"

"How? Well you'll have to ask him yourself when you see him again, for now we need to focus on our plan of action," Adam said sipping on his tea again.

"We can try to acquire supporters tomorrow, no doubt with the Queen of Menagerie and the royal princess, a branch leader of the White Fang and the daughter of the Chief, we'd manage to get at least some people…" Sienna said folding her arms and looking at them.

"Indeed, but we must be cautious, we don't know who could be working for him," Ghira said as they delved into strategizing.

Sun saw Blake shrink into the corner and joined her, "Hey… you okay? You look kinda pale," he said sitting down next to her.

"How would you feel if the man who ruined your life is now sitting in the same room like an ally, when just yesterday you thought you'd seen the last of him?" she asked hugging her knees.

Sun flinched and shot a glance at Adam, "Ouch, okay… you told me about your history with the Fang but… how about your history?" he asked looking at Adam.

Blake sighed, "We were friends once… I looked up to him like a mentor, someone who was the ideal White Fang rebel. He was willing to do whatever it took for our cause… no matter what it was…"

"Sounds like you more than just 'admired' him." Sun pointed out.

Blake shivered, "I may have had a crush on him at some point… but whatever feelings that could've possibly have been between us… well it fizzled out and died when… I realized what was really going on…"

"I'm sensing a but somewhere in there," Sun said.

"It's just that… seeing him now he reminds me of how he was when we were kids… calmer, more reasonable… and that scares me…" she said pulling her knees closer, her ears flattening against her head.

"You're beginning to have feelings for him again?" Sun asked curiously, with what Blake almost thought was jealousy.

"What? No! No… never… not after everything… I just… I don't think I can handle that he's… an ally now, if that even is the right term… and now he tells us that Nova's alive? My head just feels like it's all over the place…" she said burying her head on her knees.

Sun draped one arm around her, "Well… there's not much you can do about it, I think if he is as changed as you say he seems, then things will sort themselves out. You just need to be patient with it."

Blake sniffed and looked up with a smile, "That's strangely wise coming from you."

"What do you mean strangely? I'm the embodiment of wisdom!" Sun said point at his chest with his thumb causing Blake to giggle.

"Thanks Sun, I'm… actually glad you followed me here…" she said leaning on his arm and smiling.

"What are friends for?" Sun beamed at her.

"Yeah… friends…" Blake returned almost unsure if she wanted to call him that.

Adam watched the exchange with a light smile ghosting his lips. She was in good hands, and he could feel better knowing she had reliable people to support her after all he's done. Still… he needed to at least talk to her if she'd let him…

* * *

**-Later that night-**

The balcony of the Belladonna household was once again occupied by Blake. Sun was sleep still nursing his shoulder injury that Ilia inflicted, and Luna and Elain were too emotionally exhausted to continue any further. This left Blake to twirl her thumbs in contemplation, as she stared up at the clear night sky.

"Still the same night owl as you always were," Adam said as he walked into the Balcony. Blake jumped back and perched atop the rails in position to strike.

"Easy there Blake… I'm here to talk…" Adam said raising his arms up in surrender.

She had to mentally force herself out of a defensive position and ease back onto the balcony floor. "What is there to talk about?" she spat as if trying to avoid the conversation.

Adam flinched at her hostility though he could not blame her, "You know as well as I do, I have a lot to answer for… to you especially…"

Blake stayed silent, just watching him.

He sighed, "I'm not going to make up excuses for what I did. I've hurt people… killed people, innocent people. I've done a lot of wrong in my life under the belief that I was doing it for our cause…"

"And what? You think because you acknowledge your wrongs know that it makes it okay?! That'll I'll welcome you with open arms as if the last two years of my life didn't exist? Adam I watched you slaughter innocent people… you bombed a civilian district because they were Atlasian!" Blake said her anger flaring.

Adam winced, "I'm not asking for your forgiveness Blake… I'm asking you to at least try to cooperate with me… I'm trying… ever since Nova broke the device in my neck… I've been seeing things clearly."

"Chalk it up to mind control? That's how it is?"

"NO!" Adam yelled angrily causing Blake to shrink back, her ears flattening against her head in fear, and Adam instantly regretted his actions. "No… Blake I'm sorry… just… hear me out…"

"Those thoughts… and actions were all mine… I will not deny that. The machine only served to fuel my impulses and rage so I acted on them until my mind became clouded. It wasn't long before I'd been fully under his thumb. Do you remember that day you left?" he asked with a pleading eye since the other one was gone.

Blake nodded, "How could I forget? It was my first step to becoming my own person again," she said with contempt in her voice.

Adam looked at the floor, "That day was the first time I ever started to question if what we were doing was the right thing, but my mind would become cloudy again. It was like my thoughts were being stopped by a brick wall of anger and pain, and any semblance of clarity would instantly be muddled over by fury… When we spoke again, at the genetics research facility… there was a chip in that wall. After Mount Glenn, Team BLDE came back with injuries far beyond anything I'd seen, and Bell was asking questions, she was saying things about Onyx that felt too real… too true. Slowly that wall became cracked until I myself began to slowly see through the haze…"

Blake watched in silent observation as Adam began to explain his path to redemption.

"That night that Nova defeated me… he told me that Onyx was using me, he laid the facts before me on a table and dragged me out of that dark ditch that was my mind… When I awoke after the fall I felt like a new me… or rather like the part of me that was missing for years was finally back… I was free of that monster. For that one reason, I owe my life to Nova, and I've sworn my loyalty to him." Adam explained.

Blake looked shocked, for Adam to freely submit to someone… it was unheard of. "I don't…"

"Blake… I'm not asking you to go about like nothing happened, I'm just… I want us to at least try to cooperate… for the sake of our people… and for Nova," Adam sad extending an arm in a form of a handshake.

Blake was taken aback, she wasn't expecting Adam to come across as genuine. He was completely different from what he was like all those years ago. It was like talking to a different person… with reasonable thoughts and ambition.

She hesitantly took the hand, and shook it, and glared into his eyes, "We can start… but if I see you or your friend make one wrong move… I will not hesitate…"

Adam smiled, "I'd sooner kill myself than betray you… besides even if I did, I think the little one would disembowel me faster than I can blink…" he said referring to Luna.

Blake shuddered, the blue dragon was becoming more terrifying as the days went on. She sighed as she leaned over the railing, "I feel like I need a vacation...". Her musings were interrupted however when she saw a rustling in the bushes, accompanied by a familiar pair of glowing eyes...

"Illia?"

* * *

**I wanted to do Nova and Ruby's date as well as continue with the Menagerie side of things but that'd better be saved for the next chapter. **

**Thoughts on how I've been taking Oscar's character so far? I've been trying to make him seem more like a teenager with a grown man in his head than a grown man in a teenager's body.  
It's also hell trying to talk about Onyx formally without mentioning his last name... why? Because plans muahahaha**

**Anyway exhausted author out! See you beautiful butt munches on the next chapter!**


	47. Chapter 47: A Peace of Time

**I apologize for how incredibly late this is but exams ran longer than they usually would this week so I didn't get to work on this until yesterday. It's a bit shorter than I would like but I'll try to make it up to you guys next week when all my exams are over... though they won't be over til the 10th of June.**

**In response to Anthony Glider: No sadly I won't be sparing Vernarl because I want Raven as the Spring Maiden for this story... and there's stuff later down the line that it's applicable for, also I have plans for Weiss unless anyone wants to see her end up with someone specific, that being said Oscar is off limits right now because since the beginning I've had a planned ship for him. Otherwise, for Weiss, I'll be sticking with the person I wanted her to be shipped with because I think it's got some serious potential, who that is... is a surprise heh.**

**If you haven't gone on my twitter already, I highly recommend you do, the link is on my profile. A couple of amazing people have sent me fanart that of which I have posted, you can also check out their profiles for more. **

* * *

**Chapter 47: It's good to take a break sometimes**

* * *

"Ilia?!" Blake exclaimed as she peered into the dark, her night vision enhancing the image before her to reveal the smaller girl hiding in the jungle bushes. Her glowing eyes were the only thing amidst the pitch-black shadows of the night.

Adam was instantly on guard, the small glint of red from his blade shining out of its scabbard in the pale light of the Belladonna household. He was ready to attack at the slightest sign of danger, the only reason he didn't was that commotion now would only cause unnecessary panic.

Ilia made no sound other than erratic eye movements as if begging them to follow her without saying it.

Blake went from combat mode to instant confusion as she observed the girl curiously. "What do you want?!" she asked glaring in her direction.

Ilia facepalmed in the darkness and began directly gesturing to follow her before disappearing into the depths of the foliage, nodding her head as if to cement the idea that she was to be followed.

The two Faunus shared a glance, "Uh… should we follow her?" Adam asked raising the eyebrow over his one functional eye.

"… It's Ilia… She might be working for the Fang, but in that time we fought, she could've chosen to kill Sun… but she didn't… there's some good in her, she's just misguided." Blake said clutching her right arm.

"So… is that a yes or….?" The redhead asked genuinely curious.

"What do you think?" the catgirl responded before getting up onto the balcony rails on all fours and leaping into the darkness. "Try to keep up!" came her distant call.

"Still the same as always…" Adam muttered as he watched her figure fade into the night before following after her. The cold wind of the night air whipped across their faces as they effortlessly maneuvered the tree line to civilized rooftops, it felt oddly reminiscent of their old days in the Fang. The espionage missions and night infiltration, some of the most fun Blake had when she was younger.

It wasn't long before they found her, atop one of the flat roofs near the Belladonna home, standing alone amidst the night sky.

"We're here… speak girl." Adam said gruffly as he landed beside Blake.

The catgirl hit him over the head, "Don't be so mean…" she turned to Ilia, "What's going on Ilia?"

"I-It's just you two?". The chameleon girl turned a shade of blue, with purple spots, "Blake… listen… about what happened today in the square…"

"Come to negotiate about your stolen war plans? Did Onyx find out and now your neck's on the line?" Adam interrogated, folding his arms and turning up his head.

Ilia turned red, literally, "NO! I…" she saw their faces… she needed to be calmer, "I came to hear it from you… what you said about Onyx… is it true?"

"Every word… he's nothing but a monster." Adam spat, his grip on his sword tensing.

Ilia could see the levels of deep-seated hatred in his eyes... that level of anger was not human... if he decided to kill her now, she would be dead with no resistance. Adam was dangerous.

"I didn't come here to fight you… I just… Blake, you shouldn't have come back home…"

"What're you talking about?" Blake asked looking both alarmed and confused, "You said this the first time… what do you mean?"

"I…I can't… say… listen there's a lot more going on than you realize… you can't just bring an assault on him like it's a simple concept…" Ilia said her skin turning blue.

"Wait what…?" Blake was taken by surprise at Ilia's tone, she was implying… a change of heart.

"Look… I don't have much time before they start looking for me. I'll explain everything tomorrow, meet me back here… seven p.m." she said looking anxious and slightly scared.

"Ilia I don't understand, what are you…" Blake's expression was now marred with concern, all of her senses were telling her that Ilia was in some sort of trouble.

"Please… I'll explain everything. I need to leave now!" Ilia said before dashing off into the night, leaving Blake and Adam to stew over what just occurred.

"She sounded… scared…" Blake said folding her arms.

"Sounds like Onyx has something on her… she doesn't strike me as some aggressive radical. I've dealt with my fair share of Fang when I was in command and I can say that she's not normal…" Adam said whilst rubbing his chin. "What if it's a trap?"

"I want to believe her… even if it is a trap, what're they going to do when I have the former White Fang captain on my side?" Blake asked with her hands on her hips.

Adam was surprised, "W-Well… I guess when you put it like that… still, your naivety will be your undoing, Blake."

"I don't need to hear that from you."

* * *

Not far off from their meeting place, Ilia set herself down at the edge of the village, bordering the dense jungle.

"You did good kid," the sinister voice of Edan said as he emerged from the shadows.

"Hmph, it was easy… she already trusts me." Ilia said with a stoic expression.

Edan chuckled, "Yes, your contributions to our cause will not go unnoticed…"

"Will you explain to me why you wanted me to set up the meeting now?" she asked folding her arms.

"Master Onyx has received word of the current situation… and in his benevolence, he has decided to have the Belladonnas and those associated… dealt with…" Fennec said also now emerging from the shadows, accompanied by his twin.

"They know too much about the plans… and their actions against him are… a hindrance. Hence… they must be silenced…" Corsac finished.

Ilia's eyes widened in shock, "WHAT?!" her face was the epitome of instant regret. She couldn't get Blake killed or her family. They were innocent people. "I can't! We can't! That's wrong!"

Edan chuckled, "Really kid? Do you think you have room to negotiate with us given your position?"

"You swore an oath to our cause," Corsac said with a dark smile.

"And your family is under our protection," Fennec finished.

"It would be a shame for that protection to… become a double-edged sword…" Corsac continued.

"Accidents do happen when a fight breaks out… civilian casualties after all…." Fennec finished for him.

Ilia felt a dark chill run up her spine as Edan gave her a cold stare.

"Need I remind you why they call me Edan 'Ghostblade'?" he began twirling one of the spectral daggers between his fingers.

"No… you're right. I'm sorry for my insubordination, it won't happen again," Ilia said her gaze cast downward, whilst biting her lower lip in frustration.

"Good… we're counting on you…." Edan said as they disappeared again as if traveling by shadow

* * *

**-Mistral-**

Ruby had the most comforting sleep of her life since she left Patch. Her dreams were filled with warmth and the smell of cinnamon…and the odd flash of orange… which was odd, but dreams tended to be strange at times. She was vaguely awake, her eyes were closed but her mind was more or less ready to awaken, the only problem was that her boyfriend was just so comfortable that it hurt her mentally to leave the comfort of his warmth.

She snuggled closer into his, unusually soft chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of his chest almost lull her into sleep again until Nova himself began to stir.

"Mmm, Ruby your hair is tickling my nose…" Nova said in a rather higher-pitched voice.

"My hair isn't anywhere near your nose stop being a pest and go back to sleep…" she mumbled nuzzling her head into his semi-squishy stomach.

Nova peaked his eyes open to see Ruby happily burying her face into his stomach, that's when he realized the hair in his face was white, "Oh shit… it's my hair what?... oh…" he glanced down to see his body was not that of which he went to bed in during the night.

"What was that oh for?" Ruby murmured now raising her head groggily, letting her black and red hair fall over her face. When she saw the state of Nova she realized what that 'oh' meant.

"You're a girl? Nova did you overuse your powers yesterday?" she asked curiously.

Nova glanced down, sure enough, he was now a she again. "No… must be the armlet bugging out again hold on…" he clicked the button on the armlet, there was a fizzled flash of orange, unlike the normal solid glow.

"And presto! I'm a guy… or not?" she looked down to see her body hadn't changed back. She made a move to push the button again only for the armlet to begin sparking and then just made a pained noise before it stopped sounding altogether.

"Fuck me sideways… damn things busted…" she cursed, before faceplanting on the bed, rolling her head over to Ruby who was sitting up against the bed head. "Guess I'm gonna be stuck like this until it gets fixed…"

"Is that a bad thing? I mean… I like the girl version of you, just as much as the guy version, you're still you… just while you're a guy you're hot… and as a girl, you're still hot but you're also very cute…" Ruby blushed as she complimented the dragon.

"Are you sayin' I'm not normally cute?" Nova asked, placing her head on Ruby's lap and looking up at her.

"Of course you are… just you're a different kind of cute!" Ruby said in a fit of giggles as she toyed with Nova's hair.

"Hmmm~," Nova grinned, nuzzling her head into Ruby's lap before *GROWL*.

"Was that an Ursa?" Ruby asked curiously looking out the window only to see the foliage and mountainside.

"No… that was my stomach… I totally forgot to eat last night…" Nova complained.

"How the hell did you… oh right the storytelling and stuff," the reaper chuckled as she poked the dragon leader's cheek.

Nova's head instantly shot up as her nose began to sniff the air.

"What is it, girl?! What do you smell?" Ruby asked as if Nova were a dog.

"Pancakes! There can only be one person to concoct such a delectable smell of deliciousness!"

"Nora!"

"Nora!" They both said simultaneously, before bursting into a fit of laughter.

* * *

The couple made their way downstairs to see most everyone else awake, the only person who wasn't was Qrow who was snoring away on the couch… how he moved from his bed to the couch again made absolutely no sense but they weren't questioning it.

"Mornin' guys… I smell pancakes… there better be enough for everybody and not just Nora otherwise someone's getting kicked halfway across Mistral for tempting me out of bed…" Nova grumbled as she moved into the kitchen.

"Wait I thought Weiss was over…" Jaune looked over to the dining table where Weiss was calmly reading a book until her name was called to which she looked slightly startled. "Who…?"

"Jaune… I'm gone for what a month? And you already forget what I look like?" Nova asked quirking her brow.

Jaune opened his mouth to answer but at that moment Oscar came downstairs.

"Morning guys, Ruby, Weiss…" he greeted as he passed Ruby and Nova.

"I'm over here!" Weiss fumed as Oscar's attention was drawn to the girl at the table.

"Wait… but you were just…" he turned around to see girl Nova with a shit-eating grin waving at him, while Weiss sat on the opposite side of the room. It took him more than three looks back and forth before he had a mental meltdown.

"Oscar!" Nova said taking the boy by the shoulders, "You see these?" she pointed to her horns.

Oscar nodded vigorously, whilst blushing. "And you see this?" Nova pointed to her scar over her right eye and the mismatched irises.

"Hey, you kinda look like…" Oscar began to realize.

"Now he gets it, good boy," Nova said patting him on the head before walking into the kitchen to find coffee.

"How…?" Oscar looked positively confused and slightly flustered, unable to look in the direction of the alarmingly good looking dragon girl that was wearing a t-shirt two sizes too large for her.

"Long story…" Nova answered as she turned around, leaning over the counter with an entire pot of coffee, casually drinking the boiling liquid like it was room temperature water.

"OOOH! STORYTIME AND BREAKFAST!" Nora squealed grabbing a stack of pancakes and sitting down.

"Yeah, I guess I could tell it over some food…" Nova said placing the empty pot down and stretching her arms above her head.

"Uh… you might want to change clothes first… or change back into a guy if you're doing that… there's only so much young Oscar's brain can handle before he overheats…" Yang pointed out. They all turned to see Nova's shirt hanging a little too loose around her chest, almost revealing her assets, and the stretching didn't do much to help either.

Nova instantly turned red, "OH! FUCK! My bad Oscar," she apologized to the boy who was currently redder than Ruby's hood, with blood leaking down his nose.

Everyone just laughed at his expense as he tried to cover his face.

"WEISS!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'M BORROWING YOUR…" Nova yelled as he climbed the stairs.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" The Schnee yelled back as she watched the girl disappear.

* * *

A few minutes later Nova came down wearing a black long-sleeved, v-neck shirt and what looked to be one of Weiss' white skirts and black knee socks. The shirt hugged Nova's body almost like spandex, accentuating her curves.

"The fact that you're allowed to look that good and you don't even try should be illegal…" Hex said, gesturing with her fork as Nova descended the stairs to sit at the table.

"She's not even wearing makeup! It's not fair!" Weiss protested as well.

"…But I never wear makeup either…" Ruby said raising the point.

"That's different, you're you… she's… ugh, this is impossible…" Weiss groaned faceplanting the table.

Nova snickered, "Come on ice queen if you let that personality thaw a little you might become… naturally hot…" she burst out laughing.

Yang chuckled, "Yeah and maybe people will '_warm-up_' to you more!" she broke out into a fit of hysteria like Nova, as they both began heaving for air. Everyone in the room looked at them with pained expressions.

"Please tell me they only do that on occasion…" Oscar groaned rubbing his temples.

"Unfortunately not…" everyone else simultaneously responded.

"Come on guys, it's guys, why you gotta be so 'cold'?" Nova said pointing to Weiss while struggling to keep it in.

"Yeah, it's not like our humor is 'frozen' stale!" Yang said falling over.

Everyone felt their stomachs turn. It was bad enough having one Yang, but two was just overkill.

"Yang, please for the sake of our relationship, don't…" Hex threatened.

"Nova, if you make another pun, no snuggles for a week," Ruby followed up.

This seemed to slap both of them to their senses as they instantly righted themselves.

"Uhhh so what were we doing? Stories right? Well Oscar, allow me to tell you a tale of frozen tundras! Daring adventures! Mysteries and life or death situations!" Nova said as she began to tell the story of their first mission as Team ASHNRWBY.

* * *

"Woah… so… you survived that… but that doesn't explain why you're like this," Oscar pointed out.

"Right well, the nanomachines they injected me with used Maiden DNA as a base so that circulated in my bloodstream while I was low on blood. My semblance is an adaptation so my body adapted to the nanomachines and copied some of the DNA traits, as far as we know they only thing that changed is my body." Nova explained.

"Okay then if you changed then how were you a guy yesterday?"

"This thing," Nova raised the armlet, "Helps regulate the machines into their active state so I can be a guy as long as I want or switch to a girl if I need to. Thing is… it broke after the Fall of Beacon and it hasn't been fully repaired…"

"Don't look at me, that's biotech, I don't deal with biotech," Hex said backing out instantly.

"Which means I'll have to try and fix it…" Nova muttered looking pained.

"You're going to fix it?" Jaune asked.

"Hey! Just because I'm not a technowizard like Hex or a super medical genius like my sister and mother, doesn't mean I don't know how to fix this stuff. I designed and forged Asura, and helped my sister forge Galaxia, I have some knowledge!" she protested looking slightly offended.

"Yes, if the ability of your parents has indeed passed to you then it would be wrong for us to doubt your capabilities," Ren said calmly sipping tea.

"Right your parents are super geniuses! I forgot about that… You're mom's the nicest lady!" Nora said cheerfully.

"Nora you only say that because she bought you food," Red said blankly.

Nora stuck her tongue out in 'tee-hee'.

"Anyway so that's outta the way, ice princess, it's your turn," Nova said turning to the Schnee.

"Huh?" she blinked like a deer in headlights.

"You haven't told us about what happened. How did you manage to convince papa Schnee to let you go? I thought you were the heir to his corporation or whatever?" Nova asked, instantly regretting it as he watched her face fall like a stone off a cliff.

"That's… he didn't let me leave…"

"Huh?!" they all questioned.

"Well… thing is…" Weiss then began to tell the story about her return to Atlas and the charity ball.

* * *

"Damnnn girl, I'm impressed!" Hex said admiringly.

"Hell yeah, that's our Weiss-cream, sticking it to those pompous money bags!" Yang said smiling.

"I take it uncle dust emperor didn't take that act of rebellion too kindly…" Nova said, knowing exactly how those high society dirtbags handled things like public image. She could only imagine what Weiss was put through.

"No… he didn't. He stripped me of my claim to the Schnee Dust Company as an heiress and transferred everything to my brother…" Weiss said shaking slightly.

"What do you mean everything…?" Ruby asked looking worried for her friend.

"Wait you have a brother?!" Nora asked, which went ignored.

"My title as the heiress, my shares of the company, my inheritance, my rights as a Schnee, everything…" Weiss explained not looking at them, instead choosing to stare at the empty space on the table in front of her.

"That's awful… I mean I know how those families work… but still…" Nitro said shuddering as he remembered his own family.

"I don't blame him, I lost control. I gave in to my petty anger and disgraced him. It was even worse when he questioned me about it. It was like all my anger had hit a breaking point and I just let loose. Everything that had been bothering me over the years, his treatment of our family, how awful and broken it is. His dealings with the black market, his unethical treatment of the Faunus… all of it just came out." She clutched her arms around herself, "You should've seen him if disowning me wouldn't make him look bad, he would have done that the moment I left for Beacon…"

"Weiss…" Yang was at a loss for words. Everyone didn't know what to say.

"Hmph and what of it?" Nova spoke up.

"Huh?" Weiss looked up confused.

"You stood up for yourself! You put up with their shit for too long, I think it's a good thing you said what you said. You were right, Weiss, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." She said folding her arms.

"Yeah, Nova's right. Weiss, you stood your ground, you're Weiss, the Schnee name doesn't define you. When people think about the girl that fought for Beacon they don't see Weiss Schnee, we see just Weiss." Hex said smiling.

"B-But… I ruined everything! Don't you guys get it? By running away from home, breaking out… I've essentially ruined my life! If enough time passes… I might not have a home to come back to…" Weiss said with tears in her eyes.

Nova glanced at everyone around the table then back at Weiss, "Weiss you might need to wash that load of shit out of your mouth."

"E-Excuse me?!" Weiss wiped her eyes, looking angry now.

"You heard her, she said 'no home to go back to'. Weiss in case you haven't realized, let me spell it out for you. You always have a home with me, with us. The Flareheart Family's doors are open to you, former heiress to the SDC or not, you are Weiss. If your dad doesn't want you back then I want you." Nova said looking her hard in the eyes.

Weiss sniffled, "W-What?"

"Weiss, after everything we've been through, we're your family now… all of us," Ruby said smiling with pure light in her eyes, they all were.

Weiss was taken aback, "Y-You… really mean that?"

"Weiss, you're my family whether you like it or not," Nova said folding her arms.

Weiss was overcome with emotions as she tackled the dragon girl in a tight hug. "Thank you so much… I love you guys…" she sniffed.

"We love you to Weiss," Ruby responded joining the hug.

"UGH CAN'T A GUY GET OVER HIS HANGOVER IN PEACE?!" Qrow grumbled aloud as he rose from the couch to see the teens sitting at the table. "Hey, why are there two Schnees? Ugh, this must be a bad dream…"

"Do I really look like Weiss that much?" Nova asked alarmed.

"It's weird, take away the scars, change the eyes and you look almost identical, save for certain… aspects…" Hex said glancing at Nova's boobs.

"I'm not flat!" Weiss protested.

"No one said anything about that Weiss-cream," Nova snickered much to her expense.

"Seriously who's the chick?" Qrow asked now rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

" 'Sup old man, you miss me?" Nova said getting up and moving closer so Qrow could see her eyes and horns.

"No… way… n-n-no you're supposed to be dead you're y-you're…" Qrow's eyes widened as he began to tear up.

"Damn old man, since when were you capable of waterworks? You must be getting soft," Nova chuckled.

Qrow ceased all movements and just hugged the girl, tightly wrapping her shorter frame against his. The man was bawling his eyes out behind Nova as he hugged her. "It's nice to see you again too, Uncle Qrow…"

'_It's quite strange to see Qrow get so emotional… usually, he's either drunk or angry or both…'_ Ozpin said.

'_Is it that strange? This Nova guy…err girl? It seems to be loved by everyone… even you have some happy memories of him,' _Oscar responded in his mind.

_'Yes Miss Flareheart has deep-rooted connections to everyone here, and I hope you will come to feel the same way,' _Ozpin finished.

_'Well… we'll see…'_

_'Let me take over for a bit' _

_'Uh… sure…?'_

"Good morning students," Ozpin said through Oscar's voice, startling everyone.

"Shit, Oz, I forgot you were there, Good morning to you to I guess," Yang replied slightly taken aback.

"Yes, you would do well to remember that I do share Oscar's senses and memory. That being said… today we'll be starting your training," Ozpin said sipping on coffee which he seemed to have obtained from thin air.

"What?! Oz no way, we just got here, we need some time to adjust," Nitro complained.

"Well while you take time to adjust our enemies will be constantly planning and getting stronger. They aren't going to wait for you to get more powerful. Our training starts today… that includes you as well Oscar," Ozpin said aloud.

'_I'm not mentally prepared for this…'_

"Well, I hate to break it to you might wizard, but Ruby and I have a day-long date today, so we'll be sitting the training out," Nova said smiling deviously as she detached from Qrow and joined her girlfriend.

Ruby looked nervous, "Uhhh… are you sure that's a good idea…?"

"Yes, I agree with Miss Rose, you two should remain here and train." Ozpin opened his cane and rested his right hand on it.

Nova chuckled, "Hate to break it to you Oz, but Yang and I already received training from Tai, there's a lot to perfect but I think we could afford one day… and as for Ruby, I'll train her myself."

"Are you sure you're qualified to train Miss Rose? I understand you are strong enough already but it is in your best interest to be ready." Ozpin said with what sounded like a threatening tone.

Nova waved her hand, "Try and stop us."

"Very well I shall." Ozpin smiled.

As Nova and Ruby walked toward the front door, Ozpin flew at them at an alarming speed, closing the gap in less than a second.

They all watched in horror, then awe, as Nova turned around instantly, grabbed the cane, and flipped Ozpin into the air before cartwheeling a kick that sent him crashing into Qrow, collapsing the two onto the couch.

Nova then dusted off herself, "There now do you have your answer?"

Ozpin got up in a coughing fit, "Well… it seems you've certainly grown stronger, though I'd fare better if this body could keep up with my movements."

"So do we get a pass?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Yes Miss Rose, you are free to go, provided you spend the whole day tomorrow training… that being said, well done mastering the sensory field technique Miss Flareheart." Ozpin sat back down on the couch looking slightly dizzy.

"Yeah and Oscar, if you're hearing this I'm really sorry about the kick… I didn't realize you hadn't unlocked your aura yet…" Nova said causing everyone to wince. Taking that kick without aura would leave a nasty bruise at best.

"Uhh what was that?" Nora asked turning to Yang as Ruby and Nova left.

"Ozpin attacked Nova within his sensory field. It's a thing you can do with aura that lets you detect and react to attacks within a certain radius of your person. The more aura you use the higher you can extend the field… it's like a sixth sense." Yang explained nonchalantly.

"And you can do that too?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"Yeah, maybe not as good as her or my dad, but I'd say I'm pretty decent… there's a lot more you can do with aura than you think," the blonde brought up her hand to show them a glowing yellow fist.

"Yes… it seems you've learned techniques that take normal huntsmen decades to learn just a few weeks… I'm impressed," Ozpin said getting up, "There may not be anything to teach _you _Miss Xiaolong, but the others could stand to learn a few things."

"OOH, I ALWAYS WANTED TO GO TO BOOT CAMP!" Nora squealed.

"Nora there's no pancakes in real boot camp." Ren pointed out.

Nora made a disgusted face, "Never mind I hate boot camp."

* * *

"So what's first on our agenda?" Ruby asked as she trailed alongside her girlfriend, taking her hand in hers, entwining their fingers. The morning was nothing but clear skies and clean air. Warm sunshine and the occasional breeze, it was just the type of day to label a lazy day.

"Well… I was thinking we could go shopping? I sorta need some clothes here if I'm going to be regularly changing outfits… I only have one other set of girl clothes… and those are special…" Nova said bringing her index to her chin.

"Special?"

"Yeah… um… it's sort of special occasion clothes that Yang loaned me… I feel bad wearing them…" Nova blushed.

"Are they embarrassing?" Ruby asked genuinely curious.

"No… it's more like… they hold special meaning to you, and her."

"To me? What are you…"

"Never mind that, let's go explore the town!" Nova said tugging Ruby along, the poor girl left in the dark.

"Wait how are we going to buy clothes if we have no real money?" Ruby pointed out, the only real spending money she had was from Qrow and that was nothing more than a few Lien.

Nova raised her finger to suggest something, and Ruby stopped her before she could say it, "No, we are not stealing from the tourists."

"But…"

"Nova… stealing is wrong!" Ruby fumed.

"Fine… but that just means we're going to have to get my card replacement from the bank." Nova groaned.

"Well, it's better than stealing…"

"Ruby, love, you do realize that my bank account is literally filled _with _stolen money from the SDC right?" Nova pointed out.

Ruby thought for a moment, "Meh, after hearing what Weiss' dad did, I'll let it slide." She chuckled darkly… which was scary coming from the embodiment of sweetness.

Nova felt her sweat drop, "What have I done to you…"

* * *

When the couple walked into the bank, they were expecting long lines and hours of waiting, instead, it was unusually empty. The dark blue walls and black tiles of the large floor space made it look almost abandoned had it not been for the clerks at the various desks.

Ruby and Nova sat at the desk of one of the employees for personal account dealings. The employee was a short brown-haired girl with glasses, not much older than twenty-five, wearing a dark grey jacketed outfit.

"Hi… I'd like to get a replacement debit card? Lost the old one in an accident…" Nova scratched the back of her head while Ruby looked at her girlfriend with an expression that said 'really? That's what you're going with?'

"Name of the account and a form of ID?" the clerk responded looking rather glad to be talking to a person, which was odd considering most people working in a bank looked bored to tears with living.

"Alexandrite Lucius? As for ID…" Nova fished for her pockets only to realize she was wearing a skirt, and even if she were wearing pants her scroll was destroyed during the Fall of Beacon… "Fuck me and a half…"

"You forgot your ID didn't you…" the clerk raised her eyebrow.

"Not forgotten more like I lost that too…" Nova laughed nervously.

"Seriously?!" Ruby looked genuinely surprised.

"Hey, it's not my fault alright… My scroll _and _my wallet got destroyed and/or lost after that I fell off the tower. It's a little hard to keep track of the small stuff when you're literally bleeding to death under three tons of concrete and steel!" Nova countered.

Ruby recoiled, "Right… yeah, that makes more sense…"

"Three tons of concrete and steel? Are you all alright? What the hell happened?" The clerk asked now curious about the story.

Nova felt a spark of genius appear in her mind, "We were Beacon students, I lost my stuff during the Fall and well… it's been rough getting everything back…" she feigned trauma.

Ruby was genuinely surprised at her girlfriend's acting skills.

"The Fall of Beacon?! You must've been through so much…"

"Yeah, it was horrifying… one of my friends is in a coma right now from her injuries and I got separated from my sister… it's been really hard for us…" Nova reached over grabbing Ruby's hand and intertwining their fingers. The clerk saw the pained expression on Nova's face and instantly felt sorry for her.

"Well… there's not much I can do without a form of ID… but maybe my manager can pull some strings… I'll get her on the phone for you."

The moment the clerk turned to call the manager Nova shot Ruby a shit-eating grin and a thumbs up, to which the reaper just facepalmed, she felt guilty for playing along with this awful rouse.

"The manager will see you now… Miss Lucius…" the clerk guided the couple to the managerial office which was rather small considering the large size of the bank.

There was only enough room for a large desk, the various shelving and books, and a computer, as well as two chairs. Otherwise, the room was very cramped.

The manager was a very tall dark blue-haired woman, who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She wore a navy blue jacketed outfit much like the clerks downstairs, except hers was made of finer quality.

"So… I've been told you're a special case asking for a debit card replacement for one lost… in the Fall of Beacon? You're Beacon students?" the manager asked.

"Well were since Beacon is no longer operational… but yes. I lost my ID and such during the Fall… is there anything you can do to get me a replacement?" Nova asked pleadingly.

"A likely story, but as you are students… and very clearly minors… in the event of a replacement without identification, I'd need a relevant Parent or Guardian to sign off on everything… and present the relevant documents…"

"And that's unfortunate since… um… well…" Nova glanced at Ruby.

"Ugh, look lady. We're miles away from our parents, on a mission to save the world of Remnant from the forces of evil that caused the Fall of Beacon in the first place. My girlfriend here is also my boyfriend because things happened and we're just kids sent on a life or death mission and we just want access to her bank account so she could buy some clothes for the rest of our stay here!" Ruby exploded while Nova and the manager just looked at her wide-eyed in shock.

"And you expect me to believe all of that? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't…"

"Because… I can prove I'm Alexandrite Lucius, just give me a pen and paper, I'll prove my signature… or give me a fingerprint scan or something geez…" Nova said exasperated.

There was a knock on the door, like the sound of a wooden walking stack rapping onto the solid furniture. "Marina would you stop giving those kids a hard time!" an elderly female voice said from outside the office. The door opened to reveal a very short old woman with white hair and squinted eyes.

Nova's eyes widened, and she gasped, "YOU! You're that old lady from the market place!"

"You know my grandmother?" The manager, whose name was apparently Marina, answered.

"SHE'S YOUR GRANDMOTHER?!" Nova asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry who's the granny?" Ruby asked out of the loop.

"She's the one that gave me the gem for your necklace," Nova said gesturing to the necklace that hung around Ruby's neck.

The old lady looked at them and smiled, "So… that's what it turned into… interesting… and you have Silver eyes… Marina just give the kids what they want. I know them, they're good kids."

"But…"

"Don't disobey your elders! Besides, when have I ever led you astray?" The old lady pointed out.

Marina sighed, "Okay abuelita if you say so…"

* * *

It wasn't long before the couple walked out of the bank with a fresh new card, and accompanied by a familiar old lady.

"So… mysterious old lady, what did you mean when you said 'that's what it turned into' what did you mean? And what do you know about Silver Eyes?" Nova inquired.

"Well firstly, my name is Carmen Calavera, and I know about silver eyes because I also have them…" she opened her eyes wide so the teens could see, that her eyes, even though they were old, were definitely the same colour as Ruby's.

The two teens gasped.

"And that rock I gave you… it is a special stone, I can't tell you what it does… it might not even do anything at all… that's all dependant on how you use it …" she said lightly.

"I swear this lady only speaks in riddles…" Nova muttered to herself, "wait how did you even recognize me, I'm a girl!"

"It's not that hard when you carry the aura of the Agniseki with you…"

"Again how the fuck do you know about these things?!"

"You… I cannot answer you…" she gestured to Nova, "But… you… I can help you…"

Ruby blinked in confusion, "Me? Wha-?"

"Your eyes… they are dormant, they are awakening but they are still far from being useable… you are not ready… when your eyes awaken, find me again… for now… I can offer you some advice. Emotions are your first step in the right direction to unlocking your full potential." Raisa said as she walked away from them.

Ruby tilted her head, "What? Granny what do you mean by…" and then she was gone. Raisa vanished into thin air like a ghost, the only thing left behind was an echo in the wind.

"Emotions are the first step! You will need this in the future!" came the distant sound of her voice.

"There she goes again… lady's a nut job I tell yah…" Nova mumbled to herself.

"She said the stone has the potential to do something… and my eyes…" Ruby murmured as she clutched the necklace.

"Crazy lady is crazy, don't take her so seriously or you might end up like her," Nova replied.

Ruby just couldn't shake the feeling that Carmen's words were somehow important…

* * *

The town of Mistral seemed less busy than usual that day, the normally crowded streets and cramped market places were slightly sparser, making it look like the streets of Vale, without the endless concrete jungle or massive CCT Tower. It was a cozy place with smiling people, who carried about their lives as if the world around them wasn't on the brink of collapsing. It provided a respite from the heavy atmosphere that usually hovered around the teens, like a break in the heavy clouds of a thunderstorm. The light of hope would shine through, reminding them that better days still exist out there, and they should enjoy what little bits of peace they still have.

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked curiously as they wandered around. Nova would show her different stores that she either shoplifted from or bought from frequently, though there was a blurred line between stealing and buying when it came to Nova. Especially her kleptomaniacal tendencies in more 'prestigious' looking stores. Ruby had to constantly remind her girlfriend that she had money and didn't need to resort to such underhanded methods of procurement, but still, old habits died hard.

For Nova it wasn't that difficult to keep herself in check since her skirt had no pockets... something she cursed the designs vehemently for.

"You'll see..." Nova smiled warmly as she wrapped her arm around Ruby's right and leaned on her shoulder.

Ruby was about to question further when a faint floating pink speck floated gently across her field of vision. A delicate petal, bright and cheery like that of a flower, and just as one fell, more seemed to follow, until eventually, they arrived at a sight so breathtaking Ruby felt her heart stop.

It was a large flat park as if carved into the mountainside like a plateau, where dozens of trees with bright pink foliage adorned the area. A vast expanse of cherry blossom trees as far as the eye could see, all in full blood with their fallen petals blanketing the floor in a carpet of pink.

Ruby's eyes just widened in awe as she clutched her hands over her mouth. It was her first time seeing a scene so beautiful in her entire life, the atmospheres of peace and tranquility that was emanating from the environment struck her soul with feelings she didn't know she had. There were a few people laid on blankets on the ground, either picnicking or just enjoying the scenery.

"Welcome to Mistral's famous Eternal Blossom forest. It's like Forever Fall... but pink!" Nova smiled reaching up and kissing Ruby on the cheeks.

"I-It's beautiful... we need to bring everyone here!" Ruby exclaimed in excitement as she ran into the field of pink, kicking up cherry blossom petals as she moved, shopping bags are forgotten on the ground. Nova watched the petals fall around her smiling face in slow motion, capturing every moment of her smile, the brightness, and purity of her eyes. Her eyes hadn't shown this bright since they were still students at Beacon. She was like an everlasting gem, that despite whatever scratches it gets or how many bumps it encounters on the road, it still shines ever so brightly.

"One day... but I think for now... we should just enjoy it... together," she blushed while twirling her fingers.

Ruby's heart melted at the gesture and tackled her in a tight hug, knocking them both to the ground, petals erupting into the air around them, as Ruby laid on Nova's chest, staring into her eyes.

"You're the sweetest boy/girlfriend a girl could ask for..." Ruby said, her eyes emanating the purest form of emotion. She leaned her head down and rested her nose against Nova's.

Nova blushed dark red, "I can't deal with compliments so well..." she tried to avert her gaze.

Ruby chuckled at the cute reaction, "But you're usually so normal about it, like 'Yeah I'm awesome I know'."

"That's because I need to be like that... I'm the leader they expect me to be... I'm scared for the future. That fight with Onyx was a rude awakening that I am more mortal than I realize... and the fact that I was overwhelmed so easily when my opponent was holding back, scares me..." Nova reached up and gripped Ruby's hands that were lying a the side of him.

Ruby's expression softened, "Hey... don't talk like that, whatever we face tomorrow... we face it together. I'll be by your side... always... and that's a promise."

Nova tilted her head to stare Ruby in the eyes, "Is it? What if something happens tomorrow that we can't control... Ruby, you lost me once... and I don't want to have to lose you either..."

Ruby nuzzled her nose to her girlfriend's, "And you won't have to. We can't control the future, but we can control the present... and the present says the best gift you ever gave to me was coming back to me... and I plan to treasure it, and make every second count..."

"Goddamn, I love you..." Nova smiled warmly as Ruby closed the gap between them and firmly planted her lips on the dragon's own. The soft, gentle swaying of the trees and the ever falling pink that surrounded them complimented the scene of two fated lovers, sharing a moment of bliss under the comfort of the cherry blossom trees. The moment would forever be ingrained into their memories for as long as they lived.

* * *

**Hopefully by next week things are back to normal... I hope...**

**Thanks to everyone that's still reading this actively, I love you all. I know things are slow but I've been putting out 1-2 Chapters a week, every week for about five months, this story is one of my favourite things to work on and I honestly can't wait to do the upcoming arcs for the end of Volume 5, Neo's arc and Oscar's arc that will happen pre-volume 7.**


	48. Chapter 48: Family Business

**aias a Once again I'm super late with this chapter but... exams did finish on the FRIDAY of last week so I had to mentally recover and all that jazz.**

**To my newest guest reviewer, first off, glad for the review, secondly... I think I said this a few times before on separate platforms but Idk if I actually addressed it or not, female Nova did start off as a gag, but then I had so much fun writing her that I decided to stick with it.  
**

**If anyone remembers when I said female Nova had plot relevancy? It's coming up pretty soon. Since I love to make you guys speculate and wrack your brains to figure out where I'm going with this, here's a huge hint.  
CINDER FALL. That is all (Hehe I rhyme).**

**As for that glorious review by Grand Spurinko, I gotta commend you on the depth of detail you went to analyze this. BUT There are somethings you didn't account for hehe, firstly Pyrrha is still alive! For Nitro's ship there are a few contenders as you so grandly put with Neptune, there's also Krome, Ragnar, Scarlet could make a return, members of the Ace Ops from Vol. 7 and Future OCs, who I'm planning is a surprise HEHEHHE.  
The other ships shall remain a mystery but I am going to say you took a shot in the write direction, as for who that applies to well that's going to remain a mystery.**

**Anyway I figure I was very overdue for lore heavy chapters so this one is going to be outlining some key points that I've been holding back for a while.**

* * *

**Chapter 48: The Grey Line between an Enemy and an Enemy**

* * *

The band of misfits were gathered in the house, sitting on the mat as Ozpin, stood before them, like the headmaster he was, asserting himself before his students... even if his current stature was a bit to be desired.

"Today marks your official first day of training now that Miss Rose and Mr. Flareheart have decided to join us," Ozpin said 'towering' above them.

Nova had managed to tweak the armlet to be stable but he didn't know how long it would last, and he would prefer to train his team in his male form for comfort reasons. It was the body he was more used to fighting in, and his female form was way too flexible to make fighting fair.

It was difficult taking Ozpin seriously when he was in the body of Oscar, but he tried to hold his criticisms to himself.

"Lionheart has refused to speak with us for the past few days and I believe things are nearing the point of action… thus we may not have much time left." Oz continued.

"Oz, if we're so sure Lionheart is the traitor, then why don't we just take him? I'm sure Nova alone would be more than enough to take him down." Yang pointed out.

"I understand your point of view Miss Xiaolong, but do bear in mind that while Leonardo might not be a combatant… he most certainly is still Haven's headmaster, with the support of the people and a seat on the Mistralian council… I'd prefer we settle things with his cooperation or submission… besides… if he's being backed by you know who, then the place is undoubtedly guarded…" Ozpin pointed out.

"But… it wasn't guarded when we showed up the first time, it was like a ghost town," Jaune voiced.

"That is because he had no reason to distrust you, and nor you, him. Now that you've been asking questions, he's most likely called in reinforcements… we must wait for the opportune moment. If things pan out as they did at Beacon… then undoubtedly he'd have the seizure of the relic look like a White Fang invasion." Nova said joining Ozpin in leading the conversation. "If I were the enemy, my first course of action would be to secure the key to the vault, then look to storm the place, create the 'Fall of Mistral', and cover it all up. Falsify information saying Lionheart died in the fighting while he's moved to a headquarters. The world gets thrown into a panic with the loss of another Huntsmen Academy and thus spirals the invasion of Grimm…"

Everyone gawked, "That's… an astute observation Mr. Flareheart… it makes me relieved to know you're on my side and not the enemy's…" Ozpin marveled.

"Well regardless, none of you, minus Yang, are strong enough to fight head-on with a Maiden let alone whatever else our enemies have up their sleeve…" Nova said then saw Ruby look offended. "Sorry Rubes, it's a fact."

"Thus Mr. Flareheart and I will be conducting your new training. We shall be working on your hand to hand combat, as well as overall performance and skill sharpening, Mr. Flareheart and Miss Xiaolong, will handle Aura manipulation." Ozpin began detailing a schedule of who trains with whom, as specifically requested Nova would be training Ruby, Jaune, Weiss, and Oscar while Yang and Ozpin trained the rest of them. It wasn't a matter of preference and more of whose style of training was more suited to whom. Nova already worked with Hex and Nitro for years, they needed to fight someone they didn't know like the back of their hands, Nora and Ren were simply more suited to Yang's hands-on approach since Nova would be focusing on battle strategy and leadership skills on top of combat.

* * *

The two teams were split off, with Qrow leaving to run his own investigations outside. Ozpin and Yang worked with their group in wide balcony area while Nova took his to the backyard. Surprisingly enough both spaces were equally wide as if the owner of the house couldn't decide where he wanted his front yard.

Due to Ozpin currently using Oscar's body, training the boy would have to happen after the others were done. This technically meant Oscar was getting double the training since Ozpin would be working with his body on one end.

"Since the kid won't be joining us as of this moment… we can start with some basics. I'd like you to come at me one at a time, so I can gauge what I'm working with. If you can land a hit then it's technically your win." Nova said to Ruby, Jaune and Weiss.

Ruby raised her hand, "Um… do we get anything if we win?"

"Good question Ruby! The answer is… bragging rights!"

"LAME!" Jaune yelled.

"Boooo…" Weiss said with a thumbs down.

Nova sighed, "Fine if you win then you get to order me to do any one thing."

"Anything…?" Weiss asked with a devious smirk.

Nova felt a cold chill run down his spine, "…Yes… within my limits."

Ruby and Weiss shared a look, "Oh hell yes!"

"If I win then I get nothing because I'm your teacher for today," Nova said folding his arms.

Ruby raised her hand again, "Do we get snack breaks?"

"No."

"Aw…" she sulked.

Nova had to resist the urge to give her a treat just so she would stop giving him the world's most adorable pout.

"Alright Jaune, you first." Nova pointed at him.

The boy looked startled, "Wah?! Why me?"

"Well firstly because I know your combat prowess the least here, and secondly because I need to know how strong the person who swore an oath to me is," Nova said smirking.

Jaune paled as he was slowly beginning to regret his decisions…

The blonde took up his sword and shield and prepared to face down Nova, who was simply standing still.

"Aren't you going to draw your weapon?" Jaune asked, which caused Ruby and Weiss to flinch.

"My baby got shattered remember? Besides… I've got enough power to fight without one." Nova said.

"But you'll eventually have to forge a new weapon right?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Yeah, someday. I'll need something stronger than Incindium metal because that got shattered by whatever the hell Onyx's sword was made of…."

"Well… if you're sure…" Jaune said.

Nova raised his right hand and beckoned him to 'come on', to which Jaune complied. The blonde dashed in, cautiously, his shield was guarded to his right and his sword angled on his left, such that the only openings in his guard were his legs. The stance impressed the dragon leader, Pyrrha really did a good job at training him to fight.

The moment Jaune was within Nova's radius of senses, he was blasted back instantly, barely having enough time to raise his shield to block the lightspeed fist that was rocketing toward him. The force of the impact resounded solidly off of the shield and sent the boy flying against the tree.

"Ow…" Jaune groaned as he got up from his position, rubbing his head. "What just happened…"

"Good form, you went in without knowing your opponent's power so you took up a stance to compensate for any circumstance, that's one of Pyrrha's specialties that she taught you, and you executed it perfectly. Not only that you reacted just enough to block my attack… and your aura withstood the force of the impact… very impressive blondie." Nova smiled folding his arms.

"… Thanks?" Jaune said sensing a 'but' somewhere in there.

"But!" there it was, "Your speed is rather slow and you're predictable. You've got good form but it's all textbook." Nova then pointed to Weiss, "Now ice-princess, it's your turn."

Ruby pouted at being last picked but Nova had a good reason for that.

Weiss smirked and took up a fencing stance.

"Alright, come at me then, I don't have all day."

"Gladly," Weiss complied summoning a glyph at her feet and using it to improve her speed so she effortlessly glided like a bullet through a vacuum at Nova.

Again, once she was in range, Nova caught her by her rapier and spun her around so she was dizzy. Weiss recoiled but recovered, summoning a giant white sword-wielding soldier to attack Nova. The attack caught the dragon off guard since he wasn't aware she could use summons like that.

The massive knight swung the sword down at him with a decent speed, not incredibly fast but the size of it made dodging difficult, so Nova opted for a more direct approach.

He caught the sword in his bare right hand then set the Knight on Fire. While Weiss was distracted by the spectacle Nova blindsided her with a roundhouse kick that sent her cratering into the floor, her aura fizzling.

"OW! NOT FAIR!" Weiss fumed as she dragged her face out of the broken concrete. The others winced at the damage Nova had done, Weiss' face looked a little bruised.

"Sorry your summoning caught me off guard, when did you learn to do that?"

"When you're stuck in your room with nothing to do… you tend to occupy yourself." Weiss explained.

"Ah…. Well then, Ruby now you're up."

The red leader jumped in excitement. "Yipee! I get to beat my boyfriend's face in!"

"Please don't sound so enthusiastic about it…" Nova deadpanned.

Without warning Ruby unsheathed Crescent Rose and Petal Burst into his range before he could extend his aura field, allowing her to get closer than anyone else. Nova's eyes widened in surprise as he narrowly evaded the blade of Crescent Rose that came within a hair's distance of his face.

"Holy shit Ruby did you get faster?" Nova asked incredulously.

Ruby chuckled, "Well maybe you shouldn't say I'm weak."

"I never said that! Just not strong enough!" Nova said defensively.

"Hmph, same difference," she stuck her tongue out before petal bursting into his range again, dipping around to his back.

This time Nova was ready as he spun around and tried to punch her, but she reacted just as quickly, dodging under the blow and sweeping at his legs. Nova jumped into the air and caught the blade, then flipped over and tried to dropkick on her head. Ruby just dropped Crescent Rose and flanked right and made for a punch, which narrowly missed Nova's blindside.

"What am I watching…" Jaune marvelled as he watched the two dance around each other in a brilliant display of finesse and skill.

"That's what two prodigies look like…" Weiss stated calmly.

"Alright enough playing around…" Nova said as he charged his aura, separating it to his speed and attack. His fist began to glow hot orange, he jumped out of the way of Ruby's deadly flourish of attacks and pirouetted on his heels, catching his weight on his toes before blasting himself at Ruby with rocket-like speeds.

The reaper was not prepared for her enemy to close the gap and tried to petal burst away but instantly felt aura rebound for overuse of her semblance, to which Nova capitalized and threw his fist at her face.

Ruby winced as the glowing orange fist of destruction was about to crash into her face when it stopped a fraction of a millimeter from her face. She was then caught off guard again when Nova wrapped his left arm around her and pulled her close, then pecked her on the nose before releasing her.

"How come she gets off easy?!" Jaune complained.

"Because she's the love of my life and I'd hate to be the reason her gorgeous face has a single blemish," Nova said folding his arms and smiling at Ruby to which she blushed furiously.

"Smooth…" Weiss said smirking.

"Anyway, Weiss your problem is almost the same as Ruby. You both are too heavily reliant on your semblances, and if either of them fails then you're thrown for a loop unable to react, or overuse them like Ruby and experience an Aura rebound. From this point on it's boot camp time!"

They all groaned.

"Seriously how much longer are we going to keep meditating?" Ruby complained as Nova observed them trying to manifest their aura upon command.

"As long as it takes, and if you have room to speak then you're not fully concentrating, so… FOCUS!" Nova reprimanded, and the red reaper pouted in response.

Their training was going rather steadily, with Weiss making a face like she had a stick lodged in her backside while Ruby was just fidgeting. Jaune on the other hand… well, he was making the most progress of them all surprisingly.

Nova wouldn't voice it verbally for fear of breaking their concentration, but Jaune's white Aura was beginning to slowly generate around him, flickering on and off like a discharging lightbulb. What was more surprising was the incredible physicality of it.

When he and Yang started, their auras were barely noticeable, like faint discolorations over their body, yet Jaune was manifesting full-blown coverage, a distinct white that was nigh luminescent. He could see why Ozpin placed so much faith in him… the boy had more than just a 'little' potential. He had enormous amounts of it.

It was a while before the trio fizzled out from exhaustion and rolled on the floor.

"I… beat… no more…." Weiss gasped as she struggled to stand from her position. Her knees wobbled like jelly.

"Too much… pain… why is it so hard?" Ruby asked looking positively ragged.

Nova chuckled as he helped them to their feet, "You're essentially reprogramming your brain to control aura actively and not instinctively. It's like telling yourself constantly that you need to move your own hands or breathe."

"Really? I don't feel all that tired… maybe a little hungry but not tired…" Jaune said shrugging as he got up.

Nova placed a hand on his shoulder, "You're a special case, my friend, I have no idea what amount of Aura you're packing but it's like a fucking truckload."

"Well… Pyrrha did use to say I had a lot of it…"

"And she was right… you progressed further than these two today… which is impressive on its own. Go get some rest you three, you earned it." Nova said folding his arms. He was about to deflate out of teacher mode and go back to being his usual chaotic self when Oscar showed up, looking a little worse for wear.

"Oh shit, almost forgot I was supposed to train you to kid," Nova said rubbing his head.

Oscar held his arm, "Um… Ozpin said I should just hear what you have to say, about today, and… YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!"

Nova looked confused, "Huh?"

"Sorry…" Oscar apologized, "He says I should challenge you to a duel? For you to gauge how you want to train me."

Nova nodded, "Yeah… I was going to have you take it easy since you look like you went through hell… but I guess if Oz says you can handle it…"

"Before we start… can you try not to hit my right shoulder? Yang threw one mean left hook on our sparring match and it's pretty sore…"

Nova flinched, "Alright, I won't throw any punches, so just come at me."

Oscar nodded and unfolded Ozpin's cane and rushed at him with a charge. Nova sighed as he noticed everything that was going wrong.

Oscar's stance was uneven, his direction of charge was off center and his balance was most certainly shaky. On top of it all the boy's base speed and stamina, while it looked above average to a normal person, probably due to his earlier training, was far from being anywhere near where they needed to be.

Nova calmly stepped to the side as Oscar rushed by him, then grabbed the boy by the collar and flicked his forehead.

"Alright kid… before we can even BEGIN to train you on fighting, you need to work on your body. Stamina and strength are key, speed comes secondary. It doesn't matter if you can outrun your opponent if you get tired before they do then you're done for. The first order of business is to race…" he looked at his other students, " … Jaune. Since he's the least tired and slowest of us all…"

"HEY!"

"If you beat him then you can train with us, or at least come close to beating him," Nova said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"But I'm starving…" Jaune complained.

"Nora will bring you some snacks later but right now Oscar is your priority. Don't pull any punches, that's an order." Nova instructed Jaune commandingly.

Jaune flinched and alerted, "Yes my prince!" he saluted to which Nova chuckled.

"I could get used to that…"

Ruby poked his cheek, "Don't… I don't want you getting a bigger head than you already have."

Nova feigned hurt, "I don't have a big head…"

"I don't know… judging by your looks I'd say you do," Yang said popping up from the doorway.

Nova turned red, "YANG!"

"Sorry couldn't help myself."

Ruby just tilted her head in confusion, "What does she mean?"

Nova covered Ruby's ears, "Don't corrupt her innocence!"

"I'm not the one who's going to be doing that. I want to be an aunt!" Yang laughed.

Nova paled, "Kill me…"

"They already tried that!" Weiss yelled joining Yang in the laughter.

* * *

**-Branwen Bandit Encampment-**

Raven sat in her tent sipping tea, she'd awakened that morning with a dread feeling creeping down her spine, a cold sweat and nightmares of death and pale faces, of the witch she dared not speak the name aloud. Something was approaching on the wind, a dark calling… like a plague drifting in the air, she could smell the death from a mile away… but the question remained whether it was hers… or someone else's, and the herald of the end's identity was unknown.

Her contemplation was interrupted when Vernal came through the door in a mild panic.

"Raven… we have a problem…" Vernal said looking nervous.

Of course… her dreams of forboding were never wrong, sometimes she wondered if they were remnants of Ozpin's power, lingering in her thoughts as if he were saying, 'You'll always be my pawn'.

"It's Salem… she's found us…" Vernal continued.

This time, the very mention of the name sent waves of panic over the bandit leader, but she dared not show it. How could they have found her? She worked so hard to remain hidden… to distance herself from their conflict… yet somehow they still followed her around, like bloodhounds tracking her scent.

She sighed and donned her mask. Upon stepping outside she saw four people… all of whom were more than familiar faces to her from the recordings of the Fall of Beacon, except one.

"What do you want? How did you even get in here?" Raven glared through her mask.

Cinder smiled dangerously, "Your men here just happened to recognize the power of a Maiden."

Raven's eyes widened as she realized that there were a number of her tribe missing from the gathering, not just one or two… but several.

"You've been on our master's list for some time now… It took a great deal to track you down… I hope you understand we can't just allow you to walk away now that we've found you…" Arthur said smiling.

Raven rolled her eyes. What was it with Salem's henchmen and speaking in poetic demands, as if they couldn't just speak normally without smiling like it was the funniest thing in the world to toy with people's lives?

"I know all about your master, but I don't believe we've met," Raven folded her arms and stepped down from her tent.

"We're the people you should be afraid of," Mercury said smugly to which Raven had the urge to tear his throat out where he stood. She could easily do it, and none of them would be able to stop her… except for Cinder. Thus begins the same dilemma she had with that dragon girl… boy… she had trouble wrapping her head around the whole ordeal, if a fight were to break out, there would be catastrophic levels of collateral damage.

"Oh really… I highly doubt that…" Raven countered looking unamused.

"Oh yeah?! Well, you should ask…!"

"QUIET!" Cinder yelled shutting him up.

"That's what I thought," Raven snarled.

"I'm Cinder Fall, this is my associate Arthur Watts, and my two disciples, Mercury and Emerald," Cinder introduced them all.

Raven felt her stomach churn, these people were nauseating.

"Let's see… two children, you've tricked into helping you… a disgraced Atlesian scientist… and a Fall Maiden whose last name is so fitting she probably picked it out herself. Judging by the way you four paraded in here, I'm assuming you have a serious case of megalomania… am I right?"

"Well technically I'm a doctor, but the rest was spot on!" Arthur praised, stroking his mustache.

"You know why we're here, don't you?" Cinder sauntered up to Raven. "Unless you don't in which case…" Fall drew a ball of fire in her hands and her eye began to glow.

Raven sighed, "Vernal!"

The girl in question stepped out of the tent in front of them all.

"So this is the long lost Spring Maiden… prove it." Cinder demanded.

Raven nodded at Vernal who sighed before closing her eyes and channeling her powers. The winds began to pick up speed and soon enough the cloudless sky began riddled with storm clouds, threatening to break down around them in chaos.

Cinder smiled, "Good… now you can choose to cooperate with us or… we can do this by force."

"What do you want?"

"We want the Relic of Knowledge that's hidden in Haven. To get that we need your little pet here…"

"Firstly, why would I cooperate with you? Secondly, walking into Haven isn't an easy task."

Arthur chuckled, "That's where you're wrong, you see… Leonardo Lionheart is one of us… he'll open the doors for us from the inside!"

Raven held in her surprise, "Well… that certainly changes things… but my brother is there, and he won't exactly just hand you the relic."

"While Qrow Branwen is on our list of people we very much want dead… he won't be an issue against us all…" Arthur explained, "That being said… his presence does provide a problem… it might alert the kingdom, and that will make Onyx's invasion with the White Fang more difficult…"

Raven this time audibly gasped, "So… the rumors are true, you're working with that monster."

Cinder smiled, "Yes… and given the nature of his relationship to our Queen, well… let's say if you don't cooperate… burying the bodies will be the least of your worries."

Raven began to sweat under her mask. Cinder Fall was one thing, the girl was nothing more than a glorified matchstick, but Onyx 'Steelmane' was another problem of its own.

Not many people knew his real last name, or if he even had one, but the few that do know him somewhat, know him by another name, 'The Shadow Demon of Vacuo'.

A title only those that fought during the great Faunus war knew about. She didn't fight in those wars, they were before her time, but she heard the name off of the elders around Mistral. The tales of a monster that was taller than the trees, hulking like a bear and moved more silently and deadly than any assassin, yet when it came down to it, he would tear the battlefield open like a tin can in an industrial sawmill.

The battle of Blood Desert on a patch of sand on the east coast of Vacuo. This battle was never recorded in human history books because it was something both Humans and Faunus tried to erase from history. The tales of how one man ripped apart an entire squadron of foot soldiers, human and Faunus alike with his bare hands. They say the sand there was permanently stained red with the blood of the fallen, soaked into the ground like a permanent reminder of the atrocities that were committed there, despite both sides trying to cover it up like a secret… because events were too much to handle… and could break the thin fabric of peace they were so desperately trying to weave.

The only reason she was aware of this fact was from the words of an old woman, from the Calavera family who fought in the wars herself… Of course, the woman could've just been crazy… but after hearing about what happened at Beacon herself, well she wasn't about to test her theories.

History books had many missing chapters on both sides, and each of those chapters went missing for a reason… Perhaps the only people that still had access to the truth of the world were the ancient Faunus families and their dedication to keeping records… wherever they were…

Raven bit her lip, "How about this… if Lionheart is on your side as you say… then why not have him invite Qrow over for some reason, like dinner or a party… and then we take him out there?"

"Hmm… yes… but the problem is he's not alone…" Arthur pondered.

"He has those students with him! He has Ruby!" Emerald pointed out.

"And if we cause a scene it will be a problem for when Onyx arrives with the White Fang…" Arthur explained.

"Then we wait for the full moon, the same night that the Fang get here, you invite them over and tear the place down and them in one fell swoop." Raven opted.

Cinder smiled dangerously, "Now that's a proposition I can get behind… the question is… are you willing to cooperate…"

Raven hesitated, "I-I need some time to think…"

"There is none, it's either you're with us, or against us!" Cinder threatened.

Raven flinched visibly, showing real signs of fear, not toward Cinder… but to the invisible aura of Onyx Steelmane that hovered in the air around her now that his name had been invoked.

"Alright…"

* * *

**-Menagerie-**

The party was sitting around the coffee table of the Belladonna household, sipping tea, and discussing their next course of action.

"Are you two sure about this?" Luna asked taking Blake's hand, they were discussing what to do on the Ilia matter.

Blake nodded, "She looked… scared. I think the Fang has something over her, forcing her to stay with them, but she needs my help… even if it's a trap, I have Adam with me," she pointed at the redhead who was silently nodding.

Sun felt his eyelid twitch, "Wait… since when were you two so chummy? Yesterday you were practically scared to death to be in the same room as him," he pointed at Adam accusingly.

Blake's ears flattened against her head and she let out a bashful smile, "We… sorted out our differences… sorta…"

"We've agreed to cooperate for the sake of the greater good, it makes no sense fighting against each other, and… I have a lot of mistakes to make up for…" Adam said looking Sun directly in the eye.

The adults could feel the tension between the two male Faunus.

"If you're going then I'll come with you," Sun insisted.

"No Sun, if this _does _end up being a trap then there are two ways this could go, first is that it's isolation and capture, in which case Blake and Adam can handle it. Discreetly." Sienna Khan said glaring at him.

"And the second way is that its to draw out our fighting power so they could attack our base… well here…" Sienna gestured to the ground, "In that scenario, we'll need the majority of our power here, to protect what we have."

"The moment they see the chance to rid the world of another prominent family, they will do it…" Luna snarled glaring at the table as if it was the offending party.

Sun simmered down, "That… does make sense… still doesn't make me feel any easier… we have all of us here, are we sure that's enough?"

"I'm a non-combatant, I'm not exactly equipped to fight, Sienna is injured, thus the only available fighters would be Kali, Ghira, blondie over there," she gestured to Bell who was calmly sipping her tea, "And you."

"What about Luna?" Sun asked.

"Mom and I won't be here… we're going back to the old mansion…" Luna said nervously, catching them all by surprise.

"Wait what? At a crucial time like this?! I thought that place was nothing but rubble?" Sienna was taken aback.

Luna and Elain shared a glance, "… Not exactly… if I'm right… then no one's touched our basement since the house was burned nine years ago."

"You had a basement?" Bell asked surprised, turning to Luna for clarity. The blue dragon just shrugged just as clueless.

"Did you think we would let our legacy and most important stuff just lying around? The Flareheart Manor has had a small underground storage room, accessible only by family members for generations. It's where we kept our family history, records of the past, things the world wanted to keep buried… and where Flint and I stored all of our… less than safe goodies." Elain said cheerfully.

They all gaped, "WHAT?!"

"T-That information! You mean, you know the missing history of Remnant?" Ghira asked in awe.

"I've never bothered to read it all, but I do know some things…"

"Care to tell us?"

"Ghira, just as you and Kali have been keeping certain things from your daughter, then I should be allowed my own family secrets. Besides, it's nothing incriminating, it's all just history." Elain said sipping her tea knowing fully well the bomb she just dropped on the room.

"EXCUSE ME?! Dad, what is she talking about?" Blake looked furious.

Kali and Ghira shared a glance, "We were planning on telling you for your eighteenth birthday… but, I guess now the cat's sorta out of the bag… no pun intended…" Ghira sighed.

"Dear, please calm down. It's a bit difficult to explain so we'll tell you everything after we settle this matter with the Fang." Kali said trying to be reasonable.

"But who knows how long that will take! I want answers!" Blake looked mortified.

Kali pinched Elain causing her to yelp, "See what you've caused?" the blue-haired doctor just chuckled.

"Your fault for keeping your heritage from her," Elain shrugged.

"What. Heritage." Blake seethed.

The others had shrunk back stepping out of the conversation.

"You see Blake… your mother and I… well more specifically your mother… hail from a rather particular line of Faunus… similar to the Flarehearts…" Ghira started.

Blake's eyes widened, "Then… the black cats from that story Luna's uncle told us…"

"You knew?" Kali looked alarmed.

"Luna's uncle, Mr. Wulf… he told us the truth about the Aspects of Remnant and the balance of the natural world… the original Faunus families and when he mentioned the Black Cats he looked to me and said they were the ones 'governing Menagerie'… I refused to believe he was talking about you guys but…" Blake gripped her arm tightly.

Kali and Ghira's faces fell, "Honey we didn't mean to hide it from you… it's just that… things were complicated, with the White Fang and…" she then looked at Elain, "I'm going to skin your brother alive when I find him."

Elain chuckled, "Go ahead, I'm not going to stop you… the asshole had it coming for making my kids live like street urchins for years"

Luna wanted to argue that point but she figured it was just siblings being siblings.

Blake shook herself, "… It doesn't matter… does this mean I'm like Luna? I've never manifested any powers… what am I?"

Kali bit her lip, and proceeded to explain, "Blake… you're not _just _a Belladonna, you're a Nightshade, that was my family name before I married your father. You're Blake Belladonna-_Nightshade_. And concerning powers…"

"Your semblance, honey, is an extension of your powers…" Ghira explained.

Blake's eyes widened, "What? But… Nova explained with the birthmarks… I don't have a birthmark on my left shoulder…"

"Darling you're not an Aspect, but you're quite close. Your shadow clones are a manifestation of our family's bloodline powers… essentially your semblance can give you similar power to that of a Shadowborn Aspect, but without manipulation of the dark itself… it's complicated, but with experience, you'll learn to use it properly." Kali explained.

Blake was confused, "Wait… how do you know so much about my semblance?"

"Because she has the same one, or rather _had_. Am I right Kali?" Elain said finishing her tea.

"Huh?!"

Kali smiled bashfully, "You caught me… When I had you, Blake… I lost the ability to use my semblance like the power had passed on to a new successor if that makes sense."

"Ugh, my head hurts…" Blake clutched her forehead.

"Look we can discuss your little family feud _after _we deal with the threat of imminent death that's looming over our heads huh?" Sienna said butting into the conversation.

They all nodded, "Right… sorry… so to summarize, Luna and Elain will be going to the Flareheart Manor, Sun, Bell, Blake, and Adam will be trying to gather supporters to the cause by day, then Blake and Adam will deal with Ilia while the rest of us bunker down and prepare for the worst-case scenario?" Ghira asked.

"Yup sounds about right. Alright on three, One! Two! Three! GO, TEAM!" Sun said holding his arms up in the air.

Nobody else followed him.

"Sheesh, tough crowd…"

* * *

**-With Elain and Luna-**

There they stood, at the base of the hill on which the Flareheart Estate stood. The once neatly cut lawn and paved pathway were now overgrown with grass taller than Luna. The trees had grown unruly and dense tendrils of vines were strung between the arcing canopy. The concrete path was ruptured and broken as the weeds had grown through the stone, shattering it into pieces, as if it were mother nature reminding them that she was queen.

"I... am kinda terrified to find out what's up there..." Luna said as she stared up at the densely overgrown walkway that hid the view of the mansion. Her memories of the place were few and far between, though she remembered walking down this path as a child.

Elain draped an arm over her daughter's head, "Me too sweetheart..."

The once tall gates that surrounded the perimeter were rusted and worn, the tall wall was cracked and broken, suggesting that even though the place was considered a memorial site by the community, not much care was taken into keeping the perimeter clean, anyone could walk in or out of the place.

"Oh, my poor walls... these cost a fortune to put down too..." Elain mumbled as she stroked the gates.

Luna felt her sweat drop, her mother clearly had her priorities in order.

"This wall is at least eight feet tall, how the hell did you kids get over this thing?" Elain marveled.

Luna shrugged, "I'm not sure... I was weak from using my powers so Nova was the one who made the jump..."

"HE JUMPED THIS THING?! HE WAS LIKE BARELY FOUR FEET TALL!" Elain exclaimed recalling her son as a child. "Your brother really worked miracles to save you two... I'll have to treat him when we get back..."

Luna smiled warmly, "He gave me more than I could ever ask for... speaking of which, how come you never spent much time with him when you came back? All he ever wanted to do was find you..."

Elain flinched, "It's not that I didn't want to... it's just... when you come back and find that your son that you left as a barely functional eight-year-old is now practically a fully functional, self-sufficient seventeen-year-old with a life of his own... it's hard to try to barge into that order... he felt like a stranger almost..."

Luna nodded understanding, "I know... but I think if you just sat with him and kept him company... he'd be more than happy to just have you around... what boy doesn't love his mother?"

Elain felt her heart break a little, "Y-you're right... I'll try to be more supportive when I see him again... I can't believe I'm taking parental advice from my own daughter..."

Luna giggled, "Come on mom, we're wasting daylight." the two Flarehearts opened the rusted gate and began the ascent to the manor.

* * *

Luna and Elain weren't sure what they were expecting when they saw the manor, but it certainly didn't match the fact that they were unprepared for the extent of the damages. The structure of the house had collapsed in on itself, the only things left standing were a few support pillars and a singular window frame. Everything else was collapsed into a heap of burnt rubble on the floor. The ground around the house was blackened as if the ashes of the tragedy had embedded themselves in the very earth. The once-proud cherry blossom tree that stood erect in the front yard was nothing more than a skeletal husk of its former self, its branches no longer baring a single leaf.

"How the hell are we going to get into the basement now? There's all this shit in the way..." Elain grumbled as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Allow me..." Luna stretched her hands forward and began to concentrate on the pile of rubble as a singular collective. Focusing not on the pieces but on the space that surrounded the pile. Her eyes began to glow bright cyan blue and then a massive mound of rubble was lifted into the air and tossed to the side, clearing the floor of the house.

Elain stood there gawking at her daughter, "Since when could you do that?!"

"Since Beacon, Nova had me training to endure the exhaustive properties of my power, to allow me to tap into my aura as a battery so I don't drain myself over small uses. It took a while but it's been getting easier to use, these... powers, your emotions are tied to them like hair triggers."

"You know... when I was studying yours and your brother's powers, I had no idea what yours did. His were self-explanatory. It was a trait that ran in Flint's family. But... you... yours were different, your birthmark was on your lower back, not your shoulder, and instead of manifesting elements, you seem to be able to manipulate matter and space... I designed the nanomachine serum to help you regulate it but... they'd do little else for you other than give you enhanced physical abilities."

"Where is that anyway? The serum that is." Luna asked curiously.

"I have it... but if you're getting ideas about using it, then the answer is no. Your body isn't capable of handling it yet, your brother survived due to his semblance but you... I'm terrified of what it could do to you."

"But didn't you design it? Isn't it safe?" Luna pressed on.

"Maybe, but it is still a prototype, his was easy to make, yours was complicated with too many variables. It's just not a risk I'm willing to take on my only daughter." Elain said with a tone that meant end of discussion.

Luna sighed, "Alright fine... so where is this basement?" she asked staring at the empty flat ground, it wasn't covered in grass like the rest of the land, it was hard blackened wood, which was surprisingly unburnt, just covered in soot from the rest of the house.

Elain stepped onto the floor and began walking, "Let's see... if memory serves me correctly, the kitchen was here... then the study was over..." she arrived at the far left side of the manor, "HERE!" she exclaimed stamping her heel hard on the ground. Instead of a solid wound sound like the rest of the house, a loud metal clang was heard.

"Okay now I just hope this thing still works..." she knelt onto the floor and began dusting away the black dust, until she found it, a sliding frame of wood lodged in the floor. It mirrored the rest of the floor, the only difference was there was a barely visible groove, just large enough to fit a pencil.

Elain then held up her index finger and her nail grew out a long claw, like that of a wolf. She then inserted it into the hole and raised the small block of wood to reveal a thumb scanner, which beeped to life the moment she lifted the wood. "AH PERFECT! It still works!"

Luna just marveled at what she was observing, the house she never knew apparently had a high tech lock to an underground basement.

Elain placed her thumb onto the scanner, which then beeped green after a few seconds. A loud cranking was heard like a machine whose gears hadn't been turned in ages. The floor began to separate and the floorboards opened up one by one until it revealed a sizeable rectangular hole with a staircase, which then lit up with white lights.

"Well, what're you standing around for silly! Come on!"

* * *

The staircase down seemed to go on for ages, leading Luna to understand that this wasn't just a 'small' basement as her mother told the others, but a much larger structure. It was after a few minutes did the duo finally arrive at an ornate mechanical door. The structure was a bright red, with silver dragons curling around the frame, and a larger dragon snaking across the horizontal center. The most interesting thing was not the decor but the dragon head that stuck out with its mouth open, in the place where a doorknob would go.

"...Annndd here's the problem. I can't open this door." Elain sighed.

"Why not?" Luna asked curiously.

"It's DNA locked. I designed the one upstairs but your grandparents put this one in. It only responds to the dragon bloodline. Your father usually opened it by spilling a drop of his own blood into the mouth of that..." she pointed to the dragon head.

Luna grimaced, she didn't like inflicting wounds on herself but... if the situation called for it. She stuck her hand into the maw of the dragon and cut her thumb on one of the razor-sharp fangs that lined the jaw. A single drop of blood dripped into the mouth and almost instantly the gears behind the door began to sound off, and move. Elain's ears twitched at the sound of bolts being removed from behind the door, and the great silver dragon that lined the center retracted until the entire door split down the middle and separated to reveal a medium-sized room with bright lighting.

The walls were lined with shelves filled to the edge with books, scrolls, and more recent looking lockboxes with varying sizes, but the most interesting thing was the flooring. It was like porcelain but much stronger since it showed no signs of cracking or age, yet it had been there for decades. It was a solid black with a large flame symbol carved into the center in what looked to be silver metal, half of the flame curled upward with the left half was a bending dragon.

"Mom is that..."

"Black jade flooring with the family crest carved in with white Incindium? Yeah... your grandparents were a little eccentric." Elain explained.

Luna made a humming sound, "How come we've never met them? Our grandparents that is."

"Your father's parents passed away sometime before you were born... they had a relatively late start in life... my parents are on less than speaking terms with me, besides they're all the way in Atlas so..." Elain said with a nonchalant shrug.

"You're going to have to explain all this family business at some point you know..."

"Only in the presence of your brother because you both need to hear it anyway."

The two began to look through the mountains of books and items, "What exactly are we looking for?" Luna asked.

"Well... your father and I were a little... extra... in the early days of our marriage and we may or may not have created a few devices that are less than safe... like... THIS!" she reached up and pulled off what looked to be an ordinary USB stick.

"A... flash drive?" Luna asked with a head tilt.

Elain chuckled, "Kinda, it's a different type of USB. A Universal Security Bypass. It's capable of breaking into and reprogramming any digital security system known to man, which includes data encryption. Just plug it into the nearest computer and bam! You got yourself into the system in seconds. The best part is it's untraceable... you can see why we had to keep this hidden." she pocketed the item into her lab coat. "We're mainly just looking through our old stuff to find anything useful..."

Luna felt her sweat drop, "Why would you even make something like that?"

"Why does anyone do anything? BECAUSE WE COULD!" Elain exclaimed with her finger pointed skyward.

Luna took up an interest in a stack of books that looked older than her, which the most likely were. The one she picked up had an ornate black cover with gold embroidery, it was titled 'The History of The Faunus'. She was barely a few pages in when she had to put it down and breathe for a few moments.

"Mom... this book... it's got information that you would never find in any history books... is this all... real...?" she asked showing her mother the book.

Elain took one look at it and flinched, "Oh... you found it... I was hoping I hid that thing better..."

"This tells a story about... the original homeland of the Faunus, every account of war or disagreement between the four kingdoms... and tells of a fifth one called... Gaia? Where all the Faunus originally came from... the four great families... the war that drove them apart... Randolf told us a summary but this is... what in the world...?"

Elain sighed, "I was really hoping to avoid this conversation... also I'm going to kill your uncle for this. The original homeland of the Faunus was torn apart by civil war and eventually the Grimm that came with it..."

"Civil war? I thought it was just the 'Great War'."

"Yeah, a Great War caused by an uprising of a particular clan of Faunus, the Blackpaw family. They were once our loyal aides to the throne, serving the Royal Family with peerless loyalty... all the more reason no one saw it coming when they killed the former king, your great, many times over, grandfather and staged a coup that tore the nation to pieces, driving those that supported the throne and those that were against it. It's all detailed in that book, from start to finish, how once the war was won and the enemy tribe was eliminated, forced into exile, that the Grimm came in droves, drawn in like moths to a flame, easily overpowering the already spent military of Gaia, driving our people into scattered separation as we were forced to flee to the other kingdoms. From there the rest is self-explanatory." Elain summarized.

Luna inhaled deeply, "That's a lot to take in..."

"Keep that book with you, it'll make it easier to explain to your brother once we find him."

Luna gently placed the book down and began to explore the rest of the room. Sitting in the corner under a white cloth was a strange-looking device. Luna pulled off the cloth to reveal what looked to be a high-tech standard mortar with a large ammunition drum attached to it.

"Uh... what's this...?" the dragon asked garnering her mother's attention.

Elain's face broke into an ear-splitting grin, "That! Oh, that thing brings back memories. It's a miniature-rocket propelled chainsaw cannon! It fires off small chainsaws, working on special ammunition designed your father."

"WHY WOULD YOU MAKE A CHAINSAW CANNON?!"

"Duh, because some situations require the use of chainsaws fired in rapid succession! Like that one time... yeah that was awesome..." Elain smiled remembering her past.

"I'm scared to ask..." Luna said realizing just what type of crazy her mother was.

"OH FOUND IT!" Elain said as she pulled off a lockbox from the shelf and opened it via fingerprint scanner. It was extremely large, mimicking the size of a large crate. The wolf Faunus began digging through the contents, pulling out item by item.

"No... no... not this one... ooh this could be good..." she said holding up a small sphere. "Pocket-sized mini-nuclear grenade! A fraction of the size of a real nuclear bomb with half the explosive power! And I have like seven!" she pulled out a string of similar spheres on a belt.

Luna paled, "Please don't accidentally set one off..."

The woman just tossed the belt on the ground with no care in the world making Luna mentally regret coming in the room with her.

"AHA! Here it is!" Elain pulled out a large block of something wrapped in cloth.

"What's that...?"

She unwrapped the cloth to reveal a large chunk of translucent metal, it was radiating light and seemed to refract multiple colours. It gave off a familiar warmth.

"Diamond grade White Incindium, a special metal alloy of the original Incindium recipe that our ancestors created. It was not only virtually impossible to create, let alone fuse the toughness of diamond with the strength of Incindium while finding the perfect balance, but it also took seven years to make just this amount... it's the greatest creation your father and I ever made, and our most valuable." Elain said placing her hand on the block that was roughly half the size of a mini-fridge.

Luna gaped at the metal, running her hands over the smooth surface. It felt like a real diamond yet it radiated its own warm and sounded like metal when touched. She tried picking it up to find that it was incredibly light.

"What... how...?" she marveled.

"When two geniuses work together... miracles can be achieved. We never tried again because not only was this so difficult that it absorbed seven years of our life, we're not entirely sure we could replicate the process. There were too many variables involved and it felt like magic just to accidentally get it right." Elain explained.

"How would you forge something like this?" Luna marveled.

"You would need to be able to melt diamond... well maybe not quite that high since it's an alloy, but theoretically you would need temperatures of above four thousand degrees celsius... which we don't have the capabilities of doing safely..."

"Then how did you create it? Wouldn't you need those temperatures to create the alloy?" Luna asked.

"That's the thing, your father's brother, your uncle Quartz was capable of molding any gem he touched with his semblance, meaning we only had to operate under the temperatures for Incindium which were just a few thousand, but the problem is..."

"Uncle Quartz is dead..." Luna finished. "So how are we going to use this?"

Elain shrugged, "Your brother might be able to... he is a living furnace."

Luna nodded, understanding, "Well it's worth a try..."

They packed up a few more things before they prepared to leave when Luna almost forgot the book. In her haste she grabbed it only for it to slip out of her hand and crash onto the floor... and a piece of folded paper fell out.

"Huh...? What's this?" she inspected the paper curiously. It was a single page, the words were slightly faded but it was easy to make out against the yellowing paper. On it was a list of names bound by a distinct structure.

"This is... our family tree!" Luna exclaimed drawing her mother's attention.

Elain scurried over to investigate. Indeed on the paper listed out the members of the Flareheart family dating all the way back to the first king, detailing their marriages and children.

"Well now... that's interesting..." Elain said as her eyes landed on what looked to be a branch family of the Flarehearts, spanning off from Flint's grandmother, Luna, and Nova's great grandmother, who apparently remarried... a human!

"This... changes... a lot of things..." Luna said gasping.

Elain folded the piece of paper and tucked it back into the book, "Come on, we don't have too much time to ponder family trees, we've already spent too long here."

Luna checked her scroll to find that they'd been in there for more than six hours, "Oh shit! I hope the others are alright..."

* * *

**What did they find on the paper? What other secrets are hidden in that book? Feel free to speculate.**

**Until Next time!**


	49. Chapter 49: Shadow Fighting

**Guess these updates are permanently irregular now, exams ruined every schedule from my sleeping to my eating patterns to my writing. I have no idea when I'm going to return to normal functionality, probably the day I stop going to bed at 5 a.m and waking up at 11.**

**So those of you who may have already noticed, I'm not taking Ilia's character the same way they did in the series. The problem for me, especially as I was rewatching the seasons was that Ilia's character was too filled with anger and willingness to actually shed blood in the name of the Fang, to suddenly have all that chalked up to the idea that she was just jealous of Blake falling for Adam the whole time and it was just rage fueled by jealousy and hurt for abandonment. Her motives just didn't fit with the way she was redeemed, it was all sudden and they made her character seem too bitter for such a sudden case of the good guy syndrome. At least that's how it came off for me. I think if they made it seem like she cared about other people and actually show compassion outside of _just _Blake that it would have made more sense to give her a sudden redemption.**

* * *

**Chapter 49: Under Cover of Darkness**

* * *

The encroaching darkness of the night settles over the skies as the last stray rays of sunshine disappeared behind the evening horizon. The time of action was approaching.

"Are they still not back yet?" Sun asked popping his head into the main room.

Ghira looked at the clock, "They've been out for about six hours, Ellie did say it was in the basement so I guess they must be moving out rubble… Still, it does leave me slightly worried…"

"Oh they're fine, knowing Ellie, being the quack doctor she is, she's probably too engrossed in her gadgets." Kali smiled.

Blake and Adam strolled into the room, with their weapons equipped, "It's about the time we're supposed to meet Ilia…" the cat Faunus said as she tightened the straps on Gambol Shroud.

Adan pulled his gloves over his hands and put on a mask, it was different from his old White Fang one, it was black, and had one eye uncovered while the other was blocked off, it was wide with pointed edges and red accents curled around it **(Think a smaller version of Joker's Mask from Persona 5, except it's black and the eye trims are red)**.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Sun asked as he stepped toward Blake, he was a few inches from her, his eyes staring into hers with concern baring intensely.

Blake had to avert her gaze from the sheer intensity, "What other choice do I have?"

"You could send me instead? I'll take your place in a heartbeat." Sun said folding his arms.

"And do what? Ilia doesn't know you, let alone trust you. She wanted to see me because there's something wrong. If things go wrong, we might lose a possible ally." The catgirl tried to explain.

"Lose her? What if I… we, what if we lose you?!" Sun countered and Kali's ears perked up, and her eyes widened a little in surprise, covering her mouth to prevent the chuckle from escaping. The golden monkey Faunus wasn't very good at hiding his emotions, and he was certainly dedicated to her daughter.

"Sun, I can more than handle myself." Blake folded her arms, and Kali almost facepalmed. Out of all the things that she could've taken from that sentence, she took it as a question to her capability.

Sun retracted, "That's not what I mean Blake… I-…" he was stopped when Adam placed a solid arm on his shoulder and shot him a steady gaze.

"I'd die before I let any harm come to her. She's under my protection and I can guarantee that means something," he said trying to reassure Sun.

Sun felt a twinge of jealousy sting him, "I still don't trust you… after everything you've done…"

"Then I ask you to give me the chance to prove myself. Just give me the chance to prove that I can be trusted, I'm not asking for forgiveness, all I'm asking is you let me do my job."

"I'm sure as hell willing to give you a chance just not with _her_ life on the line… if it was me then!"

"Just shut the fuck up you two… holy shit," Bell said entering the room munching on a sandwich. "You catfight over the cat girl later, it's almost seven and we all have jobs to do!"

Sun and Adam retracted grumbling simultaneously.

Ghira had to roll his eyes at the scene, not once in his life did he think he would see the ex-captain of the White Fang, Adam Taurus, and some kid from Vacuo arguing over his daughter in his own home. Though from the body language of Adam, he'd say that the boy was more leaning to protection out of a sense of obligation whereas Sun was more leaning toward jealousy. Still, there was some history between Blake and Adam and he wasn't exactly too keen on that idea.

"I'll bring her back in one piece, don't worry," Adam said as he and Blake left through the door, Blake spared one last glance at them before she turned away.

"Alright, now that they're gone… we should start preparing for the worst." Sienna sighed as she now joined them.

* * *

**-With Blake and Adam-**

The night sky was clear, and starry, not a cloud in sight and that brought an icy chill whipping through the atmosphere, which was uncommon for their tropical island. The two Faunus followed their route, same as the day previously, to the very rooftop where Ilia said to meet. All the while Blake's thoughts were plagued by the thought that Ilia might be in danger, that things weren't as they seemed.

"No one's here," Adam said as he scanned the area before checking his wristwatch. They were five minutes in and no sign of Ilia. "So this was a trap to lure us away… we need to…!"

"No! Wait, I see her," Blake said as she pointed to the alleyway below them. The two jumped down to see Ilia standing in her White Fang garb, no mask.

The chameleon Faunus' face was worried and she looked nervous. "You came…"

"Yeah, we're here. What is it you wanted Ilia, what's got you so scared?" Blake asked tenderly.

Ilia looked around and clutched her arms together, "The White Fang… they have my family…"

Blake's eyes widened, "WHAT?!"

Ilia nodded, "It happened when I joined up with them, I wanted to be just like you, Blake, so I worked hard to prove myself... Onyx said he saw my Faunus traits as potential, a special soldier… so he placed my family under his protection… what it really was… was an incentive to keep me working for them. They could turn the guns on my family the moment I step out of line…"

"That's why you're working for them so intently, why you advocate for them so highly…. Such underhanded tactics sound exactly like that monster," Adam spat as the face of Onyx appeared in his mind.

"Ilia… thank you for coming to us with this… we can protect your family, just point us in the direction and we'll take care of it… I'm sorry you got sucked into this because of me… this all happened because of me…" Blake cursed.

Ilia shook her head and raised her arms in the form of surrender, "No Blake… I'm sorry… you shouldn't have come back…"

"What?" Blake was confused.

"I said, I'm sorry…" then she clenched her fists and in an instant, White Fang soldiers sprung from the darkness pinning Blake to the ground, while Ilia threw an automatic chaining device that locked down her limbs.

"BLAKE! I KNEW THIS WAS A TRAP!" Adam roared and made a reach for his blade when a purple blur shot out of the dark and nicked his arm causing him to flinch back.

"Tsk, tsk, we can't have any of that now can we? Adam." Edan said stepping out of the darkness as well.

Adam's eyes went wide, "YOU!"

Edan took a light bow, "Still kicking! Or should I say… ticking!" he laughed madly, as his neck jerked robotically.

"Blake… I'm so sorry…" Ilia choked as she held her hands to her mouth.

"You did good kid, sold it hook, line and sinker," Edan smiled waltzing up and standing next to her, staring down at Blake.

"You coward! How can you live like this? How can you people follow that man who thinks the death of innocent civilians is a justifiable means to an end?!" Blake sneered as she stared down the two.

Ilia's eyes were beginning to water but the tears didn't fall, Blake could see she was hurting.

"Innocent?! HA!" Edan chortled, "There are no innocents in this war, there is no good, or bad. There is just master Onyx and those who support him… and the maggots who seek to oppose his rule. Those same 'innocent' humans that you're saving with all the 'good' you're doing… are the same ones who will spit in your face and mock you for being different. You and your people, those fucking dragons, are nothing more than shackles that prevent the Faunus race from glorious evolution under the rule of Onyx 'Steelmane'!"

"You're delusional!" Adam said grabbing at his katana prepared to slice Edan in half when he held up a finger and pointed to Blake, showing that there was a knife to her throat, causing Adam to pause mid grasp.

"Me? Delusional? Take a look in the mirror Taurus. What's more delusional? The concept of a world where Faunus take their rightful place as the top of the food chain? Or a world where we live as 'equals' in 'harmony' with the race of weaklings that treated us like slaves for half a millennia when we are clearly the superior race! We are stronger, faster, smarter in every way! WE WERE CREATED BY THE GODS TO BE BETTER THAN THEM! AND YOU WANT EQUALITY?! WE'RE NOT DELUSIONAL, YOU ARE!" Edan roared maniacally, Blake could see the madness clear as day in his eyes, this man believed every single word he was saying.

"And you think killing us is for the greater good? Or is it that you just want treats from your master. Lapdog." Adam seethed.

"No… killing you means nothing… after all, no one will care if a dead man goes back to being dead… or some kid gets killed in the streets by a serial killer… or whatever tomorrow's headline says. What matters is that while you're out of the way… we can kill those dragons, and the family that supports them…" the weasel Faunus continued.

Adam and Blake's eyes went wide, "You can't! We won't let you!" Adam cursed.

"Exactly! That's why I said I was going to kill you! Pay attention sheesh!" Edan said twirling a dagger in his hands.

"Ilia… you can't possibly believe him... there's good in you! I know it!" Blake cried out staring at her friend.

"Then your knowledge is wrong…" Ilia said solemnly, not looking at Blake. "This is who I am Blake."

The cat Faunus could see right through her friend, Ilia was lying through her teeth but it was really convincing, the only difference was the slight muscle twitch in her left eye when she lied, something Blake realized when they were kids, a trait that seemed to have followed her to this day.

"People change, Blake… but I guess you were too busy falling for him to notice…" Ilia continued gesturing to Adam.

Blake felt her breath hitch in her throat, "Ilia, we weren't… it wasn't…"

"You think I didn't notice you? I was watching you, Blake, I saw the way you looked at him… I wanted you to look at me the same way…" she blushed, her spots turning pink and Blake's heart broke slightly, Ilia's eye didn't twitch. She was telling the truth.

"Ilia… I didn't… I'm sor…"

"Save it… apologies from the dead don't mean anything…" she turned away.

"Awkward~" Edan sang as he gripped his spectral dagger. "Well… that's pretty crazy finding out your childhood friend whom you abandoned had feelings for you, but you had feelings for the mentor whom you then abandoned as well! YIKES! Sucks to be you honestly." he brandished the dagger dangerously close to Blake's eyes, "Let's hope you made peace because I'm going to gut you like a pig and throw the entrails on display at the local playground! Imagine little Timmy's face when he finds a stinking pile of flesh inside the funhouse?" he began to cackle madly.

"YOU'RE BATSHIT CRAZY!" Adam roared in anguish.

"Hey I resent that!" one of the Faunus soldiers who were pinning down Blake said, who apparently had bat wings.

Adam spat on the floor, "Good..."

"Ilia, you take these guys and head for the house, the two of you holding on to the girl, cut her. I'll deal with the mad cow." He said with an evil glint.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!" Adam's voice boomed, his aura flaring up a dangerous manifestation of blood red and black, making the ones holding Blake down flinch away in fear. The moment the blade that was hovering around Blake's throat was let up, in that instant, Adam drew his sword and blasted the soldiers away, freeing Blake and cutting her restraints.

Ilia was already gone with a group of the other soldiers all that was left was Edan.

"Blake! Get to the house and stop them! I don't know how many they sent after them but they might need more backup!" Adam yelled as he got into a combat stance.

"But what about you?!" Blake countered.

"I can handle him on my own. You get going and save your family!"

Blake was hesitant, but nodded in confirmation and ran off.

"Where do you think you're going, missy?!" Edan said madly as he sprinted off behind her on all fours, only to have his pathing blocked when Adam dashed in front of him, red steel clashed with spectral daggers.

"Out of my way you washed up deadbeat!"

"No can do you mechanical rat. Your fight is with me!" Adam pushed him back with a fierce swing.

Edan got up and dusted himself off, "Fine… I'll just kill you then go after her, makes no difference."

* * *

The weasel-Faunus threw several daggers at Adam, then made a mad dash on all fours to tackle Adam.

The red-head easily deflected the blades but was blindsided when the hard body of Edan crashed into his stomach sending him dragging across the dirt. Adam kicked upward sending his opponent flying.

Edan regained his composure in the air and threw some daggers at Adam, who was forced to whip his head to the left to avoid them as they sailed past his ear and sank into the dirt. He was about to stand up when he heard a distinct whizzing sound.

"Just because you deflected them doesn't mean they're out of my control…" Edan chuckled as he raked his fingers downward in the air and the dozens of daggers that had been sent flying came raining down like a hailstorm of blades.

Adam's eyes widened as he saw the purple shadowy onslaught and rolled over onto his back. The daggers shredded through his suit like paper turning it to ragged straps, scratching and digging at his bare skin until they finally began penetrating his aura, sinking into his back.

"ARRRGHHH!" He screamed out in pain as the last few pieces wedged themselves into his shoulders. Blood began to leak from the open wounds as the daggers fizzled out of existence, leaving the tears in his skin ajar.

"Can't stop blood loss from a stab wound if the knife isn't even there!" Edan chortled.

"Hmph, neat trick, but you forgot one thing…" Adam said getting up and stretching himself off, blood spurting from the wounds though they weren't very deep.

"What's that?" Edan asked amused, sure about his victory.

"My blood is made from the failed Aegis formula, and even if I don't have the stone… I still have access to some… properties… like rapid regeneration!" Adam smirked as the wounds began to close and the blood flow began to stop, though the wounds on his lower back weren't healing as fast due to the depth of the damage… there was a limit after all.

Edan clapped, "Oh that's brilliant! I was almost sad, it would've been quite the shame for the great Adam Taurus to go down so easily!"

"You seem to forget I once outranked you..." Adam cursed.

"Once... but back then you still had power, you were still far from our great leader, but you were still powerful... but then you had the stone... the Lunar Fragment..."

"I can beat you without that thing..." the red-head tried to counter.

Edan snorted, "Really? You're just a shell of your former self, a husk suffering the withdrawals of parting ways with a stone that was never meant for him in the first place... a walking corpse... weak and feeble!"

Adam saw the deranged look in his eyes and shook his head, "You are one crazy son of a bitch…"

"Crazy?! I think I'm quite sane… and you're not the only one with… enhancements!" Edan chuckled madly as Adam's ears twitched, picking up the sound of hydraulic movement. Before he could even react, Adam was blasted with a punch so fast he couldn't even see. The impact sent him crashing into the nearby concrete wall.

"Like that? It's amazing what cybernetic limbs can do!" the weasel Faunus said. As the dust cleared Adam could see what hit him.

Edan's left arm had shot out like a cannon, the fist attached to a wire, retracting it back into place.

"Rocket fists… great…" Adam groaned as he got up, feeling his ribs bruised.

"Get back down and sit like a good little cow!" Edan yelled as his second fist shot out, forcing Adam to dodge and roll on the floor. "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Edan then began to rapidly fire off his fists like a barrage of strikes, this time Adam was ready.

The red-haired boy drew the katana strapped to his waist and blocked the left fist and sent it off to the side before spinning and catching the right one in the blade as well. Sparks flew as the steel collided and the red of the blade began to glow brighter and brighter.

"Hmph, your resistance is futile! JUST GIVE UP AND DIE!" Edan began to mix in his flying daggers with his fists, but Adam was ready again.

_Whatever speed I still have leftover, just… help me out here…_ he pleaded to the nanomachines in his body.

As if answering his calls, he began to increase in speed until he was almost as fast as his former self, blocking every dagger and fist in rapid succession, the collisions generating a thick cloud of dust, obscuring vision. Adam couldn't block everything, some hits did land, but he still blocked the majority of them.

Edan had exhausted his supply of aura on his offense and the mechanisms in his fists were becoming strained, so he retracted him, pretty sure that he'd pulverized the man.

"How'd yah like that? Tenderized beef!" Edan chortled.

"Really now… you think… those pathetic hits… were enough to kill me?" Adam said through laboured breathing, as the dust began to clear.

Edan's face morphed into a grimace, "Didn't realize you were part cockroach 'cause you just won't fucking die!"

"It was a good fight… though I can't say beating up the mentally unstable brings me joy… still… it ends now."

"Huh, what do you…" Edan's face paled as the dust cleared.

There stood Adam, beaten and bleeding from all angles, his clothes torn, his skin covered in red, his face bruised, but the look in his eye said anything but defeated.

"And what do you hope to do in that state? Just give up, and I'll make it painless." Edan said hoping his bluff would work. In truth, the mechanisms in his body were beginning to overheat and shutdown. His arms were beginning to creak and if he overworked it, the artificial heart might stop as well…

"Sorry… but I don't give up that easily…" Adam said drawing out his blade into view, and Edan felt his world shatter. The blade was glowing bright red, almost like a star… it had stored almost eighty percent of the attacks that were thrown at it, as power… and Adam was about to unleash hell…

"Oh fuck all kinds of duck…" were Edan's last words as a blast of red, like a crescent of death, cleaved through the air and sailed toward him, shredding his armoured body like paper and splitting the weasel Faunus in half. He was dead… for real this time.

"Don't fuck with me or my allies ever again…" Adam cursed as he sheathed his blade and fell to his knees in exhaustion. "I hope you made it in time Blake…"

Not that far off Blake was running toward the Belladonna household when the sky lit up with the distinct red of Adam's aura, causing her to pause.

"I hope that means he won…"

* * *

Back at the house things were… quiet… too quiet…

The lights were off, the doors were locked and so were the windows. Ghira had three bodyguards placed on the perimeter while the rest of them waited indoors. It was almost like the house itself was empty, not a soul dared move.

"How much longer are we going to wait?" Sun whispered loudly. They were separated into different rooms with Kali and Sienna in the tea room, Ghira and Sun were in the kitchen while Bell lurked in the upstairs area.

"As long as it takes to catch them by surprise," Ghira said then shushed the monkey. Both of their ears pricked up at the sound of footsteps.

"They're here…"

The stomping of boots became louder until it was muddled together. It wasn't a few soldiers… it was a squadron…

In an instant, like a timed event, soldiers erupted from the doorways to every room simultaneously, lights were thrown on and suddenly, every member inside the house was staring face to face with three soldiers, each.

They weren't sporting the traditional White Fang masks, their masks were black, and so were their uniforms, their weapons were all high-tech assault rifles with bulky builds, most likely fresh off the Atlas market. Their bodies were covered in thick armoured clothing that left no open skin.

"These guys don't look like White Fang…" Sun murmured as he drew his staff and stood ready to engage with Ghira.

"Black ops division… looks like they got an upgrade as well…" Bell said from above them, though they couldn't hear her.

The soldiers were stoic and unmoving, their weapons trained on them with extreme discipline.

"Ghira Belladonna, by order of his greatness, High Commander Onyx, we ask you to surrender and come with us quietly," the soldier at the middle said. His voice was deep and commanding, most likely the squad captain.

"And what if I don't?" the panther Faunus asked folding his arms.

"Then you shall perish here…" the man said and without warning, pulled the trigger. All others followed suit and Ghira and Sun were caught directly in the line of fire.

The two barely had a moment to react when they ducked onto the floor and rolled out of the way. The soldiers' aims were so well trained that the hailstorm followed them as they split off with pinpoint accuracy.

Ghira took cover behind the kitchen counter while Sun used his clones to try and deflect bullets.

"Do these guys run out of ammo?!" Sun exclaimed as he tried to avoid getting shot. Just as he said it the guns stopped firing and all three soldiers dropped the rifles and began charging at them, two went for Ghira while one ran at Sun with full speed.

"WHA?!" Sun cried out as the man tackled him to the floor. "Holy shit these guys are heavy!", Sun could feel the weight of the man on top of him, it didn't feel like the weight of a person that size, their bodies were hard and rough like steel.

Sun summoned a clone to rip the man off of him while he recovered, kicking upward to disorient him then spinning around and smacking the man hard on the shoulder with his staff. Instead of a solid thud, the staff twanged like striking metal, and vibrations reverberated through his body.

"They're some kind of cyborgs!" Ghira roared as he tried to shake the two trying to lock him down.

"Yeah, thanks for the tip…" Sun said as he rubbed his sore arm.

Suddenly three soldiers came flying through the kitchen wall, sparking, and bleeding simultaneously.

Sun and Ghira turned surprised to see standing in the hole in the wall were Kali and Sienna, looking rather pleased with themselves.

"You boys need some help?" Kali asked folding her arms smugly.

"Nope… just about done here...!" Ghira grunted as he grabbed the two soldiers in each arm and nodded at Sun who got the unspoken message. The soldiers cried in alarm as they were spun like a carousel and thrown at Sun who summoned two clones, and together the three staffs collided with the third soldier, sending him flying into the two that were airborne, crashing them together in a pile of circuits and heads.

It seemed as though the soldiers' bodies were made of robotic parts but their heads were still Faunus.

"This is awful…" Kali mouthed as she saw the state of the soldiers.

Sienna's fists clenched in rage, "That monster… does he know no compassion?! Turning his own soldiers into… weapons…"

"No… he doesn't…." Bell said as she joined them, in tow were two soldiers, tied up in steel bindings, her shield being used as sled to drag them.

"Let's hope that's the last of them…" Sun murmured as he bent his hands on his knees exhausted. At that moment footsteps began drumming outside until more soldiers poured in, only three but they were more heavily built than the first batch. They were as tall as Ghira and built more muscularly, which was impressive in its own right.

"I need to learn to shut up…" Sun groaned.

* * *

Blake approached her house to see the lights off, and the front door was broken in. The guards that were on the outside were lying on the floor… unconscious, thankfully. It seemed that they weren't completely out of passion for their fellow Faunus.

Without wasting a breath she stormed inside, following the main room where they all used to gather to discuss strategy. The room was pitch black, except for the moonlight that streamed through the windows above.

She could hear the distinct sound of fighting going on in the next room and thus she made a mad dash for the door only to have a steel whip crack in front of her face, halting her movements.

"Ilia…" Blake said as her eyes adjusted to the dark, seeing the chameleon girl step out of the shadows, brandishing her weapon.

"Blake, I see you've made it…"

"Ilia please… you don't have to do this! You can still change all of this! We can help you!" Blake pleaded.

Ilia's eyes darkened, "I'm sorry Blake… but you had your chance to stop this all those years ago… but you chose the wrong side…"

"Yes, Miss Belladonna… maybe it's you who needs to change sides… we'd be happy to welcome someone of your skill back into our ranks..." the voice of Fennec said as he appeared beside Ilia, his brother Corsac, following closely behind him.

"You two?! What are you doing here?" Blake seethed, "I knew you were working for him!"

"Why Miss Belladonna, we are here to tie up loose ends…" Corsac smiled.

"Starting with… you!" Fennec snarled as he and Corsac launched themselves at Blake.

The cat-Faunus backflipped out of the way of the simultaneous claw swipes only to be blindsided when Corsac snuck up behind her and kicked her in the back.

Using her cat-like reflexes, she used the momentum of the kick to cartwheel into a kick that crashed onto Fennec's head. Similar to last time, Corsac swiped at Blake's side scratching her left shoulder causing her to hiss in pain. She threw Gambol Shroud's ribbon in an attempt to bind Fennec but he was too quick to dodge, ducking low and sweeping at her legs while Corsac aimed at her face so she would have nowhere to dodge.

Blake's eyes widened in fear as the fist came colliding with her face and her legs were swept from under her. The two male Faunus pinning her to the floor, their claws aimed at her face.

"It's all over Miss Belladonna, you and your family will not see the light of day again… such a tragic loss…" Fennec snarled as he reared his hands.

Blake was choking with fear, her head leaning to the side to brace the oncoming blow when her eyes landed on Ilia, standing at the side looking fearful and sad.

"Ilia… please… help… me…" Blake choked out as her throat was being pressed down by Corsac.

"She won't help you, Miss Belladonna, for you see, we have insurance on our side… if she so much as moves a muscle to help you… we can issue the order to have her parents executed on the spot…" Corsac smiled darkly.

Blake was shocked, "So… it… was… true…" she choked, looking to Ilia for answers. The chameleon girl just solemnly nodded, with tears in her eyes, mouthing the words, 'I'm so sorry'.

The black cat felt her luck was about to run out. How could she ask her friend to give up her own parents to save her skin? Blake realized, she couldn't rely on help from others… not this time… she spent her whole life trying to be isolated to fight on her own, but everywhere she went someone was there to catch her when she fell. Whether it was Adam, Nova, Sun, her team, she always had someone she could unconsciously rely on… but at this moment she had no one but herself.

There had to be a way out of this, "I.. refuse to die… by the hands… of a pair of… two-bit lap dogs…" she choked out.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that you _are_ Miss Belladonna," Fennec said, as thrust his hand downward with blinding speeds.

Time seemed to slow down for Blake as the sharp claws drew closer and closer to her throat, and then something clicked in that fraction of a second, a smile played on her lips throwing confusion into Fennec, making him falter for a split second. It was in that second that everything was sealed.

As the claws struck down, instead of sinking into the flesh of Blake, they sunk into nothing, missing completely as his hand passed through the body like it was made of air.

"What?!" Fennec exclaimed as Corsac's hand which had been gripping Blake down had been slammed on to the floor, phasing through the girl.

Even Ilia had to rub her eyes in confusion to make sure she was seeing things correctly.

"Looking for me?" Blake said smiling as she stood up against the wall, casually leaning on it.

"What?! But how?!" Corsac snarled as he looked back and forth between the intangible Blake on the ground and the one leaning against the wall.

"Look again," Blake said causing them to stare at the one on the floor, which then fizzled and dissipated into wisps of shadow.

"When did you?!" Fennec looked afraid.

"In that split second you faltered, dim-wit."

"That's impossible, no person can do such a thing!" Corsac continued.

"Pay for your deceit in blood Blake Belladonna!" Fennec roared as he and Corsac wasted no time in getting up to attack Blake again.

The cat-girl just smiled calmly, "See there's something you're wrong about…"

"And what's that?" They asked simultaneously, stopping their assault.

"I'm not just a Belladonna… I'm also a Nightshade!" Blake said as she was suddenly in front of them, in an instant she wrapped her ribbon around the two and sent them crashing into the wall.

They recovered quickly and sprung at her, swiping but hitting only thin shadowy air as the cat-girl reappeared behind them, slashing them with Gambol Shroud.

"RAAAHH!" they yelled out in pain as blood sprayed from the open gashes in their backs.

"Brother… I think it's time we used _that_…" Fennec said and Corsac nodded.

"Enough of this…" Blake made a move to deal the finishing blow when the two disappeared in a wisp of shadow and reappeared behind her.

Blake's instincts kicked in and she used her shadow clone to jump back, avoiding the sneak attack.

"Now it's my turn to ask how," Blake hissed.

"A little gift from our master… he granted us… power…" they said simultaneously as they began to move and attack as one unit.

Blake was caught off guard by the sheer force of the power and was forced to be defensive and striking when she could.

It was like trading shadow for shadow in a battle of confusion that left Ilia in a mental strain to keep up.

If things stayed as they were, Blake might lose…

On one hand, Ilia would lose her friend, and someone she cared deeply for in her heart. On the other hand, if she helped, it could mean the loss of her family… did she really want to take that risk?

But would Onyx even let her go after this was all over? Would he let her family go? There was no guarantee that she would be safe even if things went smoothly. What type of person would she be if she let her friend die only for Onyx to turn on her and kill her and her family as well… then Blake would have died for nothing.

If Blake survives then there's still hope… not just for her but for her family as well… yet the risk was too high…

"Fuck this… whatever happens, happens!" Ilia exclaimed and, just as Fennec and Corsac were focused on Blake, Ilia thrust out her whip with lighting dust, striking them in the back, the sparks flying as electricity reverbed through their bodies.

"NOOOO!" Fennec and Corsac said simultaneously as they whipped around in pain and yanked the whip from Ilia picking up her and her weapon and throwing her against the balcony above.

"ILIA!" Blake yelled out as she saw the girl lying unconscious on the upper balcony. The sparks from her whip flying out of control, the wooden railings and ceiling began to catch on fire, but that wasn't Blake's main concern.

Fennec and Corsac made a move toward Ilia, shadowy tendrils forming at their feet, "You foolish girl! You and your family will die for your actions!"

"You will NOT touch her!" Blake yelled, her eyes began to glow a bright purple, and the shadows around Fennec and Corsac began to shift and become unstable.

"Wha… what's happening?!" they yelled in unison.

"Monsters! All of you! You will not touch her, nor her family… you won't hurt even a single hair on my friends' heads ever again!"

"Then try and stop us, deserter!"

"No more running… it's time I faced things as they are, with unwavering resolve!" she reached out Gambol Shroud, the blade pointing at them.

The shadows around them began to twist and morph into an uncontrollable mass.

"What are you doing?! Stop!" they yelled but it was too late, the shadows around them covered them like a thick blanket, constricting around their bodies like a plastic bag, flooding into their eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth.

The only thing that could be heard was the anguished wails as blood began to leak out of every orifice of their bodies. Once the shadows subsided the two lay broken on the floor, bleeding, with their eyes rolled back until you could only see the whites. Foam coming from their mouths but their bodies jerked and pulsated like they were having a spasm, signifying they were alive.

Blake grimaced at the gruesome scene she had committed but was grateful she hadn't killed them in her rage. Sparing no time she collected Ilia from the burning balcony just as a piece of the ceiling came crashing down, barely managing to get her to safety.

The chameleon girl murmured in Blake's arms, her eyes peeling open.

"Ilia! Are you okay?!" Blake asked concerned.

Ilia nodded, "I think so… what about the other two…?"

"They won't be bothering anyone again… but what about you? You attacked them! What about your family?!"

Ilia smiled, "I… believe in you… please… save them…"

Blake hugged her tightly, "I will Ilia… I'll make sure of it."

Just then Ghira, Kali, and Sun burst into the room, with a half-broken cyborg sparking and fizzling out.

Blake flinched in surprise as the wall was burst open, and another cyborg of a similar build came flying through followed by Sienna Khan and Bell.

"HOLY SHIT BE CAREFUL WITH THOSE!" Blake yelped as she got to her feet.

"BLAKE?! Are you alright!" Sun exclaimed as he rushed over to her, seeing her beaten and bruised, with a barely conscious Ilia lying next to her.

Blake stood up and leaned on him for support, "Barely… we need to get these guys out of here, the buildings gonna come down on us if we stay in here for too long! We also need to find Ilia's house and stop the White Fang from harming her parents, they should be okay for now since those two are out of it, but still..." she gestured with her thumb to Fennec and Corsac.

Sun almost threw up at the sight, "What did you do to them? Are they...?"

"Dead? No... unfortunately..." Blake was about to continue when a large cracking was heard followed by a popping of bursting wood.

They all looked up to see the burning ceiling, "Oh… that's a problem…" Sienna murmured.

"AH! MY HOUSE!" Ghira exclaimed.

"Kids to safety first! House later come on!" Kali beckoned as she began ushering them to the door. Blake wrapped her arm around Sun's shoulder and tried to limp away.

"Damnit this is too slow! Uh, don't hold what I'm about to do against me okay?" Sun turned to Blake.

"Hold what against you? Sun what are you… WAH!" Blake yelped in surprise as she picked up bridal style by Sun, blushing furiously.

"Sorry Blake, but we need to get out of here as fast as possible!"

Bell picked up Ilia which was comical considering her short stature, but nonetheless, the party made a mad dash for the door when a large chunk of the ceiling came crashing down from overhead.

Ghira was the first to react catching the massive block of wood with his own hands, his knees almost buckling under the mass.

"GO!" He said with a strained voice.

"We're not leaving you!" Kali and Blake exclaimed simultaneously.

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE!"

Kali glanced back in pain as she was forced to take the others and run to the door. Just as made it outside Sun suddenly stopped.

"Sun what're you…?" Blake was confused until she saw him shoot her a sad smile.

"Sorry about this again…"

"Kali catch!" Sun said yelled as he tossed Blake to Kali who caught her daughter, both making high pitched 'eeps'.

Sun made a mad dash back through the door then swiftly ran under the beam with Ghira and summoned his clones to support.

"We. Are. Not. Leaving. Without. YOU!" Sun grunted as he and Ghira struggled under the mass, before finally managing to toss it off of them.

Ghira looked at the young man, "You came back for me?"

Sun smirked, dusting off some soot from his clothes, "Why wouldn't I? If something happened to you it would make Blake sad… and I hate seeing her depressed…"

The older Faunus chuckled, "Still a long way from getting on my good side… but this is a step in the right direction."

They were about to leave when more of the ceiling collapsed around the doorway trapping them inside the raging inferno.

"Oh shit…" Sun cursed.

"Having any regrets about coming back for me now?" Ghira asked as he tore off his shirt that was practically burned to the cloth.

"None because we're gonna make it out of this."

"Hmph, you are one optimistic monkey…"

* * *

Outside Blake was staring teary-eyed at the burning building, the explosion that rattled the door, and no sign of either of them made her stomach feel like it had a rock wedged inside of it. Nothing but worry and fear wormed its way through her mind at the thought of losing both her father and one of the closest friends she'd ever had.

Sun had stuck by her, even when she tried to run away from everyone. He was the first one to find out her secret, about her heritage, the White Fang, all of it, and the first one to stand by her when he barely even knew her. Then when she tried to push him away, he stuck like glue, refusing to leave her alone because that's just the type of person he was. An optimistic, fun-loving, idiot who stood by the people he cared about regardless of what happens to him. He was her golden ray of Sunshine to her bleak world…

She was caught off guard by the thoughts flowing through her mind. It was funny how when faced with death that a person's true feelings begin to surface… he wasn't just a friend to her… he was something more.

As the thought crossed her mind the one thing that rang out was that she wasn't surer about anything else, and she hoped to Oum that he and her father would survive.

"Yeesh, I leave the house for one day and suddenly everything's on fire!" a new voice said tearing their attention behind them.

They all turned around to see Luna and Elain striding up the road, with smug faces.

"You're back!" Kali exclaimed as she rested Blake to sit on the stairs while she met her friend.

"Save the greetings for later Kali, what's going on?" Elain asked seriously.

"They attacked us just as we predicted, but they brought powerful soldiers. We took care of them but Sun and Ghira are trapped inside!" Kali exclaimed.

Luna looked at her mother, "I told you those things would come in handy, come on let's go save our favourite Monkey and Blake's dad."

Elain rummaged in her bag and pulled out a sphere that was about the size of a tennis ball. It was silver and mechanical with a slit down the horizontal middle.

"What're you…" Sienna studied her curiously.

Luna just walked up to the door, her body began to glow cyan blue as did her eyes. With one swish of her hand, the doors flew open and fire began to pour out like a furnace.

"If my brother were here, the fire wouldn't be a problem, but since he's not…" she turned the top half of the sphere until it clicked and began glowing, she then tossed it into the fire.

On the inside Ghira and Sun were surprised to see the door fly open with tremendous force, all burning debris blown away and suddenly a sphere was thrown inside, that began floating.

"What the…?" Ghira tilted his head then flinched back in alarm as the sphere began to beep violently.

Sun and Ghira covered their eyes in fear, as the sphere began to whir and emit a large suctioning sound, and suddenly the fire around them began to rapidly die out, as the vaccum sound became louder and louder until it stopped.

"It's over! The fire's gone, you, big babies!" Luna yelled from the doorway.

Ghira and Sun opened their eyes to not only find out they were clinging to themselves, but all the fire was gone. They detached instantly as if they were both made of hot coal.

"Ahem! Yes… what just happened?" Ghira asked confused.

"Fire Extinguishing Vacuum Sphere… wish we had these when _our _house was on fire but… it saved yours so… you're welcome," Luna droned.

"Well, sorry it's not my fault your dad was the only one who could open the fault… besides these things have a fifty-fifty chance of exploding when they suck up too much fire…" Elain said waving her hand.

Everyone gawked, "YOU LET ME TOSS THAT IN THERE WHEN IT COULD HAVE KILLED THEM?!"

Elain shrugged, "But it didn't, now did it?"

Luna rubbed her temples and everyone facepalmed, "I think I need life insurance for just having you as a mother…"

* * *

Adam finally made it back to the manor limping and bloody, to find it billowing with smoke, a shirtless Ghira laughing with Sun on the front staircase with a pile of bodies off to the side... with Corsac and Fennec leaned against a wall, unconscious.

"Holy shit what happened to you guys?!" Adam asked incredulously as he stumbled onto the staircase and sat down. They all looked at him with alarm.

"Us?! What about you?! You look like someone threw you into a meat grinder then pieced you back together," Sun commented as he looked him over.

"Hmph, you should see the other guy... I'm fine, mostly..." he tried to get up only to yelp in pain and sit back down.

Bell rolled her eyes, "You can't take care of yourself, can you? Reckless, piss poor excuse for a captain!" she grumbled while slugging him in the arm causing him to groan.

"Can you please not? It's still sore..."

Everyone watched the interaction with amusement. They were like siblings or really good friends. It was almost like the past years of them being subordinate and leader were just dust in the wind.

Kali and Elain began tending to everyone's wounds while Sun sat with Adam on the stairs since he was first to get his treatment from the doctor, they were just out of earshot of the others who were so busy focused on each other that the two males could talk privately.

"Hey... Adam..." Sun said turning to him, the bull Faunus tilted his head curiously.

"I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot..."

"Kinda?"

"Okay, so I don't exactly like you... but... ah, shit this is hard to say..."

"If this is some kind of sappy shit I don't wanna hear it..." Adam grumbled.

"Look... I just... I want to say thank you... for protecting her..." Sun said hugging his knees to his chest, not looking at Adam.

The red-head was taken aback, "What?!"

"You heard me..."

"I did but... it's still surprising... Why are you thanking me? I was just doing what I had to do... as her ally..." Adam affirmed.

Sun's tail flickered behind him, "I know... it's just, you're a lot stronger than me, I know that... and you have history with Blake... so I'm saying that I'm okay if you and her, want to you know... pick up where you guys left off... not that she's my girlfriend or anything but..."

Adam burst out into a fit of chuckles, "Hey! what's so funny?!" Sun said annoyed.

It took him a moment but Adam calmed down, "You think there's something going on between me and Blake?"

"Well... maybe...?"

"Kid, there's nothing between us other than bad blood and dark history. Sure there might've been a time when things were different, that I might have had feelings for her, and she did for me, but all that went up in flames the moment she realized the truth of what we were doing. Since then I was nothing but a monster to her, no different from Onyx. I can't look at her the way I used to, all I see now when I look at her is pain, and guilt, for the things that I've done, and all I want to do is make things right." Adam explained, being genuine in his words.

Sun gaped as Adam poured his mind out, he wasn't expecting the stiff ex-captain to open up like that, still despite his words Sun had doubts.

"But what if she still has feelings for you?" he asked, his gaze flickering to Blake who was laughing on the staircase talking to Ilia who was now fully awake, having her wounds tended to.

"Not a chance."

"What makes you so sure?"

"It's that look in her eyes, when she sees me she sees someone who has hurt her too many times to count, but she's willing to move past that for the greater good and try to fix things between us. She doesn't forgive me, and I'm not sure she ever will, but her heart belongs to someone else now..."Adam said closing his eyes.

"And who might that be?"

"It's not my place to say..." Adam smirked peeking at him through the corner of his eye. The boy sure was clueless... they both were.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a dick sometimes?" Sun asked rhetorically.

Adam chuckled, "Oh yeah... way too many times..." he said as his mind drifted to Nova, wondering just what the crazy bastard was up to now...

"So... Blake!" Sun called turning around to see the girl. Her ears perked up at the sound of her name.

"Hmm?"

"What happened back there? With those two?" Sun threw his thumb at the passed out Albain brothers.

Blake's ears flattened against her head, "Um... it's difficult to explain..."

"You awakened your power, didn't you... I'd recognize that damage anywhere. I used to call that Shadow Infestation, by infesting a body with shadows you can overload their sensory and nervous systems until they are either rendered unconscious... or dead... but there's never that much blood..." Kali said studying them.

Blake bit her lip, "I didn't mean to... well I did it's just... they hurt Ilia and were going to kill me... it was like at that moment I felt feeling welling up inside me, like a thousand voices telling me what I should do..."

"Those are the voices of our ancestors, sometimes in the event of dire peril, our ancestors will lend us a hand through the bloodline connection... it's part of the package deal when you're a Nightshade," Kali explained with a solemn smile as if remembering the times when she had to commit unspeakable acts under the influence of those voices.

"Are they always so... violent?" Blake asked her eyes turning up in hurt.

Kali nodded, "They are, centuries of resentment will do that to a person... it's up to you to control that feeling, and make sure it never overrules your sense of judgment."

Blake felt her body shaking, "I'm not sure I want to be a Nightshade anymore..."

"Sorry to say it kitty, but you don't have a choice, but... as someone who's had to deal with something similar all her life, I'll help you get through this," Luna said smiling, as she sat next to Blake and tussled her hair.

Blake smiled warmly and leaned on Luna's shoulder, "Thanks... your highness."

Luna shoved her slightly, "Please don't call me that..."

* * *

The next morning there was a gathering in the town, Ghira had called an emergency meeting following the incident of the previous night, under the same format of their previous ceremony. Faunus turned out in droves, everyone was present... except for Blake. Adam was recovering inside, with Bell tending to his wounds.

While everyone was focused on the gathering, she slipped out through the back, and under the guidance of Ilia, snuck through the town to find Ilia's parents.

"It's good to see so many of you gathered here today, I hope you forgive me for calling you all out so early in the morning, but the gravity of the matter is too great to put off," Ghira said commandingly as more and more people flocked to the scene. Loud gasps and murmurs were heard when their eyes fell upon the beaten state of the people there, and the collapsing house, still billowing smoke even though the fire had long been put out.

"You must all be quite curious as to what's going on... the long and short of it is, our family was attacked, by the White Fang," Ghira said earning more shocked gasps. "Those of you who had your doubts before, well now you have undeniable proof. For the act of speaking out against them, Onyx sent his men to attack my family in an effort to silence them, working alongside them were Fennec and Corsac Albain, the very representatives you revered so much. If not for the efforts of everyone here, my family and I wouldn't be alive to see this day." he continued, gesturing to everyone there.

"Our esteemed princess has a few words she would like to share with you," he said now making way for Luna.

The short girl stepped up to the podium and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, gazing into the faces of every member of the crowd. There was a range of people, from old to young and even some clad in their White Fang uniform looking terrified for their lives, trying to desperately blend in with the crowd by taking off their masks.

"People of Menagerie, I stand before you today as a testament to justice. We are all living proof that Onyx of the White Fang is not infallible, nor is he omnipotent. He is just a man, a selfish, manipulator whose only goal is self-serving. What kind of leader would stoop so low as to attack a family just for speaking out against them? That is not the actions of a leader, those are the actions of a tyrant!" she said with a powerful aura, commanding a tone of voice that seemed to make people want to listen to her. The dragon's tongue, the power to lead.

"They tried to kill us once, the world labeled us as dead, but we are still alive and fighting, and as long as I still have breath in my lungs then I can guarantee you, that I will not stop pushing against these atrocities. I will not stand idly by while our people are forced into fear and war, letting him control the minds of the impressionable. We Faunus are no different from the humans, we both exist in this world, commit the same sins, follow the same patterns. We are just like them, so let not the traits of our race divide us! So don't give in to the lavish words of Onyx's silver tongue when he says that we are superior to humans, and we deserve to treat them like slaves. If we become the oppressors then we are no different from monsters, no different from the people we swore to change the world against.

I'm fighting for you, for everyone so that we can live in a better world. My mother... my friends, the Belladonnas, we are fighting for not just our sake but for yours as well! So... I have just one thing to ask you..." she pulled her fists close to her chest and opened her heart to the people. "Will you fight with us? Will you join us in stopping Onyx from causing another incident like Beacon? I know you are hesitant, and I know I'm asking you to risk your lives, but... if there is but one person among you who will stand with us against them, then it would make all the difference..." Luna pleaded.

The audience who'd been hanging on to her every word was silent and thoughtful. The elderly looked ready to give their lives to her cause but were too old, the youth looked scared and the generation that mirrored them looked anxious. They were peaceful people who'd been fighting for generations. They didn't want to risk their lives in a war even if it was for their sake.

Luna felt crestfallen as she saw no one volunteer.

"WE WILL STAND WITH YOU!" A loud voice boomed in through the crowd causing them all to turn and see Blake and Ilia accompanied by Ilia's parents, a tall man with chameleon spots just like Ilia, and a dark-skinned woman with a head of frizzy hair and reptilian eyes.

"Your highness, Ilia has told us of what's been going on... I, Phious Amitola, and my wife Laurain, as well as our daughter Ilia, pledge ourselves to your cause and your family, in honor of the debt we owe not only to you but to the Belladonnas as well." Ilia's father said as he and his family knelt before Luna.

"The White Fang had us under their 'protection', but in reality they were just keeping us alive to have our daughter on a leash, working for them. No organization that operates like that will bring about positive change, so we ask that you accept us." Laurain said.

"And you shall be welcomed with open arms," Luna said beaming with joy, glad to see that the issue of Ilia's family had been resolved.

She was about to be content with that and close off the meeting when someone called out from the back, "Will you accept me as well?". It was a male dog Faunus, wearing a White Fang Uniform. "After hearing about what the high commander has done, from the crown princess herself. I'm willing to wield my weapon in your honor."

"That's wonderful! Then please step..." she was interrupted when another hand shot up. "I will join as well!" it was a female White Fang soldier.

"And me!"

"Me too!"

"Count me in!"

Soon enough more and more White Fang members began stepping forward, each carrying their masks and throwing them down into a pile on the floor at the foot of the staircase where Luna and the others stood.

They all watched in awe as a total of at least twenty-five people stepped forward and threw down their masks.

Luna felt a tear creep into the corner of her eye. This was the future her brother foresaw for their people, a future where they willingly gave their loyalty to the fight against Onyx, "Thank you... all of you..." she said with a warm smile. They all bowed before her in compliance.

"Chief Ghira will guide you on further instructions. Once again, I'd like to thank you all for coming... together we can change the future... for the better..." Luna said proudly.

* * *

**AND That's the end of this chapter, I know there was no Nova or anything and I did want to explore their training further, but I'll do that next chapter.**

**Also as for what they found on that family tree... hehehehee... maybe you guys figured it out, I've been hinting at this for a while, or maybe you haven't picked it up yet... who knows...**

**Til next time ^_^ Stay awesome!**


	50. Chapter 50: The Coming of Spring Part 1

**Sorry everyone about taking so long with this. For the first time in several months I was afflicted with writer's block and I literally only got inspiration last night. Usually I know exactly how I want to write each chapter but for the ending of Volume 5, rewatching it from a writer's perspective, it's all crazy chaotic with so many empty opportunities that when I tried to fill them they felt wrong. In the end I stuck with what I have here, so I'll be splitting it into two parts.**

**Have fun~**

**Also recently I've been actively streaming on twitch, the link is on my profile and on my twitter which is also linked to my profile. In case anyone was curious about what I sounded like well there you go. **

* * *

**Chapter 50: The Coming of Spring Part 1**

* * *

"Come on kid, dragon breath might have gone easy on you but I won't," Qrow beckoned as he stared down Oscar. The boy in question bit his lip in anxiety as he took up a combat stance against Qrow, his fists stretched so his right was leading his left, and his foot stance mirrored for perfect balance.

His training had been going smoothly due to Nova's teachings. In the span of two days, Oscar had the stamina to at least keep up with Jaune while running but he couldn't exactly pass him, especially when the blonde started sprinting, still, this was an incredible improvement compared to how he was on the first day.

Due to Ozpin sharing information on how to use his body from past experience, Oscar was able to move fluently even if he wasn't proficient in the art of hand to hand combat. Fighting with Ozpin's… err… his cane was easier than his fists but he wasn't sure if it was due to Ozpin's preferences or his own. The lines between him and his mental partner were becoming blurred and it was something he didn't want to dwell on…

Oscar threw himself at Qrow and the two began to slowly pace a sparring session, with mostly Qrow blocking the blatantly obvious attacks from the young boy. Oscar could hold his own against an ordinary person for sure, but against more experienced enemies it would be entirely one-sided.

Normally Nova would be the one dueling the boy and teaching him as he went, but as the days droned on, the tension riding in the wind could be felt. The eve of battle was near, thus being the leader he was, left instructions for Ruby, Jaune, Weiss, and Oscar to train with Qrow while he tried to learn his own limitations.

Without a weapon at his side, Nova felt empty. Taking up a battle stance felt awkward and hollow without the comforting feeling of his trusted partner Asura, but she was in pieces scattered in the wind, and all he had were his wits and his fists.

"If all else fails I can kill them with my sense of humour…" Nova grumbled as he stood with his left arm stretched outward.

"Hey, Nova….?" A familiar voice said.

"Yes, Ruby? He responded without opening his eyes.

"Watcha doin…?"

Nova felt his brow twitch, "Trying to concentrate… the real question is what are you doing? Shouldn't you be practicing your aura shield?"

"I did, and Yang said it was passable so I get to rest now. I came to see what you were up to," she said sweetly.

Nova sighed, "Ruby, sweetheart, as much as I love your company, I need to focus right now, so either sit quietly and wait for me to finish, or go harass Weiss."

"Can't, she wants to train some more."

"A good work ethic to have…" Nova responded with a taunting tone.

"Bleh, she's no fun!"

"Ruby!"

"Okay fine…" she responded and Nova could hear the shuffling of her feet and the soft thud of her sitting on the ground. He waited a few moments until he was sure she was silent before he began concentrating again.

Since the acquisition of his new arm, he hadn't been able to test its limitations. It felt like his old arm, but more… comfortable, if it could be described as that. Clenching his fists felt like he had more control over its movements than his previous appendage.

_'If the stone works the same way as it did when it was in Asura then….' _He thought as tried to channel his powers onto the stone. He could feel the heat building up inside him like a rising flame, engulfing his soul and manifesting itself through his aura.

Ruby watched in awe as Nova's left arm began to glow bright orange, and the reddish leathery skin began to erupt with the same fiery scales that happened when he used his power, encompassing his arm until it was like an armoured appendage, the fingertips were clawed like daggers and the knuckles were also spiked. The Agniseki sat neatly in the center atop his hand, glowing with heat like an open flame.

Nova opened his eyes and studied the evolution, rotating the arm and flexing the claws, "Well this is new," he said surprised.

"So your new arm isn't just for show?" Ruby asked tilting her head cutely.

"Apparently not… it's responding to my powers, resonating like a medium… if I'm right then…" he channeled his aura into the fist and reared it back before thrusting it forward in a powerful punch that superheated the air as it flew, causing an effect like the breaking of the sound barrier as it thrust skyward. Out of the fist, shot a blast of fire that illuminated the area like a flash of light, a Jetstream of an inferno that seemed to burn the very air as it traveled. Even Ruby had to shield her eyes from the display. It reminded Nova of the time he was testing his powers at Patch, but it was much stronger and didn't drain him nearly as much... with this he might even be able to keep up with Cinder's seemingly unlimited power...

"WOAH!" She squealed when the fire finally stopped, leaving a rather sweaty Nova.

Nova dusted himself off a bit, "It's like that time I tried to pour all my aura into my fist… I am so glad I didn't hit Tai with this…"

"YOU THREW THAT AT MY DAD?!" Ruby exclaimed in horror.

Nova flinched, "Well, no… I didn't use my power at that time, just my aura, and it came out like a tiny fire punch, so Tai didn't get hurt… I think."

Ruby sighed in relief, "Oh thank Oum. If you hurt dad, I was gonna knock your head around like a football… though I think he deserves it."

The threat caused Nova to flinch, "Please don't do that…."

Suddenly everyone rushed into the backyard, "WHAT WAS THAT?! IS IT AN ENEMY?!" Nora screamed wielding her hammer.

"Calm down guys, I was just testing my firepower, kinda… no need to be so on edge…" Nova said sheepishly.

Everyone sighed and put down their weapons, "Okay… okay… I think we all need to just take a break." Nitro said as his gauntlets retracted into their armbands.

"Yeah… maybe we're all on way too jumpy" Yang groaned, leaning her chin on Hex's shoulder. The purplette just calmly kissed her cheek and pet her head.

"Well, not that tensions aren't high already but… I just got a text from Leonardo," Qrow said pulling out his scroll.

"What's it say?" Jaune asked curiously.

"He wants us to have dinner with him tomorrow, and he specifically said not to walk with our weapons because we'd be dining with other guests and he doesn't want to alarm them… He says he has some important matters to discuss as well…" Qrow explained folding his arms, his expression was deadly serious.

"Smells like a load of bullshit to me…" Nitro said squinting his eyes as he read the text.

"My thoughts exactly. Ninety-Nine percent chance this is a trap." Qrow said.

"So… weapons or no weapons?" Nora asked causing everyone to deadpan.

"What do you think?" Ren turned to her, folding his arms.

"Weapons…?"

Ren just nodded confirmingly.

"YAY!"

* * *

That night Ruby and Nova tucked into bed, with her head nestled under his chin, laying on his chest as she toyed with his fingers.

"Nervous about tomorrow?" she asked realizing neither of them was in the mood to sleep.

Nova took a deep breath which caused Ruby's arm to rise and fall back down in time with his torso, "I just have a really bad feeling that something we're not expecting is going to happen."

Ruby giggled, "Well… I guess we just need to expect the unexpected!"

"Ruby, I'm serious. There's like a twisting in my gut that's telling me that… no matter how ready we might think we are, we're not nearly as ready as we should be…"

Ruby rolled over so she was staring at him in the eye now, "Nova, remember what I said a few days ago? Whatever happens, we face it together. There's nothing we can't accomplish when we're facing this as a team."

Nova cupped her face and ran his thumb across her cheek and smiled, "You are just the silver lining in my sky of clouds aren't you…"

"Someone has to be… mmph!" she was silenced when his lips closed around hers. She leaned down and pushed into him, melting against his lips, pouring her heart to him as he tenderly pulled her close. When they broke apart she nestled herself in her original position.

"I'm starting to feel more confident now, maybe we should do that again!" Nova prompted.

Ruby giggled and lightly flicked his forehead, "Go to sleep, or else I'm hiding the coffee in the morning."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me."

Nova didn't want to try her.

* * *

The next evening the party moved as one unit, striding with purpose toward Haven Academy, weapons strapped at the ready. Amidst all the strategies and planning, one thing was resonated in everyone's minds… whatever they were about to face, was going to be a pivotal point in their lives, it felt like Beacon all over again. Now was as good a time as any for the world to know that Nova Flareheart was alive and kicking.

Haven Academy was empty and deserted, just as it was the day they arrived.

"Dinner party and no one's here? He's not making an effort to hide the fact that this is set up in the slightest…" Hex droned as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Well, I hope your improv skills are good because we're acting without a script," Nitro said elbowing his sister. The tech wizard stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at him before pulling out her handheld radar and scanned the doorway.

"Doorway and hall are empty. Only life signs I can see beyond this door is Lionheart walking around and I think a bird that flew in from the outside. Either way, it's safe to just stroll right in." Hex said putting away the device.

Nova and Qrow looked at each other before nodding. Everyone readied themselves and Oscar just gulped.

"Hey, kid," Nova said turning around to Oscar. "We got your back, I would say don't be afraid but fear keeps us on edge, so be afraid but also be ready."

"You're not making much sense…" Oscar deadpanned.

Nova chuckled and slapped his back, "That's the spirit!"

Qrow pushed open the doors while Nova stood at the back so he was covered by the others. No need to alarm Leonardo before the trap was sprung. The halls were empty as well, just like the courtyard. No decorations or signs of guests. The only things that were in the room save for Leonardo were the grand staircase that snaked around either side of a statue of a deity-like woman with golden chains and accents wrapped around her waist, neck, and hands.

"Leonardo!" Qrow called as he spotted the headmaster standing atop the grand staircase that sat at the center of the room. "I thought this was a dinner party? Where are the guests?"

Lionheart flinched at the sound of the voice and looked rather, terrified, "Qrow! Students! I… I thought I said not to bring your weapons…?"

Qrow relaxed his shoulders, "Come on, we're huntsmen. We can't just leave them behind even if we wanted to. More importantly… you said you had something to discuss right? Did you get word from the council? Are we getting support?"

"Oh come now Professor, I would say I came _unarmed _but it seems I have two!" Nova called out from the back, stepping into the front of the party.

As Lionheart's eyes fell upon him, he felt his heart stop, "Y-Y-You! You're alive?!"

"Of course! And I came to look for my favourite headmaster in the world! The man who stabbed me in the back and covered up my disappearance!" Nova said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Lionheart felt a cold chill run down his spine, he hadn't accounted for the dragon prince, "Come now… that seems a little strong… it was just a simple misunderstanding…"

"Hmph sure, whatever." Nova rolled his eyes and folded his arms, giving Lionheart the best bitch face he could make while in his male body.

Weiss snickered at his actions, the boy was getting good at it.

"Look, Lionheart, are we really getting the support or not?!" Qrow pressed, his eyes sparkling with anger.

Lionheart looked like a mouse, despite his name, "About that… you see…"

As they were about to continue Yang spotted a lone raven sitting on the railing, eyeing them, a bird that looked all too familiar, "Mom…?" she asked hesitantly.

Qrow instantly drew his sword and shot a bullet at the raven, which easily dodged and fluttered to the ground behind Lionheart, and transformed into the Branwen.

"If you're going to shoot me, then shoot me. That was insulting." Raven said brushing her clothes off.

"Raven! What're you doing here?!" Qrow roared holding Harbinger up.

"OH! I just knew we'd see each other again. Have you come to reunite with your favourite dragon, my feathered friend?" Nova asked cheerily to which everyone, even Qrow almost choked on his choice of words.

They all expected Raven to explode with rage, but the Branwen surprisingly remained calm, "I'm here because you've been scheming little brother," Raven said directing it to Qrow.

"Hey don't ignore me!" Nova protested.

"Planning to raid my camp and take the Spring Maiden by force? No doubt you know how poorly that would go…" Raven said folding her arms.

Qrow's eyes widened and looked at Lionheart, "You! LEO WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"He did what any sane person would… join the winning side…"

"Rave-rave! I thought we were friends! Ditch the old man and give _us _the Spring Maiden, we can stick it to the man… err woman!" Nova said with mock hurt.

"Psst! Has anyone noticed that Nova's acting a little loopy?" Nora asked whispering to Ruby.

"That's rich coming from you…" Ren said.

"You're noticing this now?" Weiss asked.

Jaune shrugged, "I… thought this was normal…"

"I think that fall from Beacon tower scrambled his noggin… but it's fine, he's still Nova!" Ruby affirmed.

"Ugh look at you all, acting like the fate of the world isn't hanging by a thread. Typical of Ozpin to let children handle his work for him while he sits in his office drinking coffee… though I guess he hasn't reincarnated yet so he's probably rolling in his grave." Raven seethed.

"Raven please, join us and we can work together! We can defeat Salem _together_!" Qrow implored.

"Beat Salem?! All those years of spying for Ozpin and you still don't get it?! There's no beating Salem!" Raven gritted her teeth.

"Yes, there is…" Ruby said drawing Raven's attention. The reaper's expression was serious, "We've done things that most people would say are impossible! And we were only able to do it because we didn't do it alone! From that experience, at least I can say that we can do anything if we work together!" she implored, reaching out to Raven.

The crimson-eyed Branwen bit her lip, "You sound just like your mother…" she said in a low voice.

In that instant, Raven cut open a portal with her sword and out, shot a fireball that collided with Ruby sending her flying.

"RUBY!" Nova called out as he watched his girlfriend struggle to her feet.

"I'm… fine…" Ruby said dusting herself off.

* * *

Out of the red portal stepped a group of people that Nova did _not _want to see anytime soon. Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Vernal, and a large unfamiliar man stepped out.

"Oh great… the three stooges have multiplied… " Nova groaned as he stared face to face with Cinder who, upon seeing him, went from a smug evil grin to shocked fear. His eyes landed on the tall burly man that was with them, "I don't know who you are…"

"Hazel, and shit I was supposed to say it's none of your business…" Hazel grumbled.

"YOU! You're alive?! How are you here?! I watched Onyx cut you down!" Cinder seethed as her eyes began to glow.

"It's nice to see you too Cindy," Nova said grinning madly.

Jaune's eyes fell on the brunette and he felt his blood begin to boil. Standing before him was the woman responsible for putting Pyrrha in a coma, the one responsible for tearing everything apart but he had to contain his anger.

"Cinder!" Qrow snarled, "How long has Raven been a part of your group?! HOW LONG?!" He roared.

"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist birdman, your sister is a recent addition. Old and Grey over there… well… let's just say sneaking into the Vytal Festival was just one of his many works… isn't that right Leo?" Cinder smiled turning to him.

The older man in question just rubbed his arm ashamed.

"Totally called it!" Nova fist pumped in the background.

"So it was you! I really didn't want to believe it, but all this time, all those huntsmen that disappeared. It was you! You sent them out and let her kill them!" Qrow seethed.

"Just a small price to pay for the future~," Mercury said smiling.

"So this was all just a setup?" Qrow asked again.

"Yup! And our mutual friend Onyx should be arriving at any moment with the White Fang in tow… I imagine he'll be quite surprised when he discovers our dragon friend is alive…" Cinder said.

Nova's eyes widened, "That monster is coming?! Talk about a party… I should've brought cake…" he sneered, his expression darkening.

"How can you people be so broken?!" Jaune yelled finally exploding, "How can you just sacrifice so many innocent lives for your own gain?! What are you even trying to achieve?! Do you not care who you've hurt…?" He said tears streaming down his face as the images of an unconscious Pyrrha, lying in a hospital bed, unable to wake up floated in his mind. The pail and now frail body of the once undefeated champion, the love of his life. It stung him to no end that the person responsible for all of that was staring at him with a smile on her face like she was on cloud nine.

"Who are you again…?" Cinder tilted her head.

"I'm the one who's going to kill you!" Jaune roared, unsheathed his sword, and ran in swinging.

Nova facepalmed, "I said keep your cool! And they say I'm the hot-headed one…" he then rushed after the blonde.

* * *

Meanwhile Raven turned to Vernal, "You take care of the heiress, don't use your powers, it'll be a waste."

"Raven!" Qrow yelled as he launched himself at his sister, blades clashing. "We're family! How could you turn your back on us like this! Even your own daughter!"

"Were we still family?" Raven asked as she fought against his strength, bearing down her weight on the blade.

"I used to think so… but not anymore!" he roared pushing her back.

"Come on princess, let's see if you live up to the Schnee Family name…" Vernal said getting into a battle stance

"Hmph, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not a Schnee anymore…" Weiss spat.

The two fought in a game of chase, witch Vernal throwing her chakram crescents that were more like giant crescent swords than disks at Weiss who was dancing around on glyphs trying to avoid them. At first, the Schnee tried to deflect the attacks but they proved to have too much force behind them as if the air was against her.

"She's fast..." Weiss cursed as she tried to dodge around and attack Vernal, but the girl was just too nimble.

Weiss tried to summon a knight to aid her but the form was shattered before it had a chance to properly materialize, by Vernal's weapon.

"Come on Schnee, you'd have to do better than that…"

"You're right…" Weiss smirked. A white glyph erupted behind Vernal who stood a few meters from her, and out came the swinging hand of a knight wielding a sword, but just the hand.

Vernal was knocked away, but not before throwing out her chakrams which flew around the room before colliding directly with Weiss, forcing her to her knees.

* * *

**-With Ruby-**

Emerald swung at her with her sickles but Ruby dodged and tried to swipe at her with Crescent Rose. The green-haired girl backflipped out of the way and shot rounds at her which were deflected by a spinning scythe.

"Emerald you don't have to do this! It's not too late to turn your back on Salem, there's good in you, I know it!" Ruby pleaded, she knew that Emerald was capable of doing good, that there was still hope for the girl, but a large part of her wanted to cut down Emerald right there. The memories of that time at Amity Arena, when Emerald tricked Ruby into wasting time so that Penny could be torn to shreds. The painful feeling of helplessness that followed after… it wasn't something that Ruby could forget.

Still… if she could get through to her, she would be willing to welcome her, so she pushed down her darker thoughts.

"Salem?! I don't care about Salem, but I owe Cinder everything! And if Cinder is working for Salem then I can't dispute her. I'm only who I am today because of Cinder, and her guidance. Without her, I would be nothing!" Emerald countered.

"And is that really a good thing? Are you someone you can be proud of?" Ruby countered.

Emerald bit her lip, "That doesn't matter! If you want to fight then take it up with her!" the green-haired girl's body morphed into that of Cinder and launched herself at Ruby.

The reaper dodged only for the image to fade into nothingness while Emerald blindsided her. Ruby didn't want to hurt her, not too much… but if she needed to then… so be it…

Yang and Mercury were also duking it out, hand to hand, "Blondie, I think you owe me an apology for my leg…" Mercury said tauntingly.

Yang sneered, "Yeah… you're right… I'm sorry…"

This caught Mercury off guard, "What…?"

"I'm sorry I didn't break it clean off and shove it up your ass!" Yang yelled as she threw herself at him, landing blow after blow while the grey-haired boy desperately tried to block all her punches. He wasn't getting an edge on her anytime soon…

* * *

Meanwhile, Oscar had turned on to Lionheart. The older man looked confident as he sized up to the smaller boy, on his wrist was a shield with strange markings and colours.

"I don't know who you are boy… but you best back down now before you get hurt…" Lionheart threatened.

"It's funny seeing how you looked so spineless before, but now that you're facing a kid you're suddenly all confident," Oscar said with false bravado.

Nora and the others had engaged with Hazel, who stood almost twice their height, probably a foot shorter than Onyx. They were attacking him at all sides but he was facing each attack head-on, though they weren't using their full strengths, neither was he.

Oscar was able to focus on Lionheart knowing there were no external threats. "I'm not just some kid…" he said as the silver handle at his waist unfurled into a familiar long and black cane that caused Lionheart's eyes to widen.

"That cane! Y-You're…!" wasting no time Lionheart spun the disk on his arm until it landed on a red gem, which caused a molten rock to appear in the air like magic and shoot out at Oscar who blocked it with his cane. The explosion did some damage to his aura but it wasn't that much.

_'Remember your training'_ Ozpin said in his mind as Oscar danced back and forth from Lionheart's attacks.

_'Just let me fight!' _Oscar countered as he let his body fall into the rhythm he adapted over his training. Easily outmaneuvering Lionheart and beating him back.

* * *

**Meanwhile with Jaune**

"Let's do this Jaune!" Nova said readying his fists.

"No…" the blonde turned to his leader.

The dragon tilted his head, "What…?"

"No! Please… just let me do this on my own… for Pyrrha…"

"Well alright… I should save my strength for Onyx anyway…."

Nova stood by and watched as Jaune and Cinder dueled. As much as he wanted to step in, he needed to be on the lookout for Onyx. If that man showed up… they'd all be in mortal danger…

"You will pay for what you did to Pyrrha!" Jaune screamed as he recklessly swung at Cinder, at least it looked reckless. In actuality it was a careful strategy that Nova taught him, his swings were made to look reckless by his arm movements when in reality they were precise and accurate. It was a way to throw the enemy off guard while landing the attacks.

The first few were avoided by Cinder, but the strategy was working, soon enough Jaune's blade came so close to Cinder's face that when she attempted to dodge the blade cut her mask that covered her damaged eye.

This infuriated her to no end. "YOU INSOLENT FOOL! YOU DO NOT KNOW THE POWERS YOU CONTEST!" with a blast of fire that erupted out of nowhere, Jaune was forced to the floor, with Cinder holding him down with her leg.

"What's driving you?! What is it that possesses you to fight those who are clearly superior?!" Cinder asked, genuinely infuriated by the blonde. She didn't know why but he angered her. "Is it Ozpin? Is your loyalty to him what matters so much that you would risk your own life?!"

"Hell… no…" Jaune coughed out from under her foot, "Fate of the word… Ozpin… none of that matters… what matters is them…" he turned his head to see his friends all fighting their battles. "They're the reason I fight…"

"Oh really~," Cinder said with an evil glint. "You sound an awful lot like that dragon over there…"

Nova had a sickening feeling as he watched Jaune struggle. He was about to step in when Cinder suddenly flicked her body around, and in a split second, generated a glass spear and threw it like a Javelin at the downed Weiss.

"NO!" Jaune and Nova yelled as they tried to get to the spear in time, but they were too slow. They all watched in horror as it sailed through the air uncontested, driving itself right through the ex-heiress' left side, through her back and right out through her front.

"WEISS!" Nova yelled, drawing everyone's attention.

All the fighting ran to a halt as everyone turned to see Weiss, standing there in shock as she struggled to breathe, a giant spear stabbed through her body, fizzling into black dust before she collapsed onto the floor, choking.

Instantly Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora rushed to her side, "Oh no no-no-no… WEISS PLEASE!" Ruby screamed as tears flowed down her face, the Schnee girl's body becoming paler by the second as her eyes fluttered closed.

"NO WEISS YOU CAN'T!" Ruby continued to yell.

Nova stood in horror as he watched the scene unfold.

"Serves her right… damned Schnee…" Cinder said unapologetically.

"You… HOW DARE YOU!" Nova growled turning to Cinder.

"Hmph how dare I?! Please… you can't…"

"You have hurt them for the last fucking time… I generally live by the rule of no killing unless necessary… but now… now I think that every second you breathe in a stab in the face of the universe!" He snarled.

Cinder was about to counter when she suddenly felt a cold chill run down her spine… or was it hot?

Everyone in the room suddenly felt the temperature increase drastically, the air began to shake and the floor began to crack and break from an invisible pressure that seemed to emanate from Nova.

"YOU WILL DIE!" Nova roared, the voice emanating from his throat sounded like an actual dragon's roar mixed into his voice. The air around him began to violently combust until his body was covered in flames, only his silhouette showed through… and the glow of his mismatched eyes that screamed murderous rage.

Cinder was glued to the spot, the man standing before her was unlike anything before. It wasn't a teenager… it was like staring at the visage of a demon from the depths of hell itself… a dragon with a bloodlust… The fear sealed her mouth shut, even Mercury and Emerald were rooted, unable to tear their eyes away from him as every survival instinct in their body said the moment they looked away, they'd be dead.

"NOVA!" Ruby called out, her voice ringing like a bell in the world's quietest room. "PLEASE! WEISS CAN'T TAKE THIS HEAT MUCH LONGER!"

Instantly Nova's flames dissipated as he sobered up, his mind calming down. The look of sheer terror on his enemies' faces satisfied him to no end.

"Sorry, Ruby… how's she doing?" Nova said turning to her.

"Not good… her aura's really low… she… she might not…"

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Nova tried to cut her off, and deny the truth… but the concept remained. Weiss could die.

"Yes… scurry on and look after your friend… we'll be going…" Cinder said saucily as she regained her composure.

Nova growled, baring his fangs, "Mark my words Fall… I. Will. End. You."

Cinder felt the beads of sweat forming but she wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of knowing that he scared her. "Come on, while we have the advantage… the White Fang will clean up this mess…" she said calling the others.

Lionheart and the unfamiliar large man remained while Vernal, Raven, and the others followed Cinder. Lionheart placed his pocket watch in the amulet of the statue that sat at the base of the stairs, its clock turned rapidly until it clicked, and the statue sank into the ground revealing an open passageway down.

"NOVA! YANG! STOP THEM! WE'VE GOT THIS COVERED!" Nora yelled startling Yang out of her trance.

Nova glanced back and forth between the retreating forms of Raven and Cinder to the barely alive Weiss. "FUCK!" he cursed as he and Yang ran in after them. He just hoped he would make it back in time to deal with Onyx.

"Where do you think you're going? If you want to go after them, you'll have to get through us… all of us…" Emerald said as she and Mercury blocked their path, Mercury multiplying to further cut off the routes.

Nova snorted, "Really? You two? Stop me? Get over yourselves and step aside… or else…" he threatened, the claws on his arms growing to a dangerous length, the right arm glowing a fiery aura. Emerald felt her breath hitch in her throat.

"I don't have time to waste so either you step aside… or we make you…" Yang snarled.

"We're not afraid of you." Mercury countered.

"Your legs beg to differ," Nova smirked pointing to his knees which were wobbling in fear despite them being mechanical.

The moment his gaze was turned Nova grabbed him by the throat and Yang swept Emerald's legs from under her and tossed them away from the entrance to the underground of the school.

"Ruby, Hex, Nitro, protect Weiss… we'll make this quick," Nova said darkly without looking back.

"Nova wait!" Ruby ran up to him and tackled him from behind, "Don't… do anything stupid."

"When have I ever?" Nova said smirking.

"Now's not the time for jokes…"

"Sorry, it's a defense mechanism."

"The last time you did something like this you ended up dead! Please… for my sake… making it out alive comes first… the mission comes secondary." Ruby pleaded.

Nova sighed and reached behind him to ruffle her hair, "I will. Besides, Yang's got my back, right big sis? **(A/N: Whenever Nova says big says, read it like Onee-chan**"**)**

Yang chuckled, "Definitely."

Ruby reluctantly let him go and watched their forms disappear down the rabbit hole. It was then that it hit her, "Wait, big sis? When did that happen?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Oscar and Qrow were staring down Hazel and Lionheart.

"You're letting a kid make a fool of you… get yourself together old man," Hazel said as he picked Lionheart up off the ground.

"He's not just some kid… he… he's Ozpin! He's already reincarnated!" Lionheart said finally drawing attention to it.

Instantly Hazel snapped to Oscar's frame and noticed the cane he held in his hands. "OZPIN!" Hazel roared, his voice trembling with fierce rage.

_'Oz… what did you do to this guy? He looks like he wants to scramble your… err our intestines and tear our brains out through our noses…' _Oscar said in his mind.

_"A rather graphic description young man, what have you been exposed to?" _Ozpin genuinely asked.

_"Horror movies and that didn't answer my question"_

Ozpin didn't get a chance to respond when Hazel suddenly pulled out two yellow uncut dust crystals from the pouches on his waist and stabbed them into his forearms.

Oscar's eyes widened, "Did he just inject himself with dust?!"

"A barbaric fighting style, that is not only dangerous to yourself but it also causes extreme pain… to infuse oneself with dust like that…" Qrow said in horror as he watched Hazel's veins glow bright yellow from the dust and his eyes begin to glow.

_"It's his semblance, it dulls the pain so he can't feel it. That's why he's able to fight like that." _Ozpin said as if answering the overhanging question of why isn't that man screaming in agony.

* * *

Weiss' condition wasn't stabilizing, in fact, it was getting worse by the second. Jaune desperately tried to keep the pressure on the wound while Nora propped Weiss's head onto her lap. Ruby, Nitro, and Hex were dealing with Emerald and Mercury, normally the fight would've been over already given their training but Emerald's semblance was messing with their heads. None of them had a chance to learn the aura sensory field yet and as such, they were struggling to fight against visual hallucinations.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this… Nova said I was our frontline, the shield to protect us all… but I couldn't do anything… Weiss please you can't die!" Jaune pleaded, tears streaming from his eyes. He felt like a failure, there was nothing he could do. He failed to protect Pyrrha and he failed to protect Nova, and now he had failed to protect Weiss. If he could give his aura to heal Weiss he could.

Then the feeling began to swell in him like a burning sensation, a crystal clear light that shined from him on the inside. All of a sudden his body began to glow bright white, his aura began to pour into Weiss covering them both. It felt like the time he was generating his aura field during training, except it was more like net than a shell.

"W-What's going on?!" Jaune asked not taking his hands off of the wound. Suddenly Weiss began to stabilize, her breathing began to become more even and her pained expression was relaxing. Jaune could feel the open wound under his palm begin to slowly close.

"Jaune… are you… healing her with your aura?!" Nora asked incredulously.

"Whatever it is, keep going it's working!" Ren said.

"I think this is my semblance!" Jaune said excitedly, he'd gone his whole time as a huntsman without it, to think it would take the near-death of one of his friends to bring it out…

Back with Hazel and Oscar, the boy was getting smacked around like a punching bag, barely able to dodge Hazel's strikes while some collided despite his efforts.

"What did you do to his guy?!" Oscar yelled aloud.

"You mean he hasn't told you? I dearly apologize boy, it seems you'll just be another victim of Ozpin's deceit… Why don't you tell him Ozpin? If you're listening that is…" Hazel growled.

Ozpin sighed, _"Hazel's twin sister, Gretchel Rainart, was once a student enrolled at Beacon Academy, despite her brother's protests. She tragically lost her life on a training mission and Hazel blames me for what happened."_

Oscar's face contorted into horror, "WHAT?!"

"Now you know kid… I'm sorry it has to be this way for you… no hard feelings alright?" Hazel said walking up to him.

"Did she know?" Oscar asked getting into a defensive stance.

"What?"

"Did she know the risks of being a huntsman?!"

"SHE WAS JUST A CHILD!" Hazel roared.

"SO AM I! BUT I KNOW THE RISKS! I'M WILLING TO TAKE THEM FOR THE GREATER GOOD! SHE KNEW THEM AS WELL SO YOU CAN'T BLAME THIS ON OZPIN!" Oscar countered angrily.

"YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT SHE KNEW!" the large man then angrily charged at Oscar.

_"Oscar please… he's damaged in a way that can't be healed, let me fight him…" _Ozpin pleaded.

Oscar sighed, "You're right… this isn't my fight… but this is my body, and I will beat him…"

_"Suit yourself… but at least use my knowledge," _Ozpin released the fighting strategies to Oscar who reluctantly accepted them. He didn't want to adopt Ozpin's style but he didn't exactly have a choice.

The moment Hazel neared him, Oscar leaped over him with incredible height and kicked the man in the back causing him to stumble. This caused Hazel to fly into an even further rage, he began blindly charging at Oscar. The boy tried to remember his training and combined it with Ozpin's style, leaping off the staircase and ducking into Hazel's blind spot, striking at him rapidly with the cane, the weapon not exactly doing a lot of damage considering it was just a glorified stick, still he was doing something.

Hazel was being led around and tripped over by Oscar who was growing more confident by the second the longer the fight drawled out. A few kicks and stabs later Hazel was sent crashing through the wall of the academy, breaking into the outside world.

"Well, well, well… Hazel Rainart… getting your ass handed to you, never thought I'd see the day…" A dark and all too familiar voice rumbled.

Hazel got up and dusted himself off from the rubble. There, standing in the moonlight was the towering frame of Onyx 'Steelmane', clad in his black-trimmed coat with fur collar and spiked shoulders. On his belt hung a large mechanical rectangle, the folded form of Draco Belthor, and his eyes void black, that seemed to accentuate the mad grin that split his face.

"You… stay out of this… Ozpin is mine!" Hazel roared as he gestured to Oscar who looked confident standing at the foot of the staircase.

"So… the old bastard's already reincarnated… in a boy of all things. Well, I'm not one to get in your way… but if you fail… I'll gladly, step in," Onyx said with a dark grin, releasing a bit of his power, the darkness of the night seemingly morphing around him and the entirety of Haven trembled briefly.

It was only for a split second, but every person within the school felt that power, and instantly their bodies shook, their minds resonating with one thought.

"Onyx… he's here…" Nitro said grimly as he pushed back Mercury with his fists, at least he thought it was the real one, it wasn't exactly easy to tell when there were five of them.

"I felt it too… we might be out of time…" Hex grimaced as she threw her chain taking out a clone of Mercury that dissipated into thin air, another illusion by Emerald.

"UGH THIS IS GETTING NOWHERE!" she roared.

"Hex, can you handle this? The others will need some backup… especially if the White Fang is here."

"We're fine, right Ruby?" Hex turned to the reaper.

"Yeah, just go!" Ruby yelled as she spun her scythe to deflect Emerald's bullets.

* * *

As Yang and Nova rode the elevator down, they felt the tremor, Nova's eyes widened, "He's here…"

"Nova no… we have to take care of this first. After we have the relic then we can head back up. If we don't do this now then Salem wins… this is more important." Yang implored.

"But Yang… he could kill everyone!" Nova panicked.

Yang shook him furiously, "Get a hold of yourself! Our friends aren't so weak to fall so easily!"

Nova had to mentally slap himself, the fear was getting to him, "You're right… the only thing we can do right now is to have faith…"

* * *

**Things felt a little awkward, especially for the mini-fights that were happening across the board. Writing this was actually kinda annoying because it was a series of practically meaningless fights with no conclusion for the sake of stalling for time, and I didn't like that idea, so I kept trying to come up with ways for it to make sense. In the end, all my plans fell apart so I had to roll with how the series did it and not how I would've preferred to do it. The reason being that I have things planned that prevent me from deviating from the general cannon here.**


	51. Chapter 51: The Coming of Spring Part 2

**HI HI!**

**Okie Dokie so I see a couple of you actually went on my twitch, thanks for that btw, EthosTheET out here being my first on literally every platform XD**

**I wanted to make this chapter longer, but where I ended it this time was a really cool intro to the next chapter, which I will be working on soon since this arc is coming to a close. **

**If you haven't already, on my twitter the ever amazing Ciel (Aka TheRealRohan) the first person to draw fanart for me, did a great drawing of female Nova in Summer Rose's outfit that Yang gave her, so I'd be happy if you go and check it out, leave a comment, etc, and check out all the other artworks that people have sent me. They work hard to make them and I think they deserve all the love in the world for it.**

**Author Lore Time: So I started this fic on December 27th, 2019. As you guys know I'm an Electrical and Computer Engineering student, and at the time was the end of the 1st semester of my 2nd Year, and it was the first semester I'd ever actually passed all my courses. I'd been struggling like crazy because of how hectic my lifestyle is. I used to wake up at 4:30 AM every morning to get a bus for 6 AM to get to class for 8 AM to then spend 3 hours after classes waiting on another bus to inevitably get home after a full days classes at around 6 to 8 p.m sometimes 9 if the traffic was bad. Then I would have to do tons of assignments and prep work for labs, I was getting roughly 2-4 hours of sleep a night and that was during class days. You can imagine how much I was struggling to keep up with everyone.  
Anyway, the point is, I was in a rough spot of my life, and that semester I was like, "If I can pass everything, then I might as well try my hand and publishing my writing". Then I started writing this fic, and the responses were so positive that it gave me the inspiration to push through. Every time I was feeling like I couldn't do something, I remembered that if I can make half-decent writing that entertains people, then I can finish this task. **

**The bottom line is, this is the first semester I was able to get all A's in every course, it's my first time seeing a single A on my exam results let alone 5 of them. I just want to say thanks for sticking with this story because the fact that you kept reading until now, and hopefully will continue until this story is over, it means a lot to me. It helped me feel like I was actually doing something again.**

**Sappy stuff aside here's the chapter, enjoy ^_^**

* * *

**Chapter 51: The Coming of Spring Part 2**

* * *

**EDITED: I took the reviews to heart and after rereading it from a different perspective, and some input from Ciel, I realized that Nova was just super OOC and way out of line with some stuff. In my head, it didn't pan out the way I wrote it and it was my fault for trying to do it that way, so I changed up the fight with Cinder and Nova a bit. He seemed way too edgy in the original fight and in my head he was more cryptic and dangerous than edgy and murderous, it's a fine line between the two but it came out all wrong, so I went back and fixed it.**

In Haven's Hall, the majority off fighting had still been going on. Ruby and Hex were still stalling Emerald and Mercury because until they could find some way to interfere with Emerald's illusions there was no real way of directly attacking them. Usually, all it took was one misstep but in this close-quarters area with not enough room to move around, Ruby's crescent rose felt hindered in its strike patterns since her enemies were keeping to the corners and stairs, as if they were aware that her attacks were the more devastating of the two.

To say the reaper was infuriated was an understatement, but she was also slightly grateful. In a battle of attrition, she wouldn't be bested, and with her training, she wasn't sure she had full control over her advanced Aura Manipulation to use it in combat.

Jaune had been progressively healing Weiss over time while Oscar held off Hazel. The wound had finally closed and now it was just a matter of time before Weiss was finally recovered. The strangest thing of it all was that Jaune had been pumping Aura into Weiss for the last ten minutes and there was no sign of it stopping as if the blonde boy had an unlimited supply of it.

"Jaune are you okay? You've been doing this for a long time…" Ren asked cautiously, if Jaune used all of his Aura to heal Weiss then for any forthcoming battles, he would be bone dry.

"That's the thing… I feel like I can just keep going…" Jaune said airily, focusing on the process.

"But… you're expending so much Aura…"

"Well… Pyrrha always did say I had a lot of the stuff… Nova as well… I guess they both saw my potential before I did…" Jaune smiled as he turned up to his friend.

Ren could see the pain through his gaze. Jaune, more than anyone, wanted to be the one with Nova fighting Cinder, taking revenge for what happened to Pyrrha. They all felt the same anguish, being unable to fight on the same lines as their friends for the sake of the fallen, but there wasn't much they could do… they weren't superhuman.

Yet, amidst all the power Nova had, none of them envied him… in fact, Ren would go so far as to say he pitied the boy. It was easy to forget that Nova and Ruby were among the youngest of their group before Oscar came along. Ruby still maintained her childish antics and her height still alluded to the fact that she was two years younger, but Nova felt older than all of them. It was like that because they looked to him as their leader, he was the level headed mature leader they befriended and silently idolized… but he was also the one carrying the most burden. Nova and Ruby bore the weight of the world on their shoulders heavier than any of them, and that was something that eternally etched respect into his soul.

"Ugh… I feel like I got stabbed by a giant spear…" Weiss said grumbling as she peeled open her eyes.

"WEISS!" Nora exclaimed, almost throwing the girl's head off of her lap.

The white-haired girl flinched at the loudness before her surroundings registered. She was staring up at the concerned faces of Jaune, Ren, and Nora, Nitro was standing behind them, his back turned and his weapons out, standing guard from any enemies that would try something on them. It was only then she realized that she was enveloped by a white aura that was not her own, the source was apparently Jaune. She was about to protest as to why he was touching her when she realized her wound was almost gone… and her aura was being restored simultaneously.

"Jaune… whatever you're doing… keep going…" Weiss said with a glint as she flashed a white glyph in the palm of her hand. The three got the message… Weiss was recharging power…

Back with Oscar, he was staring at the hole in the wall where Hazel was thrown through. He was amazed by his own power, a few weeks ago he couldn't even dream of doing even one of the things he just did in that fight… but now he was standing here, a farm boy turned warrior who'd just tossed a man almost three times his size through a concrete wall.

Normally this would have been cause for celebration, but Hazel had other plans.

_"Don't let your guard down… something's wrong…" _Ozpin said in Oscar's mind.

Oscar would've asked about it had at that very moment, a wave of pressure like the weight of a steel beam drop down on him and everyone in the room. The walls shook, the ground quaked and the only thing that echoed in his mind at that moment was the instinct to run.

He slowly turned to his friends, but they all looked deathly pale. They knew who owned that pressure, and Oscar wasn't sure he wanted to find out. It certainly wasn't Hazel, the large man was strong to be sure, but that level of pressure could only come from something described by one word… a monster. Not a Grimm or a fairy tale goblin… but something so terrifying it made giant Nevermores look like newborn ducklings.

Oscar saw Ruby and Hex stop fighting Emerald and Mercury, even Nitro's arms were shaking.

In his daze, Oscar didn't even register when Hazel stabbed two red dust crystals into his arms and reared his frame into the room.

_"OSCAR WATCH OUT!" _Ozpin yelled, but the boy was too slow to react. He barely had a chance to turn in time to see Hazel charging at him with bloodlust and rage, his veins glowing with the dust infusions. Oscar was frozen, was his time as a Huntsman this short-lived that a single misstep led to his downfall?

"Sit the fuck down you berserker…" the sound of an icy voice said from near him. A white conical shard like a stinger shot through the air and impaled Hazel, right through his chest. Dropping him to his knees. Weiss Schnee stood by Oscar, a giant white Lancer Queen hovering in the air behind her, like a beast of the end.

Hazel didn't even register the pain of being impaled until his limbs began to fail him, dropping onto his knees he shakily saw the stinger impaling him through his chest.

Still, he tried in desperation, crawling on his knees and arms, dragging his dying body across the floor, roaring in rage as he grew closer to Oscar.

"OZ…PIN!... I'LL…KILL…YOU…!" the man yelled through choking gasps for air as he fought against his failing organs to claw his way to the horrified boy. Blood oozing out of his mouth and wound as he trailed a line of blood on his way to the base of the staircase where Oscar stood. His eyes burning with rage until the very end… until the fire finally died in his eyes, rolling to the back of his head as his body fell limp… his right arm reaching out inches from Oscar's feet.

Weiss and Oscar had watched in horror during the whole ordeal. It was one thing for a man to just die… but it was another to watch as he pitifully struggled until his final breath.

_"Hazel… there was good in you… but your thirst for vengeance blinded you until the very end… I'm sorry it had to end this way…" _Ozpin said solemnly in Oscar's head.

Oscar was too frozen for words, it was his first time seeing a real dead body… and up close… knowing he'd contributed to this person's death made him feel queasy…

Weiss on the other hand visibly turned paler than she already was and threw up on the floor… if she even had anything to throw up.

Oscar turned to her and placed a hand on her back, "Hey… are you okay?" he asked tenderly.

Weiss turned shakily to him, her earlier bravado gone, at that moment she was nothing more than a scared girl. In the short time Oscar had known her, he never thought he'd see the day Weiss Schnee lost her cool like this.

"S-Sorry… you had to see me like this… I-I've never killed someone before…" Weiss responded hugging herself. "How the fuck did Nova do this…? It feels… horrible…"

That statement raised questions within Oscar, and to say he wasn't curious was an understatement, but there were more pressing matters to attend to… like the hulking figure that towered like a giant on the other end of that doorway.

Now that their attention on Hazel was gone… they could see the massive man and an army of White Fang standing outside that door.

"Weiss, Oscar, I don't think you have time to stand around… I know this is insensitive to say… but stand up… because if we don't, I think we're all going to die here…" Nitro said joining them, though his eyes were trained on the hole in the wall, or rather the people on the other side.

"Who's that…?" Oscar asked shakily.

"Almost three meters tall, massive muscular frame, void black hair and eyes, the army of White Fang behind him… there's only one person I think that _could _be…" Nitro said nervously.

"Onyx…" Weiss finished her eyes widening in horror.

* * *

Back in the vault passage, Cinder, Raven, and Vernal had already crossed the walkway and were greeted by a large tree, its branches fanning like a grown cherry blossom tree, except unlike the eternal pink of the aboveground forests, this one was evergreen. The fruits on the tree were round and glowing like lights, illuminating the darkness of the cavern-like stars.

Across the perilous bridge and passed the tree was a massive door, most likely in place as the gateway to the Relic of Knowledge. The bridge was wide enough, it was more like a glorified flat platform, but just one step too far and you would plummet Oum knows how far into the seemingly endless depths below.

Breaking out into a fight here would not only be perilous for both parties… but risk the stability of the room. It wasn't plastered and constructed like the one at Beacon. The Haven Relic Vault room was a bare cave, most likely done on purpose to allude to the natural aesthetic of the Spring Maiden. Either way, as pretty as the place was, it had delicate construction. It would withstand an earthquake maybe, but not the impact force of powerhouses in a fight.

It was almost as if Ozpin wanted the room to collapse if a fight broke out.

"Vernal, go…" Raven instructed as they calmly crossed the platform. Vernal stepped forward and made her way to the door.

"Okay… here we go…" she said as she inhaled deeply. Drawing on the Maiden powers within her, feeling the flow of the magical energy extend from her aura, until… *SLING* *CRUNCH* *SQUELCHH*

"VERNAL NO!" came the panicked sound of Raven. The girl was unsure why her master was panicked until…

Vernal was torn from her trance by the sudden intense pain coming from her abdomen. As if the flow of magic had dulled her sense of pain prior, she now opened her eyes. Her nerves skyrocketing in absolute mind-numbing excruciation as gripped onto her abdomen, was a long, stretched out Grimm hand, sinking its nails into her body and crushing her bones.

"It's nothing personal kid… it's just that… the game was rigged from the start~" Cinder said sultrily said as she stared down the shocked Vernal, who was clutching at the arm for dear life.

There was a brief moment of pause before all wind left Vernal's body, and she fell limp to the floor, leaving Cinder staring confused.

"Where's the Spring Maiden's power…?" Cinder asked shakily as she felt nothing coming from Vernal. She was supposed to inherit the powers of the Spring Maiden, as per the rule of succession… so why wasn't it there?

"Because… Vernal's not the Spring Maiden…" Raven said darkly causing Cinder to turn around shakily. "I AM!" Raven flashed the blue glowing eyes signifying the power of the Maiden, magic erupting from them similar to Cinder's.

"She must've trusted you a great deal before she died to give you the power… no doubt a grave mistake…" Cinder returned, her eyes glowing in response, summoning a flaming sword made of black glass.

"You will pay for this…" Raven snarled drawing her own blade from around her belt, selecting a dust infused black blade with weight and strength.

"Aw, Raven, surely you saw this coming~? A woman of your stature would surely have seen this double-cross happening a mile away… yet you still let it happen. Were you not expecting it this soon?" Cinder taunted.

"I've seriously had enough of your shit!" Raven screamed, launching herself at Cinder, drawing her sword and aiming it at the woman's neck.

Cinder easily leaned backward and avoided the strike before countering with her own blade, swinging in the same manner. Raven dashed back and tried to strike from a different angle, lunging from below, but Cinder didn't even bother to move, reading the attack and blocking it easily.

The fact that her opponent seemed unphased by her attacks irritated Raven to no end. Grunting she tried to send rapid assaults, dashing and striking from all angles in a series of hit and run maneuvers. Cinder effortlessly reacted, blocking from the front, sides, and back without even breaking a sweat.

"Are you really this slow?" Cinder asked airily.

"I'm just getting started…"

The air around Cinder began to chill and the wind began to speed up. Suddenly Raven shot through the air, blade in hand. Her attacks creating a sonic boom as she broke the sound barrier, her blade striking with speed and precision at Cinder's chest.

The Fall Maiden was flung backward with immense force, crashing into the tree in the center.

"Ugh, you bitch!" Cinder yelled and summoned another sword and launched herself at Raven, firing blasts of fire in barrages as she zoomed through the air.

Raven danced around dodging each fireball in succession, clashing swords with Cinder as she entered within range. The shockwave of powers colliding rippled through the cavern, reverberating off of the walls and rattling the ceiling.

With one swift move Raven knocked her back, onto the platform while she remained in the air, held up by the wind forces.

"I think it's about time we end this," Cinder snarled. She placed her hands in front of her and began drawing on the magic within her and summoned a giant sword of flames and glass, it extended far above her head, a giant two-handed claymore. This sword radiated with intense power as if it was a physical manifestation of her power.

"I couldn't agree more…" Raven summoned her own sword, not her katana, but a giant blade of crystal and ice. Unlike Cinder's claymore, it was more like a large and inexplicably long Taichi blade.

Both powers clashed sending another shockwave rocking the cave causing a tremor. The resounding blast broke both swords and sent both combatants spiraling to the floor.

...

"Yikes, would you look at this shitstorm… a flaming bitch fighting a bird… and here I thought Cinderella was a friend to the animal kingdom…" a new voice said echoing through the cavern.

Raven and Cinder whipped their heads around to the sound to see Nova and Yang come through the entrance.

"You followed us?!" Cinder exclaimed in fury. "I should've known those incompetent fools would be too inadequate to hold you back…"

"Harsh words considering they look up to you like a goddess…" Yang said dryly.

Cinder just grunted in response.

Upon seeing the state of them he felt a disgusting feeling creeping down his spine.

"Let me see if I get this right. You were going to open the vault when Cinder betrayed you and killed Vernal, then instead of her getting the Spring Maiden's powers… Raven got it instead and then tried to kill Cinder in her rage but it ended with Raven losing?" Nova said piecing it together.

"That's actually… pretty accurate… but I haven't… lost… yet…" Raven said through gasps.

"Sit the fuck down birdy, you were already drained from having used your semblance so many times in the span of a few hours that you couldn't fight her at full strength. Not only that but your body is still adjusting to the powers so continuing this any further is just suicide," Nova said folding his arms.

"But…"

"I'll fight her for you. I got my own grudge to settle…" Nova responded cracking his knuckles.

"Why would you do that? I betrayed you. If I were you I'd let us kill each other then finish off whoever remained…" Raven said bitterly.

Nova chuckled, "Tempting as that sounds, I still think you're a good person Raven. You didn't betray us because you wanted to, you did it because you weren't really given a choice… were you?"

Raven didn't say anything. Her silence spoke volumes to Nova.

"Besides, at the end of the day you are the biological mother of my big sis here," He gestured his thumb to Yang, "As shitty of a mother you are… you're still not a bad person…"

"I'll help you. I want to take a crack at this flaming bitch." Yang said punching her hands together.

"No, Yang you take Raven and retrieve the Relic. I want a one on one with this snake."

"You sure…?"

"Trust me… this is my fight…" Nova said darkly.

* * *

Yang extended an arm to Raven, "Take it, we've got a job to do."

Raven glanced at the extended arm pensively, and instead swatted it away, pushing herself to her feet.

Seeing the woman struggle made Yang roll her eyes in annoyance. The blonde then proceeded to yank Raven up by her collar roughly, "Too proud to accept your own daughter's help, you really are the world's greatest mom," Yang said bitterly.

Raven didn't say anything until they reached the doorway to the vault, "What makes you so sure you can trust me? I might just kill you and take the Relic for myself. It sure as hell would be better than giving it to Ozpin…"

Yang sighed, "You could do that, but then I could easily beat you in that state you're in. Besides, Nova thinks there's good in you, and if you saving me all that time ago on the train means anything, I'd like to believe him. You may not have been there for me, but you were watching me weren't you… all this time, never intervening."

"You knew?"

Yang just shook her head, "No, but it's not hard to figure out now that I know what bird you look like. I have vague memories of it hanging around Patch sometimes, watching me and Ruby. Deny yourself all you want but you kept coming back because you still cared enough to at least watch your daughter grow… even if you refused to be a part of her life."

"Yang there's a reason I couldn't… the reason I left Tai and you… I was…"

"Save it for when we get out of here, I'll hear you out if you stick around long enough."

The vault door opened and in it was a vast desert, unlike the cavern the vault seemed to be in a place far away from here if it was even in the same dimension. The sky inside the vault, whether it was real or not was bright and sunny unlike their own night sky, and there were no deserts in Mistral that were close by.

The relic stood floating atop a lone rock peeking out amidst the rolling dunes of sand. It was shaped like a lantern or a lamp of intricate design with a blue luminescent body.

"So that's the Relic of Knowledge?" Yang asked unsurely.

"It must be… considering it's the only magical artifact in the room…" Raven said dryly.

"What you've never seen it before?"

"Nope, Ozpin never saw it fit to show even his most trusted companions what his so-called precious relics were like…" Raven responded. "Are you starting to see now why I don't trust him?"

Yang nodded, "Me and you both…" she walked up and grabbed the relic. It was lighter than she expected, almost weightless if not for its solidity. She would've admired it more had a shockwave not shot through the open vault door causing them to turn around in alert.

* * *

**-Back with Nova-**

Nova stood across the platform from Cinder, the dust of the earlier fight finally settling and Cinder's fatigue was beginning to wear off.

"Cinder Fall. The enemy I didn't see coming, even though you looked suspicious as shit back at Beacon, I thought my only major concern was Onyx and the White Fang. Yet here I am, staring at the face of the person who not only helped that murderous fucker break into Beacon but also ended up almost killing me and my friends, fucking hell you even threw a spear at Weiss!" Nova barked, his fists clenching in rage as the temperature of the room began to drastically increase.

"She was a Schnee, she had it coming!" Cinder brushed it off. "Just like every single one of you privileged shits at Beacon, living comfortable lives while the rest of us struggled to survive because we were weak. You're an Aspect of Remnant so you should be familiar with the Rules of Nature… out here, only the strong survive."

"So, you threw away your humanity to become a monster? Killing hundreds of innocents and ruining the lives of countless civilians for the sake of power?!" Nova roared in anguish.

"You don't understand what it was like… being weak and powerless while the men in power take advantage of you. Tear you to pieces and throw you away like garbage? Every single one of them deserves what's coming." Cinder seethed. "You don't see it the way I do. In the darkness of despair, I found solace, I realized that the only way to get what you want in this world is to have power… to make them pay. you need to make them fear you."

Nova grimaced at the visual she was painting with her words, "That doesn't justify what you've done. People can be really shitty, I get that. I know what it feels like to be cast out and left to die. Onyx made sure of that…" his eyes began to twitch in anger, "but I saw the light. Someone reached out to me and helped me. Back then I was willing to do whatever it took to survive, no matter the cost. But someone showed me that some costs are never justified to their outcome…"

"Then you and I are not so different then… you must've felt the hatred I had… why don't you join us? We can take down this society together, create a new world." Cinder offered out her hand.

"Tempting offer but no thanks. I want Onyx's head on a platter and, now that I have people that I care about, anyone that threatens their existence is on my hit list." Nova glowered.

"They can come too… I'm sure something can be arranged~"

"Keep your forked tongue in your mouth. The words of someone who betrays their allies for power isn't someone I want to associate with… besides, you're working for Salem and Onyx. Do you think either of them would hesitate to bury you for their own purposes? Sorry, but I'll change the world my own way."

"With what? Peace and love? I thought you were smart, but I guess you're just as naïve as that Ruby girl." Cinder grimaced, her only workable eye squinting in distaste, her facial muscles looked awkward trying to shift themselves along with that ceramic portion of her face.

"Ruby _is_ naïve in thinking that we can save everyone and that everyone is worth a second chance, I won't deny that, but she is pure and that's what makes her such an amazing person. She's not naïve in thinking that the world can be changed peacefully. I just think that… some people need to be removed from the equation… like carving out a cancer tumour."

"So, what're you? The hero who'll beat the bad guys and save the world? What if Ozpin's the bad guy and you're on the wrong side?"

"Hero? I'm not some fucking hero of justice who gets to dictate what's good or bad. I'm just a guy trying to make a peaceful world so that the people he cares about can live their lives without worry. I'm doing what I want, and what I want just happens to be the opposite of whatever it is you're doing," Nova wagged his finger at her.

"The end justifies the means, within reason. You're so full of shit and hypocrisy it makes me sick…" Cinder growled.

Without another word, Nova launched himself at Cinder within a flash. The maiden barely had a chance to react when his left arm, glowing hot with fire, came within a hair's fraction of space from her face. She felt her eyebrows singe from the heat as she leaned back to dodge.

He was fast, faster than the last time she'd seen him. If not for her Maiden senses, her head would've come clean off. Nova was on a completely different level from Raven. Her first instinct was to backflip out of his range of attack and summon her glass bow, shooting off a volley of glass arrows covered in fire.

"Hmph, keeping your distance won't help you…" Nova said as his claws extended, flames began to erupt out of them until claws made of fire extended out of his arm. His left black iris began to glow orange as it illuminated a burning flame.

The arrows that Cinder had shot before came raining down on the dragon, but his skin began to erupt in scales, the glass arrows shattering harmlessly against his iron-like scales. Cinder didn't stop firing as Nova faced each arrow head-on, any arrow that came toward his eyes were easily dodged due to his aura sensory field giving him a heads up so he kept walking forward until he was almost within range.

Instantly Cinder dropped the bow and tried to back off again but Nova was too quick, swiping with his extended claws he tore into Cinder, sending her flying against the cavern wall.

"Don't *cough* get ahead of yourself *cough cough* " Cinder said pulling herself from the crater and using her flames to fly into the air. "I'm just getting 'warmed up'…"

Nova was about to make a snarky comment about bad puns when Cinder's entire demeanor began to shift, her eyes began to glow signifying she was drawing on the true power of the Fall Maiden and raised her arms above her head. The dragon prince watched in horror as a mass accumulation of fire began to generate above her head like a miniature sun.

In response Nova began to channel his own fire, combusting the air around him in a similar manner to generate a fireball of his own. Except, unlike Cinder's, his was like a container of tiny explosions within the fire, a continuously combusting weapon of destruction.

Cinder hurled the ball down at the dragon who desperately threw his own incomplete version at her, the two masses of fire canceling each other out in a mass explosion that rippled a shockwave across the cavern rocking the cave and causing stalactites to fall from the ceiling, forcing both combatants to dodge around.

"Fuck that was some firepower…" Nova cursed as he recoiled from the blast and dodged the falling rocks. Cinder might not be combat savvy but she was certainly packing a punch. "I feel drained after countering that, Maidens really can draw power from nothing…"

Nova's powers used his Aura as a battery source, even though he's supposed to be the Aspect of the natural laws of the world, he felt it unfair that his powers had to come from within himself instead of thin air like a Maiden.

His thoughts were torn from him as a blast of fire came hurtling toward him again, smaller than the previous one, still powerful.

Through the dust smoke, Nova was forced to dance around like a madman just to avoid the endless barrage. All it took was one misstep on his part, his clumsiness tripping him over a fallen rock that caused him to get struck by a blast of fire.

"ARGH!" He yelled as he was stung by the fire, for some reason it felt like it was burning him even though his body was essentially immune to being burnt. The recoil had him stumble and crash against another larger rock, smashing the armlet on his hand. The very same device that kept his body in regulation, having been smashed, caused a flash of orange to penetrate the thick dust clouds, causing Cinder to flinch as she neared him.

When the smoke cleared, female Nova was kneeling on the floor, covered in cuts and bruises, in a coughing fit.

"Holy shit lady… do you have like infinite power?" Nova grumbled as she struggled to her feet.

Cinder blinked, "Well… this was… unexpected…" she said in surprise.

"Yeah yeah, get over it. This is just who I am now. And you need to learn to not drop your guard!" Nova yelled as she used the boulder that separated them as a ledge to flip off of and cartwheel kick Cinder backward.

The Fall Maiden yelped in pain as a resounding crack was heard, and if the feeling against Nova's shoe was anything to go on, she was pretty sure she broke her nose.

"FUCK THAT WAS MY NOSE!" Cinder yelled as she got back onto her feet, her nose bleeding, and her aura fizzling out and breaking.

Nova was beginning to run low on her own aura. Aura based attacks were out of the question now, it was just a matter of who was more skilled in combat. Nova ran at her with full speed, hurtling her fist toward Cinder. The Fall Maiden narrowly dodged and generated a glass sword mid-air and swung it at Nova's head. The dragon tried to block it with her scaled armour but the glass was different this time, it was infused with magic rather than covered with it.

As the shards shattered against her scales, Nova's skin began to burn, smoke fizzling from them as she felt herself taking real damage beneath it all. Her semblance wasn't working against Cinder because these attacks weren't physical, they were made of magic. Magic seemed to penetrate Nova's defences despite her efforts. Blood began to ooze out of the cuts that were forming along her skin, but Cinder wasn't doing much better. With every punch Nova threw, Cinder's body was slowly becoming bruised now that her aura was out. All it took was one swift claw swipe to Cinder's left arm to leave her recoiling in pain.

"Interesting... so you're left arm is more vulnerable than the rest of you... maybe attaching a Grimm arm to you wasn't such a great idea after all, hm?" Nova asked folding her arms as Cinder retreated. The nanomachines in Nova's body began to work overtime to try and patch up the wounds, but cuts inflicted by magic were slower to heal.

"I think it's about time I end this..." Cinder threatened.

"My thoughts exactly..." Nova countered, but he thought Cinder was running low on power. There wasn't much she could do now that her stamina was running so low... right?

Nova wasn't prepared when Cinder summoned whatever remained of her strength and shot a raging inferno of fire at Nova, like an unending stream, it collided with Nova enveloping her in the fire.

"RRAAAGHHHH!" Nova screamed as she felt like her body was being incinerated by the fire. Was she really going to die here? At the hands of someone like Cinder Fall?

"No… I won't… fucking… go down… here! Not until I have my family back! Not until Onyx pays for what he's done!" Nova yelled.

As if responding to her emotions, the Agniseki on her left arm began to glow and resonate. Scales began to erupt around the arm as Nova thrust it forward to try and block the fire. It was then that Nova felt it, the fire was hurting her, but it wasn't actually harming her. The pain was there but her body wasn't being burnt… why?

Was it the Agniseki? She looked to her arm, the stone was resonating with power, but it felt like it wasn't just the stone… then her gaze turned to the source of the fire, Cinder herself.

Nova couldn't see her… or rather he couldn't see Cinder herself. What she saw was the flow of energy, as if the Agniseki was enhancing her vision and showing her Cinder's internal flow of magic. It was like complex wiring of circuitry in the shape of a human, but something was off. There was severe darkness emanating from Cinder's left arm. The Fall Maiden's power in her body was completely avoiding that area like the plague, instead choosing to escape outward, bottlenecking itself on her right arm.

Cinder's body was rejecting the Maiden's power, even if she didn't notice it. Nova could feel it now, in the fire that enveloped her.

Cinder's fire was screaming in pain, the Agniseki was giving it a voice. The pain and anguish of the past Fall Maidens, their legacies embedded in the magic like the traces of DNA. It was telling Nova that it didn't want to be in Cinder anymore.

"W-Why aren't you dead?!" Cinder yelled as she increased the intensity of the flames.

Nova opened her eyes, her left eye glowing a burning orange, "You didn't think about it, did you. The Maidens' powers and the Grimm are polar opposites. Just like your arm can take damage because it isn't protected by Aura, your body is steadily integrating the Grimm into it…"

"What are you babbling on about? Just die!"

"I'm saying… that this isn't your fire… not anymore…."

"W-what?!"

Nova's entire body began to erupt in scales and armour, her fangs poking out more and her eyes turning to reptilian slits, "Flames of the world hear my decree, as Aspect of Fire, I command you!" she said in a voice that seemed to be layered in different pitches.

The flames that were being blasted at Nova began to become controlled and form around her, being absorbed into her body, recharging her powers. Wings of Flame sprouted from Nova's back, towering behind her.

"Cinder Fall, for hurting my friends and killing the last Fall Maiden, become cleansed from this world, BY FIRE!" Nova echoed.

Cinder watched in fear as the fire that she was controlling suddenly stopped flowing on her command, and became sucked out of her, as if Nova was draining her of her power.

"NO! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Cinder screamed in terror.

"Ending this fallacy, bringing balance back to the natural world. I see now, why I was born the Aspect of Fire. I was sent here to stop you… from threatening the world…"

Nova's fist became enveloped in a burning blue flame, that turned orange, then red, then white-hot. The flames curling around the armour scaled fist like wisps of death.

Cinder saw the emissary of destruction stalking toward her. She was out of options, her stamina drained, her last-ditch effort in stopping her and proven fruitless, and now her powers had failed her. Through her eyes, she saw not a vicious dragon, but the embodiment of her past sins, towering behind the dragon, like a monument of pain, yet in spite of it all, she never regretted any of them. The dragon leaned toward her ear, and said, "This is for Pyrrha and Weiss, and all the lives you've ruined."

With those words, Cinder felt the burning sensation of flaming claws sink into her stomach, burning her flesh from the inside. She couldn't scream, she couldn't even say a single word as she was beginning to fade away.

"Burn in hell…" Nova said as she pushed Cinder off of the ledge, her body plunging into the endless abyss below, the light of life fading from her eyes.

Just before her body completely disappeared, a luminescent ball of orange shot out from the darkness and hit Nova.

It wasn't an attack, rather… it felt like… she was being recharged… The fire that she was wielding didn't feel like someone else's anymore… it felt like… hers…

"Nova! Woah what the hell happened?! Where's Cinder?!" Yang asked incredulously.

The dragon slowly turned around and the first thing Yang noticed was the bloodied claws on Nova's left arm, "Oh… you…"

"I did what had to be done…" Nova said now facing them, and Yang could see, the glowing eyes of power.

"Nova what…?"

"You're... the new Fall Maiden!" Raven gasped in shock, her eyes widening along with Yang's. They were now staring at the Aspect of Remnant that not only commanded reign over the natural world... but over magic as well...

"Did you actually kill her?" Yang asked shakily.

Nova dropped to her knees, her eyes tearing up, "Yang, some people are beyond redemption..."

* * *

**So, what do you guys think?  
Remember when I said really really early on that I had this idea for female Nova? Well, here it is. See, I have plans to make the villains in RWBY more than the show portrays them. I think that Salem is the only genuinely scary villain and that everyone else was having a hard time either being annoying, trying to be good, or a mix of both rather than just _pure _evil. What do I mean by that? You will find out later down the line.**

**In my head at the time of volume 5's release, I was like "They should have legit killed Cinder here," Then volume 7 happened and I was like, hmmm maybe I might be able to do something here...**

**If you go back to in the earlier chapters of volume 4, where Qrow was talking about possible candidates for the inheritance of the Fall Maiden's power, that was around the first time maybe I was foreshadowing that something would happen to Cinder in the near future. Idk if anyone actually picked up on it but if you did kudos to you. **

**I'm not saying you should go back and try to dig up the clues I'd been sprinkling along the way but there are some especially in the recent chapters. One thing I can give you is that Onyx's motives aren't entirely as they seem. **

**Remember Nova's father? Yeah, have fun with that.**


	52. Chapter 52: Spring winds bring the Dark

**Alright so I know I kinda messed up last chapter. I had this stupid idea where I would have Nova become a dark horse and cause conflict between him and the rest of his team and then he would have to do some soul searching and re-evaluate his moral compass, especially when Ruby would get mad at him and start to treat him differently. I was planning this whole outward bravado of dark with an inner conflict that would've made for a guilt-ridden redemption path but It came out all wrong so I scrapped the idea.**

**If anyone thinks I'm trying to turn Nova into a Mary Sue by giving him Maiden powers, well... think about it this way. Even with Maiden powers and Aspect Powers, Nova would still lose in a one on one battle with Onyx. But that's not why I gave Nova Maiden powers. There's actually a logical plot-based point on that but you'll just have to read and find out.**

* * *

**Chapter 52: Burdens of a Life**

* * *

Outside of Haven Academy, separated by a thin wall, was the forces of the White Fang, and standing at the vanguard was none other than the man himself, High Commander Onyx. With his arms folded across his gigantic frame, the bear-Faunus eyed the situation inside with interest. If Cinder came out with the relic then Haven and Mistral would be his for the taking, but by the looks of things... it wasn't as smooth of an operation as they'd planned.

"It seems it's about time I step in… seems little Cinder has been down there long enough, and if those tremors were anything to go by… I'd say things didn't go quite as planned…" Onyx chuckled as he folded his arms. "Come on men, we have a city to burn…"

"Don't you dare take a single step further!" A shrill voice yelled drawing everyone's attention away from the hole in Haven Academy's wall.

Onyx and his squadron of soldiers all turned toward the sound of the voice, their eyes falling upon the most unexpected encounter.

Standing before them in the vast courtyard of Haven, was the most bizarre conglomeration of individuals his eyes had ever had the displeasure of seeing.

Luna Flareheart, Blake Belladonna, Sun Wukong, Ilia Amitola, Elain Flareheart, Adam Taurus, and Bell 'Wings' stood with what looked to be a small army of Faunus, the majority of which looked to be civilians with no formal training whatsoever. It was like someone took a bunch of similar pieces of cheap cloth and sewed them on as patchwork to a more expensive piece of silk.

"What the fuck...?" the tall man said folding his arms and quirking his eyebrow. In all of his years, Onyx had very little moments when he could genuinely call a "what the fuck?" moment, this was one of them.

"Onyx of the White Fang, as crown Princess of Menagerie, and on behalf of all Faunus in the world of Remnant, we have come to take you down," Luna said narrowing her eyes in anger.

"You've spent years lying to the world, lying to your subordinates for your own gain, but no more!" Adam yelled stepping forward with Bell.

Onyx chuckled upon seeing them, "So… you've come back to me? I thought I'd lost you…" he said with mock despair.

"Lost me? Yeah… you lost me alright... People of the White Fang, this man is not your leader. He is not who you think he is!" Adam yelled addressing everyone. The army of soldiers began to murmur amongst themselves.

"Captain Taurus?"

"Is that Adam? Onyx said he was tragically killed…"

"What's going on? Why is our captain with the enemy?!"

These were the questions ringing out amongst the crowd of soldiers behind Onyx.

"My people! This man is a false leader! He is not the man you want to follow. His ideas may seem effective but his methods are wrong! He will not hesitate to expend all of your lives if it means saving himself!" Bell now spoke up, her words ringing shrill across the still night air.

"It's special ops field captain Wings! I thought she went down with her squad?!" one of the soldiers pointed out.

"Yes… we were supposed to die that day, but not at the hands of Beacon… we were sentenced to death… by HIM!" she pointed at Onyx who feigned shock.

"Me?! I would never…" Onyx said not even trying to hide.

"My people, do you not see that this man is nothing but a false god?! He has lied to you and manipulated your minds to his will, but it is not too late! Join us! Forsake this madman and come to your senses! Do the right thing!" Elain pleaded, joining in.

"The Queen! She's alive?! I thought she died ten years ago…"

"Wasn't she branded a traitor? Why are they following her?"

The Faunus doctor took up a stance of valor, "I, like Mr. Taurus and Miss Wings, was supposed to die under the order of that monster standing with you… but he took me, had me developing his little projects, slandered my family's name! I beg you to reject his path and return to us, to your people!" Elain implored.

There was a series of murmuring behind Onyx.

"You can't seriously believe them?!" he snarled.

"M-Mata?" one of the soldiers said as he recognized someone in the front lines of Luna's small army.

A black-haired Faunus man looked shocked, then his expression softened, "Please… no more… do the right thing…"

Soon enough more and more White Fang soldiers began to recognize their old comrades, mixed in with regular people in the crowd. This was the final trigger that caused them to begin walking forward.

"Where do you think you're going?" Onyx asked quirking his eyebrow.

"It's over sir, I'm done with this…" a soldier said, throwing down his weapon.

Onyx made a throaty chuckle, "You think you get to walk away so easily?"

"Huh, what are you…?"

Onyx reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small device with a singular button on it, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this… you really were a good bunch of soldiers…" with that he pressed the button. The soldiers began to spasm and drop to the floor, screaming in pain as their heads began to rattle and shake violently.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THEM?!" Blake screamed out.

Onyx didn't answer, he just held up three fingers, then dropped it to two, then one. When the countdown was done, all of a sudden, the soldiers stopped shaking. All of them turned simultaneously like clockwork toward Luna and the others. Their eyes glowing bright red behind their masks, each picking up their weapon and aiming it with perfect timing.

"W-What did you just do?" Sun looked slightly unnerved by what he just saw.

"I simply… made them more obedient… Soldiers!" He called.

They all resounded, "Yes High Commander!"

"Eliminate them."

With that, the soldiers began firing in quick succession. Adam and Bell jumped in front of their allies and began blocking shots, Luna tried to divert the bullets using her powers while Blake tried to make a wall of shadow to shield them.

"Looks like peace is out of the window… Is everyone ready?!" Luna called back to her small army.

"Yes! Your Highness!"

"On my mark, we drop the shields and you attack them. Don't kill anyone they're being mind-controlled! Is that understood?!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Ilia I'm counting on you to make sure no one on our side dies okay?" Elain nodded to the chameleon girl. Ilia wasn't fully prepared to jump into the fight, she wasn't as strong as the others, but she was willing to give her all.

"Yes, my queen," she said, readying her whip.

"Alright, in Three! TWO! ONE! GO!"

The shields dropped and all the soldiers clashed in a series of bullets, blades, and screaming.

* * *

Back inside Nitro saw what was happening, and once the commotion started he realized what he needed to do. "Looks like that's my cue, Hector you stay here and look after Weiss. REN! NORA! JAUNE! If you're not too busy there's a war going on outside that might need our help!" Nitro yelled across the room.

"Did he just say… war?" Jaune asked hesitantly.

"DID I FUCKING STUTTER?!"

Then they heard the roar of the commotion loud and clear, "On our way!" Ren said.

As they broke into the outside they bore witness to an incredible sight. Faunus were fighting the White Fang, clashing blades and firing guns while Luna, Adam, Blake, Sun, and Bell were locked in heated combat with Onyx.

"Do you think you can defeat me? I am far beyond anything you could possibly imagine! I AM NIGH INVINCIBLE!" Onyx roared as he unsheathed Draco Belthor from his waist.

"No, you don't!" Sun countered, summoning clones to try and lockdown Onyx's massive arms. The giant of a man shrugged them off, shattering them instantly, the black Lunar Fragment dangling from his neck as he cleaved his hand downward.

"What is he trying to hit… SUN!" Luna yelled as she watched the monkey Faunus get ripped from where he stood into the path of Onyx's blade.

*CLANG* came the sound of Adam's sword and Bell's shield as they connected with Onyx's blade, blocking Sun from being hit. Sun instantly recovered his nerves and pulled out his staff, pressing upward against the force of Onyx.

Despite their efforts, the great bear Faunus was overpowering them with his sheer strength and mass. The blade of Draco Belthor began to erupt in black energy that looked like the starry night sky, its power bearing down on Sun and Adam, the earth cracking beneath their feet as they struggled to fight against it.

Without wasting a moment, Blake dashed behind Onyx and drew Gambol Shroud, pirouetting and generating momentum, shadows began to wrap around her until she was a raging tornado of darkness, slamming down on Onyx from above.

"ARGH!" Onyx cried out in pain as he was dislodged from his position, knocking backward with a searing exposed shoulder. "You actually managed to injure me… impressive… it seems I've been underestimating you, children…"

"Our strength comes from our bonds, and we will defeat you!" Luna said, drawing out Galaxia. The massive axe towering above her as she ran it.

"Not very fast are you…" Onyx chuckled, and sprinted forward, his feet leaving craters in the ground as he dashed across the battlefield. He swung his blade a great distance from Luna, dragging the girl to him, with his power, but she realized what was happening and tried to counter him, forcing the man to roar in anguish and charge at her.

Their blades clashed sending rippling waves of forces knocking some soldiers back. They had incidentally formed a zone within the chaos where only they fought.

Luna struggled under the strength of Onyx, but she held her ground. Her eyes began to glow a bright cyan blue and her body began to emanate the same colour. Her eyes turned to reptilian slits as she pushed against the might of Onyx. She tried focusing on the vectors around her, the forces that were against her and tried to repel them.

Onyx felt his blade grow lighter, and move against his will ever so slightly, being pushed away by a repulsion force. "Two can play at that game…" he growled, his eyes turning pure black, no white left in them. The fragment around his neck began to hum and emanate a cold light as his sword began to follow the same energy as before.

The forces began to work against Luna, forcing themselves down against her will. She desperately tried to respond, reaching into herself and drawing out her inner power, forcing them to turn. The fragment began to violently shake, and glow a blue aura as if responding to the fight between Onyx and Luna.

"What's going on with this thing?!" Onyx exclaimed as the crystal began to try to remove itself from his neck, tugging forward in the direction of Luna. The small girl was too busy focusing on not giving in that she didn't even notice the internal conflict, and continued to pour more and more of her powers into the battle.

Blake and the others couldn't get anywhere near the two as the force of the clash was generating a field that kept anyone from interfering, as if even the gravity itself was acting against them.

"More… More! I NEED MORE POWER!" Luna yelled her voice sounding multi-layered. The Lunar Fragment around Onyx's neck seemed to respond to Luna, yet as it was in the hands of Onyx was being forced to bend to his will.

The conflicting powers that were clashing tore at the fragment until it could take it no more. In one violent explosion of power, the fragment released its pent up energy, blasting Luna and Onyx away from each other. The explosion sending more shockwaves across the battlefield.

"Luna are you okay?!" Elain asked rushing to her daughter's aid. The others followed suit now that the field of energy was dissipated.

The blue-dragon coughed as she struggled to her feet. She was unharmed for the most part, her semblance had protected her. Onyx on the other hand didn't have that semblance, even he couldn't take that unscathed…

"Huhahuhahahaha!" Onyx laughed as he rose from the smoking crater. "So… we have the same power little one… and you have just as much resilience as your brother… too bad he couldn't fight me on the same level…" he said getting up and brandishing his blade. There wasn't a single scratch on him, save for the burn mark from Blake's shadows.

"Luna!" Nitro yelled from across the battlefield, the fighting was dying down. Most of the White Fang soldiers had fallen and the majority of the Faunus was still conscious and in fighting condition. Jaune, Ren, and Nora were defending a group of downed Faunus from soldiers so they were to suffer no casualties while Nitro met up with the others.

"NITRO!" Luna yelled in joy as she saw her friend. "You're here!"

"Better late than never… what's the situation?" he asked, rearing his fists.

"Him…" she pointed to Onyx who stood there menacingly.

Nitro cracked his knuckles, "You're Onyx huh? I seem to recall owing you a few knuckle sandwiches for my bro…"

"I don't even know who you are…" Onyx said dryly. "It doesn't matter how many you bring… I'll crush you all!" he roared, his eyes glowing and his body enveloping in the mass of darkness.

"Are you sure about that?" A new voice said causing everyone to shift their attention to the hole in the wall.

* * *

**-Earlier with Ruby and Hex-**

"Give it up Emerald! It's over for you!" Ruby said as she swiped with Crescent Rose. Emerald sidestepped using her afterimages and shot a few rounds at Ruby who easily blocked them.

Hex threw Loki at Mercury who backflipped to avoid the sword but was unprepared for the chain that followed with it. The length of metal tripped him and caused his momentum to break. Hex tried to capitalize on that and retraced her sword, connecting the two into its glaive form and slamming down onto his head from above. Mercury barely had a chance to roll out of the way.

"Come on!" Hex cursed as she missed her chance.

"We're still going to win this! Any moment now, Cinder is going to come out of the vault with the Relic and we'll be gone. You lose Ruby!" Emerald yelled as she tried to swipe at the reaper.

Just as she said that the elevator to the vault came up, with three figures standing on it.

"CINDER!" Emerald exclaimed in joy as she expected her to pop out of there… but instead, standing before her was a very grim looking Yang, Raven, and a white-haired girl she'd never seen before. In Yang's hand was the Relic of Knowledge. No sign of Cinder.

"Sorry to burst your bubble sweetheart… but no." Nova said, her face dark and solemn.

"NOVA! YANG! You guys are okay!" Ruby squealed in joy. "Where's Cinder..?" then she noticed Raven looking sad as well, "And Vernal…?"

"Cinder… killed Vernal… and as for the woman herself… well…" Nova's eyes lit up with the powers of the Fall Maiden. "Does this answer your question?"

Emerald and Mercury's faces paled, as horror began to take precedence over them.

"No… no… NO! S-she… she can't be… YOU MONSTER!" Emerald screamed with tears in her eyes and began charging at Nova with blind rage.

Yang was prepared to intercept but Nova held out her hand, and with one swift motion, made a chopping motion and hit Emerald on the back of her neck, knocking her to the floor. The blow as meant to knock her out but Emerald was still fully conscious.

"Y-you… bastard… I'll… kill you!" Emerald screamed tried to get up.

Nova sighed, her face a mix of sadness and disappointment as she squatted down to meet the girl at eye level, "Emerald, please… there's good in you… don't make me spill any more blood than I have to tonight…"

"MERCURY DO SOMETHING!" Emerald screeched, but the grey-haired boy was too stunned to move.

"Please… I'm giving you something that I didn't give Cinder, don't waste it…"

"And what's that?" Emerald spat.

"A chance for redemption." With that Nova walked away.

* * *

Ruby saw Nova's eyes. They were dark and hollow; her entire demeanor had shifted and she could see the evidence of tears in her eyes.

"Nova are you okay…?" she asked concerned.

Nova just collapsed onto Ruby, her face planting onto her shoulder, "I didn't want to do it... in the back of my mind I still held back at the last moment, but I'd already gone too far..."

Ruby rubbed her girlfriend's back, "D-Did you really need to kill her...?"

Nova nodded against the fabric of her shirt, "Some people are too far gone... you can't save everyone... and not everyone is worth saving."

Ruby was stunned at her words. To her, Nova was the tall pillar of strength and reliability that she could depend on. To hear such notions come from her mouth was a heavy dose of reality to her, that if Nova, who saw the good in most people, deemed Cinder unworthy of a second chance... then just how far gone was she?

No one had further chance to sulk as a sudden series of explosions was heard outside, the building rattled and shook, the sound of screaming echoing about.

"What's going on out there?!" Nova said getting off of Ruby and looking around, her demeanor shifting into combat mode, all signs of regret pushed down so far that it was invisible. She saw Weiss standing next to Oscar, the body of Hazel at their feet, Weiss looking sick to her stomach. Ren, Nora, and Nitro weren't in the room. The only thing that looked the same was Qrow pinning Lionheart to the ground, trying to prevent him from running away.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

Oscar silently pointed to the hole in the wall. The first thing Nova saw through it was the blast of energy that rippled the room, and the frame of Onyx standing in a smoldering crater, with a mad grin on his face. Upon further inspection, She saw Luna and the others standing on the opposite end, weapons drawn, ready to enter combat.

"I don't even know who you are…" he heard Onyx say. "It doesn't matter how many you bring… I'll crush you all!"

Nova's eyes widened in fear, Onyx. She knew the dreadful feeling earlier more than anyone and she hoped to Oum she was wrong. Every cell in her body was screaming for revenge, to rush out there and claw that monster's face-off, but... she was in no condition to fight anymore, neither physically nor mentally. If she had to she would... but if they could make him retreat, then all of them would live to fight another day...

"Are you sure about that?" Nova yelled, announcing herself.

Onyx and the others whipped their heads around to see the dragon herself standing there, claws out, and fangs bared.

"Who are you?!" Onyx snarled.

When Luna's eyes fell on her brother/sister she felt her heart stop, her eyes tearing up in joy, "N-Nova? I-Is that really you?"

Nova shot her the widest grin she could possibly give, "Hey sis! You seem to be doing well!"

"Nova?!" Onyx's eyes widened, "I KILLED YOU!"

"Heh, you tried… but you should really learn to finish the job…" she replied flexing her claws.

"Still think you can take us all on?!" Sun yelled joining with them.

Onyx bit his lip, his odds were average trying to fight them all before, but with the battle subsiding, his soldiers fallen, and more and more of his enemies entering the battle, and the emergence of Nova… things weren't looking good. He was strong and confident in his power… but not against this many people.

There was a ringing in his ears, it was his communication device, he reached up and answered it, "Speak."

"Sir, it's done. Project Obsidian is complete. We await your orders." The voice of Dr. Stein said over the network.

Onyx's grim look morphed into a sly smile, "It seems that I bit off more than I can chew… I must take my leave now…"

"Not before you tell me where my father is!" Nova snarled, hoping to at least gain some information.

Onyx began to cackle, "Trust me, your dear old dad isn't the same person he was once…"

"What do you mean by that?!" Elain glowered.

The bear Faunus dusted himself off, "You'll understand someday… for now…" with those words, the same black energy that amassed from his powers enveloped him.

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!" Adam yelled as he dashed with blinding speed at Onyx, but it was too late. The mass of darkness was gone, along with any trace that he was even there…

"Fuck! He's gone…" Bell cursed as she collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.

Nova clenched her fists in rage, but Ruby placed her hands over them, calming her.

Before she could say anything, she was tackled by a blue and white blur.

"Y-You're alive *sniff* I missed you so much *sniff*," Luna said as she cried into Nova's shirt.

Nova calmly pet her sister's head, "I missed you too short stack,"

"It's good to see you again, Nova…" Blake said with a smile, walking up to her.

Nova quirked her eyebrow, "Come on stop pretending like you don't know me and get in here!" she gestured, and that was all it took for Blake to crash into her with a tight hug.

"Nova! My man! Err… girl… whatever… glad to see you alive and kicking! When Luna told us you'd kicked the bucket I thought it was the end of the world for sure. Then those two came and told us you were alive, well that was a rollercoaster of emotions," Sun said patting Nova on the back, and gesturing to Adam and Bell.

"Well, that explains why you don't look that surprised to see me… though I would like an explanation to all of this…." She gestured to the small army of Faunus who were cleaning themselves off and having Elain tend to their wounded.

"I-It's a long story…" Luna said sheepishly.

"Well… we got time for now…"

* * *

Elain, Blake, Sun, Ilia, Adam, and Bell took up the role of seeing the Faunus people off while everyone else had collapsed in exhaustion on the staircase. Emerald and Mercury had managed to escape during the commotion thanks to Emerald's semblance, leaving only Lionheart behind.

Luna was resting her head on Nova's lap while Ruby's was on her shoulder, their fingers entwined. Weiss looked a bit less green than she was a few minutes ago, the body of Hazel had been moved out of the way and Yang knelt with her knees hugged to her chest, while Hex hugged her from behind. Everyone was emotionally and mentally exhausted, leaning on each other for support as they couldn't handle it all alone. Even Ren, Nora, and Jaune were sitting back to back, unable to move due to exhaustion.

Raven was the only exception, standing off to the side, leaning against a wooden beam for support. She was putting up a face of anger, but Qrow could see right through it. She was hurting inside. Vernal was more to her than just her pupil, and despite all, she preached about isolation and not creating bonds, she had unconsciously made one with Vernal...

Qrow was angry, he wanted to knock Raven senseless for her betrayal, for the years of neglect and abandonment, but at that moment, his brotherly instincts had taken precedence. He didn't see the woman who abandoned her team years ago, he saw his only sister, trying to put on a brave face when all she wanted to do was cry. He wanted to reach out to her and comfort her, but some things needed to be addressed first, the primary concern was the squirming old man in his grasp.

"HEY!" Qrow called out drawing everyone's attention. "What do we do with this?" he held up Lionheart by his collar.

"PLEASE! I wanted none of this to happen! It was Salem! I swear! She threatened my life, I didn't have a choice!" Lionheart pleaded.

Nova narrowed her eyes, "Really? From what Cinder said, given how far back the betrayals went... I'd say you went to them first."

Lionheart began to sweat nervously, "I-I was scared! Really! I-It was out of fear! Please you have to believe me!"

"_Yes fear does make us do unfathomable things,_" Ozpin said through Oscar's voice as he stood leaning on his cane.

"OZPIN!" Lionheart exclaimed looking somewhat relieved, "You understand right! I knew you would!"

_"I understand quite well Leonardo. In my years I too have made mistakes, and so I am willing to look past them..." _Ozpin smiled.

"Oz you can't be serious...?" Nitro asked incredulously.

"_But... as I am not the only decision-maker here, I will leave the final verdict to Miss Flareheart." _

"Me?" Luna asked pointing to herself, getting up from her sister's lap.

Nova chuckled and ruffled her hair, "No silly goose. He means me."

"Oh..."

Nova stood up and dusted off her pants, and removed her jacket exposing her bare arms, the red left arm in full view.

"Please! Your Highness! Have mercy! I was once your headmaster!"

"You're right, Leo, you do deserve mercy. After all, it wasn't really your fault, it was out of fear!" Nova said cheerily.

Everyone's jaw dropped, "WHAT?!"

Nova had a terrifyingly sweet smile as she waltzed up to Lionheart and grabbed him by the collar, her face darkening as she stared him in the eye, "Now listen here you fucking snake... I'm giving you one chance. You pack your shit and you leave this place. Abandon your job as headmaster, sign the fucking resignation papers and get out of this country. Disappear, never show your face to us again, and if I so much as here about you. I will hunt you down and break every last bone in your body until you're going to wish you were dead."

Lionheart gulped and began to sweat, "B-But..."

"Don't make me think twice...Get. Out."

The headmaster nodded feverishly, and as soon as Qrow let him go, he scampered off like a scared mouse, running upstairs.

"Nova are you sure that was a good idea? What if he runs back to Salem?" Nitro asked.

"Then let him... but I highly doubt he will... he's outlived his usefulness to her." Nova collapsed back on the stairs with a heavy sigh, "Enough of this heavy atmosphere, how are you holding up kid?"

Oscar returned to himself, his knees growing wobbly, "I just fought a gigantic hairy man hopped up on dust like it was meth, what do you think?"

Nova burst out laughing, "I like that answer! You're gonna go far kid." she turned over to Weiss, "What about you Ice Princess?"

Weiss belched into her fist, "I feel like... I just killed a man... which I did..."

Nova inhaled sharply, "It's not a good feeling is it...?"

Weiss shook her head and hugged her knees to her chest, "How do you deal with it...? From what I know you've killed two people now..."

The fire dragon flinched, "I don't... and the fact that you feel guilty is what separates you from people like Cinder and Onyx. Don't ever get used to the feeling because it just means that you still have a conscience."

Weiss was silent for a few moments, then chuckled, "You know... now that I have blood on my hands, there's no way I could ever return to my family... not that they'd want me back anyway. I don't have any blood family to go back to anymore... I'm not even sure I can face Winter."

Luna jumped slightly at Weiss' revelation, "You abandoned the Schnee name? What about your title as Heiress?!"

"Abandoned? No, they disowned me first... In their eyes I'm no longer a Schnee... but at the end of the day, you guys are all the family I need." she smiled sadly.

"AWWW! WEISS! I knew you liked me!" Ruby squealed and tackled her bestie in a big hug.

"GET OFF ME YOU DOLT!" Weiss exclaimed as she struggled to pry Ruby off of her.

* * *

Just then Elain returned with the others following closely behind her.

"Yo! What's going on here?" Sun asked as he bounded toward them, clearly having too much energy for someone who just fought a squadron of soldiers. Nitro high five Sun while the monkey Faunus began conversing with him and Jaune. The original workout buddies of Beacon reunited.

All members of team ASHNRWBY's eyes fell on Blake. The cat Faunus' ears flattened against her head as she nervously started talking, "Um guys, listen... I know I left without saying anything and..."

"SHH!" Nova yelled a shushing sound.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Blakey, kitty, you left without saying anything, sure, that was wrong of you, but you came back with my sister, and with a fucking army of Faunus. You can tell us your sob story later, right now I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'm just glad Team ASHNRWBY is back together." Nova shot her a beaming smile that made all her fears melt away, well almost all of them.

Yang was looking rather grumpy, "Blake... you're my partner... we're supposed to tell each other everything..."

"Yang... I..."

The blonde sighed, "It's in the past now... you can't change the past... you can only focus on what's in front of you and what's beyond..."

Blake tilted her head, "Since when did that become your philosophy...?"

Yang spared a glance at Raven who was sulking alone, "I-It's something I'm learning to try out..."

The cat Faunus also spared a glance at Adam who was currently being teased by Nova, "I guess that makes two of us..."

"Nova Flareheart!" Elain yelled, echoing across the battle-worn hall. The dragon in question flinched at the sound of the shrill voice.

"Oh no..."

"Nova Alexandrite Flareheart! Of all the irresponsible, pigheaded, ludicrous, dangerous things you've ever done, getting yourself 'killed' has to be on the top of that list!" Elain marched right up to her son turned currently daughter. Ruby and Luna shrank away from her side giving them some space.

"Hey, mom... long time no see?"

"Long time no see my ass! You disappear for a month! WE...I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH PAIN I WAS IN?! I THOUGHT I'D LOST YOU FOREVER!"

Nova felt instant regret, "I-I should've let you know sooner, I know should have but..." she was cut off when a pair of warm arms wrapped around her, her eyes widening in shock.

"I'm just *sniff* so glad *sob* you're okay..." Elain cried into her shoulder. Nova just smiled sheepishly and stroked her mother's back.

Weiss watched with a longing look, "Some son you are, making your mom worry like that," she chuckled teasing her friend. In the back of her mind, she wondered, what her life would have been like if her mother was like this. The thought of her family made her expression fall.

"Hey Weiss... are you alright? Are you still queasy?" Luna asked concerned.

"Yeah... I just... can't help but think about my family... if you could even call them that..."

Suddenly Luna had a recollection, an ear-splitting grin spread itself on her face, "Come on Weiss, you don't need them. You've got tons of family right here!"

"Yeah everyone here is family to me..."

Luna snickered, "Oh boy do I have news for you..." she turned to her mother, "Mom! Did you bring the book?"

Elain tore herself from the hug and wiped her eyes, reached into her bag and pulled out the massive book they'd taken from the Flareheart family vault, and handed it to Luna.

"What's that...?" Nova asked curiously.

"Just a little something known as the history of our family. But that's not the main thing..." Luna began skimming through the pages until she found what she was looking for, "AHA!" she pulled out the loose folded page and opened it.

Everyone peered closely at the paper, "What's that?" Ruby asked curiously.

"The Flareheart Family Tree, dating all the way back to the first dragon King, but never mind him. Take a look at Bortz Flint Flareheart's grandmother." They all followed Luna's guidance to see what she was talking about. When they saw it everyone almost choked in surprise.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Nitro spat with his eyes wide, Hex choked, Yang folded her arms smirking and Jaune fainted. Even Nova had to do a triple take.

"Guys what the hell are you...?" Weiss was confused as she peered over Luna's shoulder to the paper.

Luna held it up proudly, "According to this here, Bortz Flint Flareheart, Nova's and my father, his grandmother The original Sapphire Flareheart, where my middle name comes from, was married to a Jaegar Nightshade, but you see that X above his head? And the branch to the right?"

They all nodded.

"That indicates that he died and the branch to the right at Sapphire's name leads to a Julius Schnee. They had a son named... Drum roll, please... Nicholas Schnee! Legally Bortz Flint Flareheart's uncle. The line stops there but that's because the records haven't been updated on our end, I think we all know where this is going." Luna turned to Weiss whose eyes were wide with shock.

It was common knowledge, there was only one family in the world who carried the name Schnee. There was only one man in the entire world named Nicholas Schnee, the founder and first CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, father of Willow Schnee and grandfather of Weiss, Winter, and Whitely Schnee. Jacques was never a real Schnee, he married into the family and took the name as his own.

"T-That's m-my... grandfather!" Weiss gasped.

"Exactly! Weiss, you're our second cousin. It's a bit of a pumpkin vine stretch, but you have Flareheart roots! Weiss, you're family!" Luna squealed and tackled the girl in a tight hug.

Weiss was at a loss for words, she didn't know what to say.

"This explains... so much. The white hair, the uncanny resemblance between you three. IT FITS!" Nora exclaimed excitedly.

Nova inhaled sharply, "Well shit, Ice Princess, do I have to start calling you cousin now?"

Weiss was frozen, "I-I... but..."

Elain smiled warmly and hugged her, "Listen, dearie, I know it's not much, but, welcome to the family."

Weiss couldn't speak, instead, her eyes teared up until she was bawling her eyes out on Elain's shoulder, with Luna hugging her from behind.

"Wait Nightshade? Does that mean that I'm also related to you guys?" Blake asked curiously.

"Most likely... only your mom can confirm that," Luna said shrugging.

* * *

The scene reminded Yang of a certain someone that was hanging off to the side alone.

"Speaking of family..." the blonde brawler muttered under her breath as she detached herself from the love fest and walked over to Raven.

The female Branwen eyed her daughter cautiously, "Don't think I'm going to hug you..."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Wouldn't dream of getting a hug from you, _mom_." she said the word with a hint of venom, but the anger dissipated. "Are you going to tell me why you really left?"

Raven snorted, "There's nothing to tell."

"Really? Sounds to me like back in that vault you had something to say..."

Raven cursed under her breath, "Look. I'm going to keep this short. I left you after you were born because I was in too deep with Ozpin. My connection to his world, and magic, when I found out the truth of the world then I realized that the more I stayed by your side, the more I was putting you in danger, so I left. I left you, I left Tai and I never looked back."

"But you did look back. You confirmed it yourself. You kept coming back to see me, you kept an eye on me with your semblance. You could have chosen to at least show yourself to me at least once... but you didn't. Was... was it because of Summer?" Yang asked cautiously.

Raven visibly flinched, "Summer was... naive. She's exactly like your sister. Kind and pure to a fault. I don't blame Tai for falling in love with her after I was gone, and I don't regret leaving. She was a better mother than I could have ever been to you... my only real regret was not being there for her when she was in danger... maybe... if I was there you might have had a different life..."

Yang's eyes widened, "Wait what do you mean by that?! Are you saying you know what happened to our mom?!"

The mention of the collective 'mom' for her and Ruby made Raven feel a pang of sadness within her soul, but she buried it, "That's enough answers... if you want more then you'll have to find me again."

Raven tore open a red portal with her blade and was about to step through it when someone yelled, "WAIT!". Raven turned around to see Qrow running up to her.

"Raven! Wait... was... everything you just said... was it true? I heard from Nova that you didn't want to betray us, that you did it for your tribe... is everything true...?" Qrow asked his voice pleading.

The Branwen sister just turned her head around without saying a single word.

"RAVEN! ANSWER ME!"

"Little brother," she said. Qrow calmed down at stared at her. "For what it's worth..." she turned her head to the side so Qrow could see her eyes, there was the semblance of what he swore was a tear in the corner of it, "I'm sorry... for everything..." with that she turned and left through the portal, leaving Qrow and Yang stunned.

There was an awkward silence that followed.

"Hey... Uncle Qrow? Rav... Mom mentioned something about not being there for Summer when she needed it... what does she mean...?" Yang hesitantly asked.

Qrow's expression grew grim, "Kid... that's not a story for right now..."

Yang was furious, why did everyone refuse to give her the answers she needed? "NO! I-"

"YANG PLEASE!" Qrow yelled shocking her. This was the first time he'd ever called her by her real name, and not kid or firecracker. The blonde instantly deflated and dropped the subject, deciding to rejoin with her team, fully intending to pick it back up some other time.

* * *

As they were about to leave, a loud blood-curdling scream was heard from above, causing everyone to go on alert. The scream undoubtedly belonged to Lionheart.

"**What a foolish man... thinking he could escape after his failures..." **a dark, feminine voice echoed from the air around them.

"Who's there?" Nova asked, unsheathing his claws.

Suddenly the air around them began to distort and shift as an image materialized itself before them. It was in the shape of a woman in a long, black, sleeveless dress. Her skin was as pale as a corpse, her hair as white as chalk. She was what one would describe as beautiful, but her eyes were the most jarring feature. Her cheeks were cracked and lined and her eyes were black like the midnight sky, her irises blood red.

"**So... you're the one who's been meddling in my affairs... the legendary Nova Flareheart... I must say... I expected more from the one who bested my little Cinder..." **

"HEY! I think I'm a hell of a lot of whatever it is you think I am!" Nova yelled in protest, taking offense.

"**Hmph, clearly." **The giant effigy turned to Oscar, "**Ah, Ozpin... don't think you can hide from me... I can sense you even in the body of that child..."**

"_Salem... how are you here?!_" Ozpin said, his voice echoing through Oscar's.

"**Don't be like that... I'm not really here, just a projection. I just wanted to catch a glimpse of the pests that need to be squashed..." **

"_You won't win Salem! Not this time..._" Ozpin threatened.

**"****Just like you've beaten me before? Don't make me laugh..." **her eyes fell on Ruby, **"Ruby Rose I presume... It's a shame you rejected our invitation, though I guess Tyrian and his brother were not the most eloquent..."**

"We'll stop you... we'll find you and take you down!" Ruby exclaimed unfolding Crescent Rose and launching herself at the effigy, slicing through it only to be met with thin air.

**"AHAHAHA So much fire... you remind me so much of someone I once knew..." **she chortled, "**We'll see each other again... goodbye... Ozpin..." **with that the effigy disappeared, and in its place was a floating crystal orb with tentacles that were... dripping with blood.

"Catch that thing!" Qrow yelled as he sprang at the orb, but it easily dodged him and ascended through a hole in the ceiling, disappearing from view.

There was a deep silence among them all.

"W-What was that thing...?" Nitro asked clearly scared stiff.

Qrow grimaced as he caught Oscar who had returned to himself and collapsed, "That... was Salem..."

* * *

Darkness, and cold. That was all Cinder Fall felt as she floated in the never-ending watery abyss. Her body was numb, there was no pain, she could not see and she could not hear. There was only deathly still silence and the biting chill of the cold that she could never stave off. Why was she here? She, who was supposed to be a cut above them all, a sovereign power beyond anything the world had seen. She was supposed to be the one to rain hell upon the world, to make them all suffer the same way she did, to make them cower in fear at her might.

Yet, all it took were the actions of one nosey dragon, butting into her life and ruining it all. Claiming her actions were unjust and wrong, sinking his vile claws into her and ending her life. In death, she was alone, nothing but the stillness and icy chill of the endless void. She always thought that upon death there would be nothing, she would just... cease to exist, yet here she was, a floating consciousness in a see if inky blackness, that was... slightly wet? This feeling... for all intents and purposes, she would be dead, and yet... something was pulling her consciousness back.

**"Do you see it now my child..."** a dark voice echoed in Cinder's mind, amidst the blackness it was like a chilling blood red.

_"Who...?"_

**"You do not recognize the voice of your own master? How disgraceful..."** the voice which Cinder now recognized to be Salem said.

_"My queen...? How...?" _

**"I can communicate with all Grimm, including that which is your arm..." **Salem responded.

_"I thought... I died..." _she responded hesitantly.

**"If that dragon was actually trying to kill you, he should have gone for your head. Instead, he couldn't even bring himself to finish you off, and hoped the fall would do it for him... a cowardly move for someone who spoke so dangerously before... Your life is hanging by my hands, your heart has stopped but your mind is alive thanks to the Grimm in you,"** Salem returned.

_"That loathsome fool, what I wouldn't give to find him and tear his fucking head from his shoulders..." _Cinder snarled in anger at the memory of Nova.

**"Yet you relied on the Maiden's powers too much... do you see now? Those so-called, infinite powers, made from the magic of the gods, spread to the world by that fool Ozpin... do you not see how inferior they are to real power?" **Salem interrogated.

_"My whole life I wished for those powers... to make the world pay... yet I was bested..."_

**"I can give you that power... but it will cost you your humanity"**

Cinder felt a determination well inside her, "_It doesn't matter... as long as I can have my revenge... then I will endure anything..." _

Salem let out a terrifying chuckle, **"Then it is done..."**

With those words Cinder's mind began to fade out of consciousness again, the memories of her pain beginning to fade as she fell into a deep sleep for what seemed like an eternity.

The sound of sloshing waves against rocks was the first thing to permeate her auditory senses, rousing her consciousness out of its deep slumber. Her mind slowly beginning to awaken, her senses coming back to her. Her sense of smell came back and as she took a deep breath, a column of water shot up her nose jarring her awake instantly in a coughing fit. All at once, taste, and touch came back to her, the water, if that is what it was, tasted salty, and the ground was wet. From just her sense of touch, she could feel that she was sitting in shallow water. Barely peeling her eyes open, the dim light began to filter in, bringing forth her surroundings.

She was sitting, drenched in the same outfit she'd fallen with, on the shores of what looked to be a saltwater lake. The ground was coarse with small pebbles and the sky was a dark, murky grey.

"Where am I...?" she choked out, her throat felt dry yet she didn't crave water. She tenderly reached up to touch her face, the mask over her left eye was gone, but the skin felt... new. When her eyes landed on her skin, it was pale, no... not pale... her skin was as white as chalk. Instantly she leaned over a nearby puddle of water to see her reflection.

She expected to see a pale version of herself, but instead... she was greeted with something far more terrifying. Her skin was pure white, her eye and face had been healed, but... the along her cheeks and upper brow were cracks and jagged lines, black and stained like the void. Her eyes' sclera were no longer white, instead, they were pitch black and her irises were blood red.

There was only one other person in the world who shared features like hers... she looked, like Salem.

* * *

**TUTURU! Cinder ain't dead! Pretty sure most of you saw this coming because you know how I write by now. Huge props to KawaiiMomoko-chan for being the first to guess that the Schnees and the Flarehearts were related.**

**I got the idea a while back when I was still in the early stages of this fanfic. I saw that Jacques Schnee wasn't really a Schnee, and he married Willow and took the name Schnee. Then I saw that picture of Jacques with black hair and it got me thinking: How is it that none of his three children took ANY resemblance to him? Then when Willow was revealed she basically just confirmed my own ideas. It just fit way too well with my story, on how the reason Nova and Luna are both dragons, both have white hair and took mainly after their father, was because the bloodline of the Flarehearts, the dragon gene, overpowered Elain's Faunus traits, due to the whole Royal blood, original Faunus clan, etc.**

**The reason why all the Schnees have White hair is because it works like this:  
Dragon + Faunus = Dragon Children with Traits after the dragon parent  
Dragon+ Human= the same as above with a small chance the child is human. However In the case with the Schnees, Nicholas Schnee was, by birth male, his mother was the dragon and his father the human. Since his father was human, his chances of being born human were much higher than normal and thus he was born human with the recessive traits of his mother, in this case, the white hair.**

**Due to the strength of the dragon genes, no matter how diluted the bloodline got, even after marrying a human, his daughter, and her children all had white hair, thus it became a symbol of the Schnee family.**

**I don't do biology so I don't know if this is actually how it works but from my vague memories of highschool, I think genetics work like that... don't quote me on that I'm an aspiring electrical engineer, not a biologist.**

**As for turning Cinder into a Grimm-witch, the idea came to me when I was looking over the original story of the four Maidens and their connection to Ozpin. I thought it was weird that someone on Salem's side was obsessed with powers that technically originated from Ozpin and the gods, and that Salem wasn't like "Oh look at that inferior magic, Ozpin a shite". Then at the end of volume 5, I was like... what if Cinder actually died? Then in volume 7, the idea popped into my head, "How different would things have been if Cinder was wielding primarily Grimm powers instead of magic?"**

**And such is the birth of Cinder the mini-Salem**

**Also originally Kali and Ghira went with Blake to fight the White Fang at haven but that's just way too many people for me to deal with at once so I had them stay behind in Menagerie. Just in case anyone was confused.**


	53. Chapter 53: The End of A Phase

**Sorry for the late upload, lots of stuff happened last week that ate into my writing schedule. Anyway here we go:**

**To my latest guest review: Training Montage? That sounds fun as hell but I've got different plans for Nova's Maiden power heh...**

**There's a couple things that might confuse you in this chapter if you didn't read the changes to Chapter 51, I have no idea what crack I was on when I wrote that. I blame it on the whiskey and metal music.**

* * *

**Chapter 53: The Taste of Blood isn't better than the taste of regret**

* * *

After the chaos and happenings at Haven, with Onyx driven off and Team ASHNRWBYJNR reunited. They couldn't help but feel that their progress had opened up more questions than answers.

With the new additions of Adam, Bell, Elain, Sun, and the more prominent Oscar, it would seem that their dwellings at Qrow's friend's place were garnering to be rather… crowded. Ilya said that she'd been meaning to visit an uncle of hers who lived near Haven and would keep in touch while they were there.

"Anyone wanna explain to me how we're fitting seventeen people in here?" Nora asked quirking her eyebrow.

Yang raised her index finger to prompt a suggestion, "I think we should-," but Hex shushed her.

"No, we are not making our friends camp outside in tents… and before you ask, yes I do have spare tents in the compression storage but the idea is out of the question," Hex hissed, squinting her eyes at her blonde girlfriend.

"Camping?! Sign me up!" Sun jumped up elatedly.

Blake groaned and held him down, "Sun you will sleep anywhere that's not wet or slimy…"

"True! That's what makes me so adaptable," he replied, giving her a wide grin that made her blush from how close he was.

"Glad to see nothing's changed between you two since I last saw you… still acting like a comedy duo," Nova smiled as she looked on smugly, "Well… almost nothing…" the implication caused Blake to turn red.

"It's not like that!" she countered.

"Mhm, sure thing kitty, as for our sleeping arrangements… I propose a wonderful plan!" the dragon leader thrust her hand in the air proudly.

Everyone paled, "You know whenever she suggests a 'plan' I always get a really bad feeling…" Weiss whispered to Luna and Ruby who just nodded slowly in agreement.

"Oh don't be like that cousin! My plans are flawless, fool-proof and strategically sound!"

"Well… you put the fool in it for sure…" Luna pinched the bridge of her nose.

Nova waved her hand dismissively, "Guys seriously, we've been in Mistral. Who do we know here owns a rather large house and is insanely rich?"

Ruby's hand shot up, "OOO! I know this! It's Weiss!"

"Close but no cigar love, I'm talking about… THEM!" she spun around and pointed and Hex and Nitro who looked like a pair of deer caught in headlights.

"US?!"

"Yes, you! Your family owns the largest security firm in Remnant! I've seen your house damnit!"

"Nova that's…" Hex prompted hesitantly.

"We haven't… seen our family since we left Mistral…" Nitro finished.

"Then all the more reason to go see them now! Your parents were really sweet the last time I was there!" it was then Nova saw their dreary faces. "What happened?"

"We didn't exactly… part ways on agreeable terms…" Nitro explained, "When we left for Beacon, Hex and I left without really saying anything other than leaving a note at the door… look long story short I don't even know if they _want _to see us after the stunt we pulled…"

Nova's expression instantly softened and she placed a hand on Nitro's shoulder, "Hey… bro, listen… you need to face them someday, and I might not know your parents the way you do, but they don't seem like the type to reject their own kids… take it from someone who had to grow up without them… if there's even the slightest chance for you to make things right, then you need to take it… before you never get that chance again…"

Nitro and Hex shared a hesitant glance, "Well… there's no time like the present… right sis?"

Hex breathed a heavy sigh, "You only call me sis when it suits you… fine. I'm as ready as I could be…"

* * *

The large party made their way through Mistral in the dark of the night, if it were not for their wide variety of colours one would swear, they were a cult.

The endlessly inclining stairs twisted around the mountain through a series of paths until they crested the hell on the opposite side of Haven.

Sitting neatly in the side of the mountain like a master carved sculpture stood a large white mansion embedded into the mountainside. With grand pillars ordaining the entry, a wide-open courtyard with a fountain, all enclosed behind a thick dust infused metal fence with barbed spiked tops.

At the centre of its majesty stood a heavy metal gate chained together.

"This is your house?!" Weiss almost choked on air. "It's bigger than mine!"

"That's saying something…" Sun marvelled.

Adam and Bell just retained their silence while poor Oscar looked like he was about to pass out.

Nitro walked up to the gate and pressed the doorbell. Its ring echoed like a shrill cry in the dead silence of the night. Not a single light was on in the house nor were any of the outer lights.

Nova smirked and elbowed Yang, "Hey are you ready to meet the parents?"

Yang turned red and instantly began to fix her clothes and hair, "Oh shit! I'm still covered in debris damnit!"

Nova blinked, "Wait… you're actually nervous?!"

"WHY WOULDN'T I BE?! DO YOU SEE THIS PLACE?!"

Hex smiled warmly, "Yang, calm down. My parents are really chill… most of the time. Relax, you'll be fine!"

"That's strange… normally one of the guards would have answered by now…" Nitro said absently.

Hex's eyes narrowed, "Wait… why aren't the guard lights on? Or the lawn lamps? It's like no one's home…"

While none of them were paying attention, a figure began to emerge from the darkness of the Zephyr manor.

"Young Masters? Is that you?!" an old voice said.

They all peered through the night to see an old man dressed in a butler outfit walking toward them.

"Quinten?!" Nitro exclaimed.

"AH Young masters it is so good to see you!" the man known as Quinten said with glee. His old features brightening. They could see now, his grey balding head and a thick mustache. His old brown eyes behind a pair of rounded spectacles. "My word is that Miss Sapphire? What a pleasant surprise, though odd to see you without your brother."

Everyone fought the urge to burst out into laughter at the fact that Nova was looking rather annoyed at being dismissed.

"Q, where's everyone? The place looks like a ghost town…" Hex said.

"Well… that's… it's better if you and your friends come inside, I'll explain."

* * *

The inside of the manor was just as grand as the outside. Large endless hallways and rooms that one would need a map to navigate it. Oscar looked rather disoriented as he passed through, choosing to lurk at the back of the party.

They arrived at a large living room, a massive decorative rug sat at the center on the large tiled floor, black sofas and coffee tables lined around it like a meeting area. The dining room was connected to the living room by a space where one would assume a wall should go. It seemed that this was not the real dining hall, but more of a common room for small gatherings. According to Nitro, the real dining hall was in the east wing and was much larger than this.

Quinten came through after a few minutes with tea for everyone.

"Nitro this place is insane!" Sun whispered to his friend.

"You lived here, as in every day?" Jaune asked as well, looking a little nervous.

The red-head chuckled, "Well not really. Hex and I stayed at the dorms in Haven."

"Why? You have such a great house!" Nora rolled in.

"Yeah, it's nice… but we feel better in more… humble environments. After we spent so much time out in the slums together, it's a bit hard to live in this fancy place…" Hex explained, rubbing the back of her head. "I never got used to this place, even after I was adopted in."

It was then the butler chose to break his silence, "Now I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name is Quinten Alucard, I've been serving the Zephyr family as the head butler for fifty-three years. To whom do I have the pleasure of greeting?" Quinten said as he introduced himself.

"Q, you know Sapphire already, rather her first name is Luna. The white-haired girl standing next to her is Alexandrite, or rather Nova. Luna's brother." Hex introduced Nova and Luna who waved their hands bashfully.

"Alexandrite?! As in the tall boy who was with you when you first visited with the small one? How in the world…?"

"Don't think about it too hard Mr. Q, it's a really long story," Nova said rubbing her head.

"Well, I certainly won't pry. If it is too much."

"I'm Elain Flareheart. Nova and Luna's mother. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Alucard." Elain said smiling warmly and extending her hand for a greeting.

At the mention of the name the man instantly bowed instead of shaking the hand, "My word! If I had known we were expecting royalty I would've brought out the good wine! My apologies for my rudeness your highness. And to you as well your highnesses," he said realizing who Luna and Nova were.

"Please, just call me Ellie and you can drop the 'your highness'," Elain said turning slightly pink from embarrassment.

"Forgive me your highness but etiquette requires my use of honorifics, and I do not stray from my code."

The queen regarded the decision with interest, "That is quite respectable… you're a good man, Mr. Alucard." Elain noted.

"These guys here are my team," Nitro said turning around and introducing Ruby and the others one by one each giving a small wave to notify who they were, except Nora who began to flex her biceps.

"Y-Yang Xiao Long, I-I'm… I-I'm…" Yang began to stutter when Hex chuckled and roped an arm around her neck.

"This is Yang, my girlfriend. Isn't she wonderful, Q?" Hex smiled cheekily and pecked Yang on the cheek.

Quinten pushed up his glasses and smiled, "Indeed young mistress, you certainly have a good eye." He bowed slightly before Yang, "Please do take care of her, she's quite the handful."

Yang felt her uneasiness wash away at his amiability, "Don't I know it!"

"YANG!" Hex chastised smacking her lightly.

Everyone burst into a fit of laughter.

"And well, these three are Sun Wukong, Bell and Adam Taurus…" he said that last one hesitantly.

At first, Quinten had a flash of anger and alertness at the mention of Adam but simmered down when he realized how casually Nitro was interacting with him.

"Associating with the White Fang is not a good idea young master…"

"Ex-White Fang. He's on our side now, Q. He's a good guy… at least Nova seems to think so, and I trust him, er… her?" Nitro tried to explain.

"Very well, but if he ever steps out of line…"

"He won't!" Nitro explained, then he turned to Adam, "Sorry about this man… Q's a little protective…"

Adam cleared his throat, "No… it is quite understandable." He turned to Quinten, "You have my word, Mr. Alucard, that no harm will come to anyone here under my watch."

"I certainly hope not…"

"Ugh, I am really sorry about this dude…"

"No, it's my fault really. It comes with the tagline of being a former terrorist. I can't change my past, I can only focus on what's in front of me." Adam said which was an incredible shift from how he would have acted had this been a year ago. Bell felt a sense of pride swelling within her at that.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, care to tell me where everyone is?" Nitro asked.

"Ah yes of course. Your parents have opened up a new facility for the company in Atlas. They moved there not too long ago with your older sister in tow. Without you two around they need all hands on deck for the large scale operation and temporarily moved to Atlas. I was left in charge of the manor until they return." Quinten explained.

Nitro almost felt a sigh of relief escaped him, but it was soon overcome with the feeling of regret, not being able to see his parents.

"I see… well, there's nothing we can do about that… we've come to ask you a question actually," Hex said.

"Oh, a request? Well, that is unusual."

"We'd like to know if we could use the manor to stay for a few days. We're kinda exhausted and need a place to crash that can fit everyone here…"

Quinten then gauged them realizing they were all dusty and covered in soot and ash and what was potentially blood. "I'm not going to ask what transpired to cause all of this… but you need to ask my permission young masters. This is your house after all. Do with it as you please. There are eight bedrooms available as all the staff have followed the masters to Atlas. It may not fit you all but you can divide amongst yourselves. Breakfast is at seven in the morning, I believe a tour is in order…"

"It's fine Q, we'll show them around. There is one thing that you can do for us, and that's…" *GROWL* was the simultaneous sound of Hex and everyone else's stomachs.

"Ah dinner, of course! I'll see to it at once. If I remember correctly, the highnesses prefer fish correct? Anything in particular for anyone else?"

"Tuna!" Luna, Nova, and Blake simultaneously shouted. Everyone else just deadpanned.

"We'll eat anything, Q," Nitro said proudly.

" I'll get the preparations ready…" he moved to go off to the kitchen while Elain and Ren followed closely behind hoping to assist the old man.

This left everyone else to their musings.

"Now that's over with… how are we dividing the rooms?" Ruby piped in.

"Well, there are seventeen of us and eight rooms, so that's two a room and one with three?" Hex proposed.

"We draw straws?" Nora offered.

"Nah, I think it's mostly decided right? I'll be bunking with Ruby, Yang, and Hex, and the rest of you can figure it out?" Nova tilted her head.

"Thanks for the planning fearless leader…" Luna facepalmed. "I'm bunking with my bestie!" she instantly latched on to Weiss who looked flustered.

"I'm bunking with Renny!" Nora squealed taking up her partner.

That left Blake, Sun, Nitro, Jaune, Adam, Bell, and Oscar. They all looked at each other nervously.

"Um… why don't Bell and I bunk together and the boys figure it out…?" Blake offered, her ears flattening against her head.

"No dice kitty, I think we should bunk with someone we know for a fact we won't try to kill in our sleep," Bell grunted, placing her hands on her hips, making her look like an angry pixie.

"What? I thought we were allies…"

"Comrades sure, but mind you, kitty cat, we are _not _friends." Bell squinted at her. In truth the butterfly Faunus was actually slightly jealous of Blake, though she would never admit to it. The fact that she was once close to Adam made her see Blake as a rival.

Yes. Bell 'Wings', had a crush on Adam Taurus. She didn't know when exactly it started, perhaps it was when she was first enrolled into team BLADE, her first time meeting the great and powerful Adam Taurus, or it could have been when he sat with her after her mission on Mount Glenn. She never knew when her feelings bubbled, and despite her training to operate without emotion, she couldn't quell her admiration, which had developed into a crush.

Thus, any opportunity to single him out from the cat was to be taken.

"I'll bunk with my buddy Jaune, right… Jaune?" Nitro said roping an arm around the blonde.

Sun wanted to protest he was his buddy too when he saw Nitro giving him a series of winks and head gestures to the Belladonna. Then it dawned on him.

"Ohhh, so if Adam is bunking with fairy wings over there then… that leaves…" he looked at Blake and Oscar.

"Nuh-uh, I'm calling dibs on the couch, I am not sleeping on the floor," Oscar said waving his arms in protest.

"Well, that settles it Blakey is bunking with me!" Sun said proudly.

"Wait! I DIDN'T AGREE….!" Blake was silenced when Nova clapped her hands.

"Great so we're all in agreement. I'm gonna take a shower and ask mom to fix my armlet." Nova said walking off, hoping she remembered where the bathroom was from the last time.

"I think we could all use a shower… how many bathrooms are there?" Jaune asked curiously. Knowing the members of his team, he'd rather not have to fistfight someone for a shower.

"One per room, and there's one down the main hall on every floor so you guys really don't need to fight over…" before he could finish the sentence, they were all gone at lightning speeds, leaving Oscar and Adam to stand there in disappointment.

"Well… I guess we're showering after dinner then…" Oscar groaned as he collapsed on the couch. The feeling of the soft cushions enveloping around his tired body was like blissful heaven.

* * *

Behind closed doors, Adam stumbled to the bathroom sink. His vision was beginning to blur and his body was aching. Staring himself in the mirror he could see the pale skin, the bags under his eyes. He needed to rest his body, and fast.

*COUGH COUGH COUGH* was all that escaped him as he began violently rupturing with coughs into the sink, praying to Oum that no one heard him. After the coughing fit subsided, he looked at his hands, they were covered in his blood.

"ADAM!" Bell screamed as she barged through the unlocked door and rushed to his side, "What's wrong? Are you alright?!"

Adam swallowed and tried to stand, "I'm... fine..."

"BULLSHIT!"

"I take... offense to that..." he groaned.

"Fuck the formalities, what's up with you?" she asked concerned.

Adam grunted again and straightened himself, "You have to promise not to say a damn word about this..."

"But..." she wanted to protest but his face said otherwise, "Ok fine... now tell me."

"Remember those experiments we were subject to? That my blood carries the failed prototype nanomachines?"

Bell nodded, "Yeah... are they affecting you? Why now?"

"Because I'm no longer using the crystal. Anytime I use that power now, I'm running my body ragged. The cells are slowly corroding me inside, each time I have to call on that power..."

Bell was confused, "But... when was the last time you...?" then her face morphed into realization, "In that fight with Edan?! THAT WAS ALL THE WAY BACK AT MENAGERIE! Then you fought with Onyx... how... how long have you been suffering like this?"

"It doesn't mat-"

"Don't give me that shit. It fucking matters Adam. How. Long."

"Since the fall of Beacon, I've been feeling it. It got worse after the fight. Bell, I don't think I'm cut out for combat anymore..." Adam said solemnly as he slumped onto the bathroom floor.

The short blonde knelt beside him, "Then no more combat."

"But... they need my help... to fight the Fang..."

"No. In the state you are, you'll be dead before you know it. We're heading back to Menagerie. A couple of days of rest here, and then we're gone. No. More. Fighting." Bell said sternly.

"What if..." he wanted to protest but she shushed him.

"I... don't want to lose you. I know what you're thinking. You think the only path to redemption is a kamikaze blaze of glory that ends in your death, but some people out here actually like you alive, and would prefer it if you stayed that way." She said turning beet red.

Adam was taken aback, "Has the esteemed captain Wings, grown attachment to a person?" he said hauntingly.

"Shut the fuck up... you're the closest thing to a friend I have... so I don't want you to go dying on me, okay?"

He chuckled, and relented, "Alright fine... besides we might do more good on Menagerie anyway."

* * *

Nova sat in the shower for what felt like an eternity, letting the hot water soak into her weary skin, trying desperately to scrub away the pain that lingered. She felt awful, the guilt was eating at her, and now that she wasn't in the presence of her team that she could truly let it out. Her hands still felt stained with the blood and while she knew she did what had to be done… she couldn't escape the lingering feeling that it was a mistake.

There was a light knock on the door, "Hey… are you alright in there?" it was Ruby.

Nova instantly collected herself, "Yeah I'm fine… why?"

"Well… it's just that dinner's ready and everyone else is downstairs… and well… you were kinda talking to yourself…" Ruby said nervously.

Nova cringed, "You heard that?"

There was a pause of silence before Ruby's muffled voice was heard through the door again, "Do you want to talk about it?"

The dragon felt her breath hitch in her throat, "Just… gimme a minute I'll be out…"

Ruby sat in silence on the plush bed, admiring the room décor. When Nitro said they were rich she didn't expect the rooms to be all fitted with king-size beds and fully furnished with private bathrooms. It was like a giant hotel.

Nova emerged from the bathroom in an outfit that had Ruby choke in surprise. She was wearing an all too familiar long-sleeved dress with an open top and skirt that went to her knees. The ever-familiar white roses patterned along it was the biggest dead giveaway. It was her mother's old outfit.

"Sorry, this was the only clean girl clothes I had left and well… I figured it was as good a time as any to wear it…" Nova said blushing faintly. "I-Is this alright?"

"That's mom's…!" Ruby gasped looking almost tearful.

Nova instantly flinched, "Oh! Are you not okay with this? Yang gave it to me and… well…"

Ruby instantly felt bad, "No! Not that! You look amazing… I just… didn't expect to see it again…"

"Reopening old wounds. Sorry… I guess we both have some sore spots…" she replied rubbing her left arm.

Ruby got off the bed and took Nova's hand in hers, "Are you finally ready to talk about what happened?"

The dragon leader stared at the red leader with a look of pain, "In the vault. When I saw Cinder beating Raven, at the time… I thought it was funny. I know it's pretty insensitive of me to laugh, Vernal was dead but the only thing that could sink into my brain was the irony of the situation. Raven knew she was going to get double-crossed but the fact that she let it happen so easily, I just… I'm not sure what I was thinking."

"What do you mean?"

"Ruby, if I tell you… you might think less of me…"

She held the dragon's face in her hands and forced their eyes to meet, "Never."

Taking a deep breath Nova spilled it, "It's like… seeing the betrayal, my emotions were all over the place. Part of me wanted to kill Cinder, part of me wanted to laugh at Raven for having even the slightest faith in Cinder's faction to keep their word, but more than anything I just wanted revenge. For Pyrrha, for Weiss, for Amber, for the people who lost their lives at Beacon… all I saw was hate and I let it consume me. I fought without regarding Cinder as another person, she was almost like a Grimm to me at the time. Then at the last moment, before I landed the final blow… I hesitated…"

Ruby watched her ramble with shock, "Then why did you hesitate?"

"I… don't know. Call it momentary sobriety, when I was about to take her life, I felt it. The true weight of my actions, like a flash of clarity it came bearing down on me but I still followed through. I killed her Ruby. I can say all I want about her, that she was beyond redemption, but maybe…" Nova trailed off.

"No, there was no hope for her," Ruby said firmly, squeezing Nova's hands.

The dragon's eyes widened in shock, not believing that these words were coming from Ruby, "What…?"

"You're right. After what she did to Pyrrha, to Weiss and even Penny. The people of Beacon, hell even Ozpin. You heard her yourself, she'd go through anyone's blood be it, children or gods, to get power. Nova, I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe you did the right thing."

"But…!"

"Nova you can't change the past… it's just something you have to live with. I don't think any different of you, and while I'm not proud of what you did, I think maybe, it was what had to be done. If this is how you're feeling, just imagine how badly Weiss feels. Even Oscar! We all did things we're not proud of this time around, we just need to keep looking toward the future, to the bigger picture." Ruby held Nova firmly, squeezing her frame and trying to pour as much positive energy as she could. "Our team needs us to lead, so we need to always be on our best."

The dragon leader felt hot tears sting her eyes, it was times like this she was grateful that Ruby was the one by her side. The red reaper was a treasure, and her emotional lifeline in these chaotic times, no doubt she was the same for Ruby. They were dependant on each other for support, and by Oum, she was grateful to have it.

"You're right… we're fighting for a world where all of this is over and we can live happily… and maybe, the world is a slightly better place now…" she pressed her nose against Ruby's. "Thank you, Ruby… you just keep me falling in love with you a little bit more every time…"

Ruby leaned in closer, her eyes becoming lidded, "Maybe… I should have you fall some more…?"

"I'd like that…" Nova was slowly closing the distance between them.

"Hey what's taking so long? Yang sent me to see if you guys were okay…." Oscar said as he rounded the doorway, upon seeing them he instantly turned bright red, "AH! I'M SO SORRY!"

Instantly Nova and Ruby split apart, red in the face, "Thanks a bunch there Oscar, I'll repay the favour someday…" Nova said slyly.

Oscar gulped, "I'm not sure what you mean by that…."

"You'll find out when you're older…" Nova said smirking, "OW!"

"Don't tease him! He's still innocent!" Ruby reprimanded as she pinched the dragon.

* * *

Dinner was a lot more lively than anyone would have expected. Adam, their most reserved party member, was at least open to jokes and even provided some entertaining stories. Blake was honestly surprised, she'd thought he'd be more silent and broodier than actively engaging with everyone, it was like watching a child grow up.

"Yo, mom, about my armlet…" Nova held up her right hand to show the broken device.

Elain almost choked, "How the hell did you break it like that?! That thing's nigh-indestructible!"

"Well, I did fall off Beacon tower _and _have it crushed by a rock in the vault…"

"Ugh, you know what? I'll just make you a new one… wait… that reminds me," she turned to Luna who was happily chomping away at her fish, while simultaneously stealing food from Weiss. "Luna, honey did you bring _that thing _with us?"

"Huh…?" At first, she was confused then it dawned on her, "It's in your bag, I watched you put it in there! How do you forget that?!"

Elain snorted, "Sweetheart do I look like I pay attention to what I shove in the bag?"

"Point taken."

Elain left the table only to come back shortly with a large block of translucent metal that looked like it was shining.

Everyone at the table choked, "My word! Your highness is that diamond?!" Quinten asked incredulously.

"Close, it's Diamond Incindium Alloy, the last of its kind. I brought it with me because I remembered a certain someone is in need of forging a new weapon." She looked toward Nova with a knowing look.

Nova instantly shot up from the table, "MOM I FREAKIN LOVE YOU!" then proceeded to squeal while clutching the giant mass to her chest.

Everyone besides Ruby deadpanned, while the reaper's eyes began to glow, "Oh… my… god… THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES!" she squealed.

"Hold on there hothead, if you want to forge that you're going to need flames of around four thousand degrees… Celsius…" Elain said dryly, "In other words, you're going to need to superheat it yourself. And you'll need a proper smithy, I don't even know where we're going to find…"

"About that…" Hex said.

* * *

After dinner they followed Hex and Nitro through the vast halls of the west wing of the Zephyr manor until they came across a pair of rather grand mechanical doors, locked by a keypad.

Hex punched in a series of numbers too complex to commit to memory and the doors opened to reveal a wondrous sight.

It was a massive machine workshop and laboratory, lined with as many tools and equipment as you would need. There was even a metal forging area with proper ventilation.

"Someone pinch me I might be dreaming…" Elain mumbled as she wandered in a daze.

"Welcome to the Zephyr Labs, it's where I made the majority of my tech in my spare time and where Q taught me how to properly code." Hex said proudly.

They all looked at the aged butler curiously. "Well, I may not look like it but I am quite technologically capable, though I believe the young mistress has surpassed me by now," Quinten said looking toward Hex.

Nova whistled, "With this place, I could forge a brand new Asura… hell, I could make it even better than before!" instantly she turned to Ruby and got down on one knee.

Everyone in the room gasped in shock, their eyes practically bulging out of their heads.

"Oh my god, what's happening right now…?" Luna looked on in static glee.

"They can't possibly be…?" Weiss looked about ready to facepalm.

"HERE?!" Oscar squealed.

"Ruby Rose, will you do the honours of…" everyone felt their breath hitch in their throat as they awaited the fateful words of… "Helping me design a new weapon?" instantly everyone fell over.

"That is the best thing you could have ever said to me! FUCK YES!" Ruby exclaimed in excitement.

The fact that she was so excited she even said 'fuck' made Yang choke.

* * *

Later that night after everyone had fallen asleep, Luna had tucked herself away with Weiss, the Schnee girl had taken a long time to fall asleep. At first, she couldn't sleep at all, her mind racing back to the blood-stained floors of Haven, the gruesome sight of Hazel Rainhart crawling on the floor with fury in his eyes toward her, the life fading as he moved.

Every time she closed her eyes the memories came flooding back and it was only until Luna sat beside her and held her hand until she finally calmed down, did the Schnee ex-heiress finally drifted off. The only problem now was, Luna couldn't bring herself to sleep.

The bed was too plush, and her body still felt on edge from her fight with Onyx. Her mind was plagued not by fear but by curiosity, for the words he'd said to her, the events that transpired, had begun to raise questions that she couldn't quite find the answer for.

She heard it, loud and clear, '_Your power is the same as mine...'. _She too felt it, when their blades clashed, the conflicting elements, the battle for power over the directional forces, the reaction of the Fragment of Remnant around his neck. All her life, Luna had no clear idea as to what her powers actually did, or what her limits were.

Unlike her brother, her powers were much more confusing. Her birthmark was not on her left shoulder like all other Aspects of Remnant before her, it was on her lower back. It wasn't even in a distinct shape as indicated by the books in her family library. She'd come across several symbols, the flame symbol Nova bore, a symbol of light like a cross, one of darkness like the mist, a gust of air for the wind, but not a single thing about a mark that bore a resemblance to a swirling galaxy.

Carefully she detached herself from Weiss' grip and wandered downstairs in her ocean blue t-shirt and shorts to find the book she brought with her. There might be something she missed, anything that could give her a clue as to what it all meant...

The living room was dark, with the curtains on the window slightly drawn, slivers of moonlight streaming through like shining beams of silver, providing minimal illumination to a sole couch. Deciding not to rouse anyone, she took up a perch on the single-seater and opened the book, skimming through the pages she'd already covered, filtering through the book with detail as she encroached the middle. As she thumbed through the pages she saw the same symbols she recognized, until she realized, that one of the pages she was flipping was thicker than the rest. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a series of pages stuck together by dried moisture. Carefully, she pried them apart to come across an incredible sight.

The pages in between were written, not in English, but in some other language, she'd never seen before. It was like a mix of symbols and strokes that was completely foreign to her. The most interesting part, however, was the distinct line of separation, like a page had been removed... but who could have done such a thing?

"Hey...? You okay?" a voice said making Luna shriek and jump out of her chair.

"EEP!" She instantly shut the book and looked toward the sound that startled her, then took a sigh as she realized who it was.

Oscar Pine had been roused from his slumber on the long couch by the quiet steps of the short girl. Though, sleep was a bit of a stretch, as in truth his mind had been wide awake, flashing back to smell of blood and death. Ozpin had tried to reassure him it was completely natural, that it wasn't his fault, but the memories still plagued him. It was his first real combat experience... and his first time seeing death up close. Eventually, Ozpin gave up on consoling him and buggered off to the inner reaches of his mind, saying something about how even mental consciousnesses needed sleep.

"Oh... it's just you... um... new Ozpin guy?" Luna asked searching for a name. She'd heard her brother calling him kid, but the only thing that truly stuck was when Nova referred to him as Ozpin. "Should I call you Professor?"

Oscar deadpanned, "Please... don't. I'm not Ozpin, I'm supposed to be his reincarnation, but it's more like he's sitting in my brain talking to me. My name's Oscar Pine, I recently joined this team after finding out I was 'Ozpin' about a week ago." He moved to turn on the light before plopping back down onto the couch.

In the newly illuminated room, Luna was able to study him carefully. He was slightly taller than her, short brown hair and tanned skin, the most prominent thing were his multicoloured irises, and the cute freckles on his face. Then she noticed he was only wearing a pair of black shorts and a sea-green t-shirt that hung a little too loosely around him, giving her a subtle view of his toned chest.

She instantly felt her cheeks growing warmer, '_Curse you teenage hormones...' _she swore in her mind. In truth, this was actually the first cute boy around her age that she'd seen that wasn't in their uniform/combat outfit, so being the hormonal teenager she was, became a little flustered.

"Hey, are you listening to me...?" Oscar asked tilting his head.

This roused her from her thoughts, "Huh? Sorry, I spaced out..." she blushed from embarrassment, rubbing the back of her hair bashfully.

"I asked, if you're the princess they all kept telling me about. Nova's little sister," Oscar said with a light smile, silently thanking his mind for keeping its composure. It was still slightly nerve wracking to talk to new people, but he was getting used to it.

Luna tucked a strand of hair behind her head and mentally slapped herself, she needed to get used to this if they were going to be travelling together from now on.

"Yes, I don't believe we've been properly introduced," She said rather formally, "My name is Luna Sapphire Flareheart, but you can just call me Luna, or Sapphire or whatever you want, just not 'your highness'. I have to deal with enough of that malarky back at Menagerie."

"It's nice to meet you, Luna, I know it's on short notice, but I hope we can work together in the future," Oscar said pulling on his mannerisms from Ozpin's memory. Despite what she said, Oscar still didn't want to seem rude to a princess, Nova was a different story since their first impressions weren't as formal.

Luna faceplanted on the armchair and groaned, "Ugh, too stiff! Dude, we're comrades now. You're being way too polite."

The action made Oscar chuckle and relax, she certainly took after her brother in some aspects, "Sorry, with Ozpin being part of my head it's hard to not adopt some of his mannerisms."

Luna perked up, "Speaking of which, I'm curious."

"As I expected you would be..."

"Is he like, you? Or you, him? Or is he like listening to us right now?" Luna began firing off her curiosity.

"Not right now, I actually don't know how he works. He says he can't access my memories and knowledge without my permission, and he can't take control over my bod without it either. I don't know if that's really a 'can't' or a 'won't'. Either way he's mentally put himself to rest so he can't hear us right now, at least I don't think so... it's confusing really..." Oscar explained feeling overwhelmed trying to put it into words.

Luna made a humming sound, "That's cool, it reminds me of this one book Blake let me read, about a guy with two souls in one body..."

An awkward silence fell between them after a bit, neither knowing what to talk about. Luna wanted an excuse to go back to her book but she figured she would be rude to just brush him off, and Oscar wanted to try to get closer to her, at least try to establish a friendship so their interactions would become less awkward in the future.

So there they sat, staring at random objects, time ticking by until Oscar let out a heavy sigh, "This is really... really awkward... you want to get back to your book right? I'll just leave you to it then..." he was about to get up from the sofa when she stopped him.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she asked looking concerned, hoping she hadn't offended him.

"To go sleep somewhere else, you look like you're doing something important so I don't wanna get in your way..." he replied looking embarrassed.

"No! Stay! I... ugh look, Oscar, you seem like a good kid, so why don't we talk some more. I already know Ozpin, but I'd like to know who Oscar Pine is." Luna said firmly, with a warm smile and an outstretched hand that made Oscar's heart skip a beat. She was beautiful, and though she did look like her brother, there were distinct features that set them apart, not that female Nova wasn't attractive but the whole concept made Oscar confused and he wasn't about to debate his own sexuality.

He smiled sheepishly and plopped back down, "Kid? You can't be _that_ much older than me," he replied trying to thin the ice.

"Well how old are you? I'm almost fifteen, almost sixteen."

"Fourteen, almost fifteen. Alright you win, you're older than me, still, though, don't call me kid!" he retorted.

"But Nova gets to do it..." she pouted cutely.

Oscar felt a blush rising, "T-That's only because he's like an older brother figure... sorta... I don't know I barely know him... but he's been taking care of me in a way... they all have..." he said thinking about the team. He was actually grateful to them, had this been two weeks ago, sitting in the same room as Luna would've made him stutter and choke on his own words, but living in a house with five pretty girls for a week helped him at least keep his cool.

"Speaking of which, what's your story? You don't look like a fighter..." the blue dragon said trying to study him.

Oscar rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Yeah... I'm actually just a farm boy. I've never had any formal training and I didn't even have my aura unlocked until Ozpin did it for me a week ago."

Luna choked on air, "WHAT?! And you fought those guys? You're either insane, stupid or brave... I know this might be a touchy subject but, are your parents okay with you being out here?"

Oscar flinched, "Um... my mom doesn't actually know... She thinks I've gone to Haven to follow in my dad's footsteps or something like that... well, she doesn't actually know I'm on a mission to save the world. I don't know my dad, but he was supposed to be a really cool Huntsman."

She made another humming sound, "So... how does it feel to be living this life? Going from a peaceful farm life to crazy dangerous always living on the edge type of life?"

"Honestly? I've always dreamed about going on adventures and running with danger. I never actively sought it out because I thought, I just wasn't cut out for it. That I was just meant to be a farm boy, that tending to the cows was my purpose... until now that is."

"You didn't answer my question..." she said eyeing him.

"For how it feels, well, to put it mildly, I'm fucking terrified out of my mind and I don't know if I can do this, but this is the most alive I've felt in my entire life, and something just feels... right, I guess. I'm scared and fearful twenty-four-seven, but, I can't help but enjoy it. I might die tomorrow, but it definitely beats that dreary existence I was living in before." Oscar said, his eyes filling with an emotion she couldn't quite discern, "As the great Pyrrha Nikos always said, to chase your dreams, because you can't get anywhere without at first trying."

"You're a Pyrrha fan? Boy, you must be losing your mind knowing that Jaune's her boyfriend," Luna snickered, though a slight disturbance crept its way into her mind. Was it... jealousy?

Oscar waved his hands frantically, "I'm a fan of her, but not like in the way you're implying. I didn't have a crush on her, I just thought she was someone to look up to. Talented and hardworking, constantly out to surpass her limits. She reminds me a lot of Nova, though he seems more... eccentric."

Luna chuckled, not knowing why a feeling of relief washed over her, "You know my brother wasn't always like this. Before the fall of Beacon, he was a lot more reserved. We both were. I think that, after everything came crashing down, he was finally able to free his mind and express himself the way he wants to, without fear of judgment or persecution. That, and the fact that I think the fall scrambled his brain slightly..." she said feeling her sweat drop.

Oscar mused over an extremely serious Nova who was all work and no play, and given that he'd never seen the dragon leader in any other form than who he was now, the concept just didn't exist. One thing Luna said did stand out to him though.

"You said you were both reserved... I hope this isn't too personal but, what do you mean by that?"

Luna felt her breath hitch, "It's all water under the bridge now, so I guess it's okay." she took a deep breath, "Nova and I got ran out of our homes, and country by Onyx and the White Fang. They kidnapped our parents and we lived on the streets for a year before we got taken in by a man named Randolf Wulf, our first teacher and apparently our uncle as well. We adopted new identities and disguises to try and blend in with the world. We were forced to live our lives constantly on the run and in fear of being persecuted. All that changed when we made it to Beacon... team RWBY changed us... gave us a place to call home, for the first time."

Oscar listened to her story as she rambled on about their adventures, listening with awe and admiration for the small girl before him, who'd gone through hell and back and come out stronger than she ever was before.

"Nova and I don't really know what the peaceful life is like. We did once, but it was so long ago that we've forgotten what it feels like to not have an end of the world crisis happening every day. So, that's why I'm asking about you, your peaceful life. What was it like?" she got up and walked around the sofas until she sat in one adjacent to him.

"Well, there's not much to tell. I grew up without knowing my dad, and my whole life was... to put it simply. Boring. There's no excitement, just the same mundane routine day in and day out. There was never a change. The only thing out of the ordinary would be the occasional visit from a relative... I know it sounds like I'm complaining about living peacefully, but the truth is... it was really relaxing compared to now. I miss those days, but I don't think I could give this life up either now that I've tasted it." Oscar breathed out.

Luna blinked in surprise, she wasn't expecting such a complex answer, "Well, it does sound relaxing, I'd like to try that someday. Just waking up and doing nothing, too bad the world has other plans."

"Isn't that what we're fighting for? To make it so that the world is at peace again? What do you think you'll do when you don't have to fight a war?" the tan boy asked, trying to make light of the mood.

Luna placed a finger on her chin, "Hm, well I think Nova and I would go back to Menagerie to look after things, try to fix the broken holes the White Fang left... and I think my brother has ideas about becoming an international diplomat to represent the Faunus nation, or something crazy like that."

Oscar would whistle if he could, he couldn't help but feel that he was lucky to be in the same room as someone destined to do such incredible things. She was different from him, she had plans, meanwhile he was just going with the flow. They were from two different worlds, after all, she was a princess, and he was a farm boy, and for a series of crazy circumstances, they were chatting together like good friends.

It was then he picked up something in her response, which gave him an idea, "That's actually... impressive. But, what do _you really _want?"

"Me...? There's nothing I... well... ugh you'll laugh at me if I say it..." Luna said a slight blush forming on her face. His question had startled her, she didn't expect someone to be able to pick out that she'd personally wanted something.

"Oh come on, we're friends, right? You can lay it on me, I won't judge," Oscar said holding up his hands in defence.

Luna tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Well... I've... kinda always wanted to be a veterinarian, and open an animal shelter on the side."

Oscar fought every fiber in his body from spazzing, "WHAT?!"

"AH SEE YOU WANT TO LAUGH!"

"No! It's not that... I'm just surprised. Why a vet? And why an Animal Shelter?"

"Well, I've been learning medicine with my mom, and I love animals. While Nova and I lived on the streets, there were countless strays just like us, running around with no home. They needed medical care and a warm place to stay. Animals are much purer than people. They're innocent and will love anyone endlessly if they warm up to them. They deserve the world, and the world doesn't pay enough attention to their needs. I figured, if no one wants to do it, I might as well try." she said, her eyes filled with ambition and longing. They were earnest and brimming with resolve.

Oscar felt a pang in his heart, perhaps the princess wasn't as far above him as he thought. No matter how much he looked at it, she was just like any other person he'd met, perhaps more mature and down to earth than most adults. She was pure and earnest in her actions and words, and by Oum, he'd be damned if he didn't think she was adorable.

"Well, you know, on my farm we had a lot of animals, cows, horses, a few pigs here and there, chickens too. They were all very friendly, the only friends I had if you could call them that, except for that one goat..." Oscar said remembering his old life.

Luna giggled at his expression, "Well, Mr. Farm Boy, maybe after all the crazy shit is over, I could stop by your farm, I'd love to meet those friends of yours."

Their conversation spiraled from there until they were both too tired to continue, and before they knew it they were fast asleep, both leaning on the armrest of there sofas that were closest to the other, their heads close but not quite touching.

* * *

The team awoke the next morning feeling well-rested and, for once in his life, Adam Taurus did not have bags under his eyes. He didn't remember falling asleep that night, or when Bell had taken all of the bed and he'd somehow rolled onto the floor, but never the less, he felt good. He was prepared for a peaceful day until...

*CRASH*

"What was that?!" he exclaimed, running down the stairs at lightning speeds, ready to throw down with the first enemy he came across, but there were no enemies. There was just, the team, and their usual antics.

Most of them were calmly eating at the table. Well, calm was a relative term when Nora Valkyrie and Sun Wukong were involved. Jaune and Nitro were missing while Yang and Blake were still snoring away in their room. Bell was already there, the younger ones were watching something on the tv.

"What was that noise?" he asked raising the question.

Bell looked up from her food, and chucked a thumb in the direction of the west wing, choosing to slowly chew then swallow, much to Adam's lack of patience. "Came from the workshop. Elain and Nova have been in there for a while, surprised you didn't wake up sooner from all the noise."

"What? How long's this been going on?"

"Three hours? Maybe? I don't know. Butler dude said it's been a while."

Quinten chose then to come from the kitchen bringing out multiple boxes of Pumpkin Pete's cereal, "I do apologize for this but we did run out of ingredients after Miss Valkyrie made pancakes... I'll have to go out and grab some more, I hope this should suffice for breakfast." Even the great head butler of the Zephyr family was not prepared for the bottomless pit that was Nora Valkyrie.

* * *

Oscar and Luna had been happily watching the tv, a funny show about a muscular man wielding the power of personality-driven phantoms to defeat their enemies. He would have loved to pay attention had he not had the world's cutest dragon princess leaning against the sofa cushions mere inches from him, or the fact that a certain magical headmaster inhabiting his head wouldn't shut up.

'_Your attraction to Miss Flareheart is quite the turn, young Oscar, what pray tell transpired while I was asleep?' _Ozpin asked in his mind.

_'I'd prefer to leave that to my personal memory Oz...'_

_'Ah to be young again... you know when I was your age_ I...'

'_Please don't finish that story...' _Oscar groaned internally.

It was then that Quintne had come out of the kitchen with the cereal. The sound of a familiar rattling of boxes roused him instantly, making Luna shrink back in surprise at his sudden eagerness.

"IS THAT PUMPKIN PETE'S I HEAR?!" Oscar was already at the table before the poor dragon girl had time to register what was happening.

"You were able to discern what cereal it was, just by the rattle of the boxes?" Weiss asked, sipping a cup of coffee. "And to think... you're the most normal person here..."

"Well, it is my favourite cereal... that and I may or may not have been obsessed with anything Pyrrha related..." the young boy bashfully replied.

"Don't let Jaune hear you say that," Blake said chuckling as she was drinking tea while trying to stay out of arms reach of the two rambunctious eaters.

Luna peeked her head over the sofa, "Nah it's not like that kitty, Oscar just looks up to her," she said trying to save the boy from embarrassment.

"Oh...? Defending him, are we? Since when did you two get so close?" the Schnee asked snarkily, shooting a half-grin at her cousin. She then leaned over so Oscar was out of earshot, "I saw you two passed out on the sofa this morning... mind telling me what that was about?"

Luna instantly blushed deep red, "W-We w-were just getting to know each other. New comrades and all..."

Weiss had a sly smile, "Ah but he is kinda cute isn't he?"

"Yeah... those damned freckles... WAIT I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!" she instantly shrunk down out of sight while Weiss laughed at her expense.

* * *

A distant tapping of footsteps was heard and everyone turned in the direction of the west hall to see Elain, Ruby, and Nova returning with a distinct air of change around them. Nova was the only one changed really, he was back in his male body, wearing his orange hoodie and jeans with a shiny new armlet around his right arm. It was semi-translucent with the previous clear diamond, now a fiery orange, as if the alloy itself had changed colour.

"Mornin' guys, it took a while, but I'm back. Hopefully, I won't undergo any spontaneous body changes in the near future," he said flexing the new armlet. He spotted Adam, "Sup tall, red and surprisingly not droopy, you sleep good?"

"For once... actually, I did." he curtly replied, trying not to show too much emotion but Bell saw through him.

Nova chuckled, "Cold as usual. So, what's for breakfast?"

"Pumpkin Pete's, your highness, I'll be heading out shortly to pick up groceries, hopefully, I can make up the lack of cuisine at lunch," Quinten replied with a light bow.

The dragon leader wanted to tell him to drop the 'your highness' but he doubted it would do any good.

"I'll eat whatever, right Ruby?" he turned to his right where Ruby once was... except now there was a trail of rose petals. "... uh... Ruby...?"

"MMPH MMM! MMMPH! MMMPHMM! (This stuff is amazing!)" the red leader said with a mouthful of cereal, and a face that spoke volumes for her given food.

"Love, I might be able to understand you, but not everyone else can..." Nova said dryly.

Weiss groaned, "Ruby learn to stop talking with your mouthful. It's gross..."

"I think it's cute," Nova replied trying to defend her.

"Of course _you _would. You do the same damn thing!" Nitro said as he and Jaune came back from wherever they'd been, looking slightly sweaty. Undoubtedly they'd gone for a morning workout.

"Well, I for one have never had Pumpkin Pete's cereal. So... first time for everything?" he sat down at the table and Oscar and Ruby were looking at him wide-eyed. "What...?"

Oscar took up a stance that looked oddly patriotic, "Pumpkin Pete's is the staple food of Huntsmen and Huntresses everywhere! It is the cereal that defines our society! HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TRIED IT?!"

"I just never saw the appeal...?"

"Nova, I love you, but I'm disappointed in you..." Ruby pouted, then shoveled a spoonful in his face, "Eat this!" she said while making a weird face.

"Um... what's up with your face...mph!" he was silenced when she thrust the spoon in his mouth.

He slowly began to chew until his face brightened, "Wait this is insane! I NEED MORE!" he poured his own bowl and turned to Quinten. "Hey, Mr. Alucard. Do me a favour and when you pick up groceries, can you buy a lot of extras? Mainly bread, lunch meats. Things that won't go bad and are easy to pack."

Quinten pushed up his glasses, "It is no problem your highness, but may I ask why?"

"I've got somewhere to be today. I don't know how long we'll be in town, but I doubt it's more than a day or two, so I want to take care of some business, that requires large amounts of boxed lunches."

Ruby tilted her head curiously, "I don't get it..."

It was then Luna felt it hit her like a truck, "Wait is today... that day?"

Nova nodded, "Yeah, it is. So we gotta prepare lots of food. It's probably fate that we're in Mistral at this time anyway."

They all wanted to ask more but the dragon leader had already returned to scarfing down his bowl of cereal.

"You know... it's kinda weird. The more I eat this stuff, the hungrier I get..." Nova said, shoveling down what seemed to be his third bowl.

"Slow done or you might choke..." Weiss tried to reprimand but she just went ignored. "HEY! Are you listening?!"

Nova looked up at her, "Sorry Weiss-cream. Did you say something?" his eyes were bloodshot red and he looked a little dazed.

They all looked at him concerned, "Hey... bro you don't look so good..." Sun pointed out.

"Wait? I'm finneeee, hey why are you using your semblance indoors?" Nova asked airily.

The monkey Faunus tilted his head in confusion, his tail following suit, "What? I'm not..."

"Then why are there three of you?" Nova began to become even more dazed. "Ohhh the sparkle cheese is making a whirl around the porcupine tree..."

Everyone almost choked, "What the fuck are you saying?!" Nora asked slowly chewing her pancakes.

"That's rich coming from you..." Ren pointed out dryly.

Nova suddenly got up from the chair and began spinning in a circle, "WHEEEE! I feel like cotton candy! I hear music, time to dance!" he then began to do strange series of motions that reminded Blake of a dying rat.

"Um... is he okay...? Ruby did he hit his head last night?" Oscar turned to the reaper who just shrugged.

"Flamebreath what the fuck is up with you today?!" Bell asked incredulously.

"Sugar Peter make my head go WOOP!" he said giggling like a little girl.

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" Nitro screamed in dismay.

Elain pondered, "Wait... Sugar Peter? Does he mean the cereal?" she picked up a cereal box and began to read the ingredients. "Corn starch, sugar, artificial flavourings... nothing out of the ordinary... wait..." her face instantly morphed into horror.

"What is it, mom?! Is Nova having an allergic reaction?" Luna asked extremely worried.

The wolf Faunus shook her head, "No, well, kinda. It says here, one of the ingredients is Pyre Root. It's like a type of Ginseng that acts as a really good spice, but it's got a side effect that is very obscure... I wouldn't even know about it had I not married your father..."

"What's the side effect? Is he going to die?!" Jaune said looking panicked.

Elain deadpanned, "No, not even close. Pyre Root's side effect is it makes a certain species of Faunus experience a heightened state of mind, mimicking hallucinogens and deluding their thinking patterns."

"Explain it so the rest of us can understand!" Nora said waving her arm in the air.

"Well, the best way to put it is... it's like Catnip for dragons." Elain finished.

Everyone fell over comically, "So... he's not poisoned, he's just high?" Oscar asked.

"Essentially eating a bowl of that is like eating an edible. He ate... four bowls... ohhh boy..." Elain groaned. "He'll be fine I think. I mean, I've had way more drugs than that in one sitting this one time and I woke up in my pajamas, three feet deep in a lake with a bucket of fresh squid and a stolen car. Fuck I miss College..."

Again, everyone felt their sweat drop. Oscar leaned over to ask Luna about it but she just waved her hand dismissively, "Yeah... my mom just crushed the image of royalty for you didn't she? Classic Elain..."

"Hey! You tryna pick a fight with me?!" Nova said aggressively walking up to a standing lamp in the living room.

"Let's hope his body adapts to the stuff soon, so he sobers up..." Blake pointed out.

Their attentions began to pick up elsewhere as Quinten who'd been standing there horrified, decided to leave, "Well, I'll be off then... please do try to keep him from damaging anything."

"It'll be fine. Have a safe trip Q," Nitro said nervously.

The old butler nodded, "Yes I will, but I don't think that lamp will be safe..."

Suddenly everyone heard the sound of a piano, followed by the dragon yelling "THIS IS THE POWER OF REQUIEM!"

Nora instantly jumped on Nova, "LEAVE THE LAMP ALONE! WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN GET THE PIANO?!"

* * *

Eventually, Nova sobered up, whatever happened while he was high had faded to black. His memory a blank. To him, it was like no time had passed between breakfast and finding himself upside down on the third floor with Ruby and Oscar trying to keep him from falling off the staircase, but he sure as hell wasn't about to question it.

"Will you finally tell me what all these sandwiches are for?" Ruby asked as Nova and Quinten had finished packaging a solid thirty sandwiches.

Nova packed them into a large carry-on, "Follow us and you'll find out, you too, mom. I think you should come with us." he said as he and Luna began to make for the door.

Elain and Ruby shared a curious glance but followed in silence as Nova and Luna tracked through the upper areas of Mistral, taking the long and winding stairway down, crossing through the market district until the sky became progressively darker and cloudier.

As they graced the steps downward, Elain could visibly see the environment change subtly. The clean bustling streets became dirtier and more empty. The faces they happened to come across were not the smiling, cheerful picture they'd seen on the mid to upper levels, but they'd become grim and dismal.

The air seemed to reek with despair until the land leveled out, and the distinct smell of the ocean pervaded their nostrils, along with the unwelcome stench of decay and muck.

"Where...are we?" Ruby asked hesitantly, sticking closer to the others. The area made her feel uncomfortable and uneasy. It reminded her of the slums back at Vale, but much worse.

"Lower Mistral. It wasn't always like this. eight to nine years ago, this place was actually a lot cleaner, though that's not saying too much. The port city where only the selfish survive. Back then there were more rich apartments and active police officers. I think it's because of the Grimm activity, or the influx of White Fang, that the place has become as bad as it is today." Nova said as they neared the ocean, an inlet of oceanic water to a bay where fishing vessels and cargo ships were harbored.

"How do you know what this place was like?" Elain asked curiously.

Nova inhaled sharply, which was a mistake because he almost gagged from the smell of rotting fish, "Because, we lived here once."

"This is where it all started... this is where Nova and I landed after we escaped Menagerie." Luna finished for him.

Elain and Ruby gasped in horror, "So... this is..."

Nova pointed to a spot on the docks, it was empty save for a few fishing nets, "That's where we first landed. Found a smelly cloak in an old bin, wrapped ourselves in it, and made a break for the town. The rest you already know..." Luna instinctively clung to his orange hoodie. "Come on, let's not waste any more time than we need to."

They moved from the docks and began making their way upward again, climbing the streets until the area seemed a little nicer. There were at least a few clean shops, and a bakery, though they were closed. A series of alleyways stood two blocks down from the bakery.

"I used to buy food there whenever I managed to get some money, whether it be by begging or stealing. It wasn't much, but at least Luna never got sick from eating from the garbage." Nova said as he stared wistfully, remembering the only person in the city that would even entertain the idea of a street rat entering their shop.

They moved to the alleyway, it was between two apartment complexes, though one looked rundown. A few meters into the alleyway, Nova and Luna stopped. There, engraved on a small headstone behind a dumpster, were the words written 'In Memory of Davius Pelagius.'

"Who's David Pelagius?" Elain asked, studying the grave. "And why would his name be here? Behind a dumpster of all places?"

"Because this is where he died. This man gave his life trying to protect Luna while I wasn't here. I'd gone to buy some food when I came back to find a psycho murder trying to kill my little sister. I only managed to make it in time because Old Man Jitters, David Pelagius, died trying to hold him off... I got his name off a police report and put a headstone here. We come back every year to this spot to honor his sacrifice. We weren't able to make it last year because we'd moved to Beacon, but I decided it's high time we paid him one last visit before we never get the chance again." Nova explained, his voice choking as the memories came back.

Elain knelt down before the headstone, "Mr. Pelagius, we've never met, but I hope that you're in a better place now. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for protecting my children. I swear to honor your name, on my title as Queen and as a mother."

Ruby hugged Nova from behind, while Luna clung to her mother.

"Thanks, Mr. Pelagius... If it weren't for you... I might not have met Nova and Luna. It's because of you, that I'm able to stand by him today... so thank you..." Ruby said her peace. Nova's heart melted, a little. He'd originally wanted them to at least meet him, he didn't expect them to do anything more... and yet here they were, thanking the memory of someone they didn't know. It warmed him to know the end.

As they were ready to leave, Nova stopped them, "Um, before we go, we need to give these away..." he gestured to the bag he was carrying.

"Yeah... I was curious as to what that was for," Elain said.

"Follow me, you'll find out." Nova then began walking to other alleyways, finding people in rags, sitting on the floor with dead looks in their eyes, thin to the bone with no light of hope. As they passed by, Nova handed out sandwiches. Most people didn't react, some were scared and tried to run, but Nova's calm demeanor and smiling face were enough for them to eventually give in. Each time he saw the grateful look of a starving person, eating their first meal in what was potentially days.

"The homeless and forsaken. These people are out here, fighting to survive every day, barely scraping by to eat food. Most days they go hungry. I'd feed them all if I could... but we just do what little we can because we know what it feels like to be one of them. We do this once a year if we can help it. Most of the time I just buy food with the money I stole from the SDC and give it out, but it's a bit short notice and I didn't exactly have time to call in a catering order." Nova said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Elain felt the guilt squirming inside of her, compared to what her kids had gone through, her life was luxurious. The White Fang at least kept her fed, with workable living space. "Okay, I've decided," she said.

"Decided what?" They all asked her curiously.

"I've decided that once this madness is over, I'll work with the Mistral Council to fix this situation. As a member of the royal family, they can't ignore me." Elain said with determination.

Nova hummed, "Good plan, the problem is we need to get our enemies out of the way first. The sooner we save the world, the sooner we can clean up all of this."

"Speaking of which... when we head back, can we design your new weapon?" Ruby said bouncing up and down

"Sure thing love, Asura 2.0 here we come."

* * *

**-Vale City Hospital-**

The medical wards had been very busy since the fall, but slowly patients were leaving, one by one until most were gone. Only the gravely injured or ill remained, one such person, was the comatose Pyrrha Nikos. Her condition had stabilized over the last few weeks and she looked somewhat healthier. Still, the doctors weren't sure when or if she would ever wake up.

"A shame what happened to her. So young and full of potential..." a nurse said, as she changed the IV bags. The once glowing skin of the champion was pale and thin as a sheet. Her body not once moving an inch.

"Her condition is most peculiar, the glass in her system is..." the doctor started, but never finished as her eyes suddenly went wide. Pyrrha's body, where the glass had been embedded, was under constant watch, a scanned image updated every five seconds was streamed to a monitor in the event something occurred, and at that very moment, something did.

The glass that was around her arteries and spinal cord began to disappear, her wounds beginning to reopen and her heart rate picking up rapidly.

"SHIT! Nurse! Apply anesthetics, she's waking up! Her wounds are reopening inside, we need to stop before she begins to internally bleed!" the doctor cried as she instantly rushed to Pyrrha's side.

"But how is this possible?!"

"It doesn't matter! Right now her life is in danger! MOVE!"

There was a rush of movement as the doctor tried desperately to stabilize Pyrrha once more. It took a while, but eventually, her life was no longer in any danger. Pyrrha was still unconscious but her heart rate had begun to slowly beat faster. Her mind was rousing itself from its coma, as aura slowly began to heal her body.

"What should we do doc? If something like this happens again, we might not have the facilities to treat it... she needs a proper surgeon." the nurse said after studying Pyrrha's condition.

The doctor collapsed on her chair, "Exactly, she's stable now... so while we still have a chance, we need to move her. Prepare an ambulance, she's heading on the next flight to Argus!"

* * *

**I tried to do a lot this chapter, mostly because I want to start volume 6 next chapter, until next time, stay awesome ^-^**


	54. Chapter 54: A Snowy Trip

**Legoupman I'm glad I made you laugh with that. Honestly the joke came to me while I was daydreaming and I was saving it for when they went to Argus but I figured that was a better time.**

**To Eveeobssesser, thank you so much for those sweet words. As for whether I have plans for Summer or not...well... you'll just have to wait and see (That's basically me saying yes I do have plans but I'm not going to spoil anything hehe :3 )  
**

**I'm so sorry this chapter is short, and it took so long to come out. Between house construction and life stuff, it's been difficult to get writing time in. The reason this may seem rushed is because, I'm sick... again.**

**That's right, your perma-sick author just got a really bad case of the flu, fever, sore throat, headaches, etc. I think it's a normal flu but my parents don't want to take any chances, so if I get worse I'll probably have to go get tested for COVID-19 or something... I seriously hope it's just a normal cold**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 54: The Last Train to Argus**

* * *

After a few days of rest and recuperation, the team was finally ready to head to Atlas. Since the incident at Haven, Lionheart was officially removed from the council not only as headmaster but as a council member as well. His whereabouts were reported unknown, though, team ASHNRWBYJNR knew otherwise.

Qrow himself removed the body from the scene. It was better that the world presumed him missing rather than dead since it would raise more questions than answers. Questions that the public didn't need to know the answers to. The White Fang's influence on the world was heavily diminished from their failed attempt. It seems the failed attack on the academy degraded everyone's confidence in them, and White Fang members all over Remnant were beginning to either turn themselves in or drop their masks and return to their homeland. Such could only be the cause for the increased bustle of Mistral Train Station, one of the last viable cross-continental travel methods since the fall of the CCT Tower.

Qrow had finished dropping off his letter to James Ironwood. He hoped they'd arrive before the letter did, but knowing his luck, well…

"I just hope we make it there in one piece James…" Qrow said as the letter fell into the mailbox. He stood there contemplating all that had happened and all that was yet to come, the uneasy feeling creeping up behind him like a bad ex who wouldn't leave. "OOF!" he faltered when Ruby subtly bumped into him as she eagerly bounded around the modern station.

"What's with all the running around?" Qrow asked as he dusted off his clothes.

"And what's with all the standing? It's almost time!" she squealed, leaving the Branwen perplexed.

She rounded the corner, her necklace dangling in plain view, glimmering in the golden sunshine that beamed through the crystal clear windows of the modern station. She held no fear to wear it now that they were in a civilian environment. During her fights she'd kept it under her hood for fear of damaging the intricate, one of a kind, handcrafted, jewelry. One would think she'd hide it since it might attract thugs, but, if anyone knew Ruby Rose, they'd feel bad for the poor sap that tried to approach her.

Many shops and food stalls lined the seemingly endless halls of the train station. It was like a giant mall, with tourists and passengers alike.

She giddily bounced on her toes before petal bursting through the crowds of tourists, expertly dipping in between the pockets of space, scaring a few people, and startling most.

While she was off doing whatever she was doing, the rest of the team sat around the benches as they awaited their train.

Weiss was sporting a brand new mist blue jacket that she'd bought to replace her old white one, and her white dress was now a modern grey with an open top. Around her neck sat a cute red blue scarf that matched her eyes, a gift from Luna who'd found it in a store.

Yang and Hex were in pretty much their same outfit, except the blonde brawler opted for a brown jacket with fur sleeves and collar, she figured it necessary since they were heading north. Hex was also wearing thicker clothing, a violet jacket that matched Yang's was around her chest, accompanied by a gold long sleeve t-shirt. Her hair was pinned up differently, instead of being fanned out, Yang had braided the purplette's hair in a stylish fashion.

Luna sat on the bench next to Weiss with a cheeky smile on her face as she watched the heiress admire the scarf she'd just been given. "Glad to see you like it ice princess," she said smugly, "It looks good on you."

Weiss pinched the small dragon's nose earning a cute yelp, "You're lucky you have good taste. You're outfit's not that bad either." She said admiring Luna.

The blue dragon had swapped out her gothic navy blue dress for a aquamarine long coat with a fur collar and sleeves and a white dress under it that went to her knees. Ideally, she should be wearing thermally insulated pants but in the spirit of fashion, and the fact that her brother was a walking furnace, she opted for cyan blue woolen thigh highs. She too was wearing her necklace in plain view.

"You'd think shopping with guys would be easy… until you meet Nova," Nitro said as he, Nova, Oscar, and Jaune returned wearing new outfits as well.

Nitro was wearing a grey steel-colored jacket with fur collar and sleeves, over a red t-shirt that said 'Fist of Fury' in yellow letters. Around his waist was a studded belt that held up a pair of coarse blue jeans.

Jaune was in pretty much the same outfit he was always in, with his armour, but his brown t-shirt was nor a thicker long sleeve. They tried to get him to change it out but he was adamant in his refusal.

Nova was now wearing a thick red jacket with white fur collar and button-up sleeves. Unlike the others, it looked like leather, but knowing him it was probably fake leather. Under it he wore a black t-shirt with his signature symbol on it, how he got a shirt with that the world will never know. His standard coarse black jeans and combat boots and the black-gloved hands completed the look.

He didn't need the extra insulation, but besides being a fashion statement, the jacket served to hide his left arm.

The biggest change was Oscar. His farmer overalls were thrown out, and from much-needed fashion tips from Nitro and Nova, and unexpectedly Ozpin, he'd found a comfortable outfit.

Luna's eyes fell on the tan boy, who was wearing a white woolen undershirt and black jeans, a blue sash across his waist. Around his shoulders was a forest green coat with red shoulder pads, connected by a red belt strap. The coat's collar and shirt collar went up around his neck like an open-ended turtle neck.

If she could describe him in one word, she couldn't find that word in her vocabulary, because she couldn't tell if he was super cute, or super hot, in the end her face just went bright red.

"H-How do I look…? I was practically forced into this..." he asked, shooting an annoyed look at Nitro who waved his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, Luna, how _does _he look? Hm~?" Weiss prompted the blue dragon, elbowing her and wiggling her eyebrows. Yang instantly caught on and placed a hand on Luna's shoulder, "I'm curious too, what are your thoughts?"

Luna instantly froze up, "I uh… he… um… looks… it suits him! I can'tdealwiththis!" she fumbled and then disappeared much to everyone's amusement.

Oscar turned pink at her compliment and muttered thanks before fidgeting with his cane.

Nova narrowed his eyes at the interaction, '_So… that's how it is… well… I'll leave it alone for now…'_

It was then that Ruby came zipping through with her semblance, stopping just shy of crashing into them.

"So…? Did you get it?" Yang asked expectantly as she saw the giddy Rose with a smile that she couldn't supress.

Ruby's response was to thrust out a small bag with the words 'Gift Shop' on its front, and it was quite clearly loaded with multiple items.

"OOH What'd you get me?" the blonde brawler asked with anticipation.

Ruby just dropped her hand, "Nuh uh, you'll have to wait and see!"

"What about me Rubes? You get _me _anything?" Nova asked, shooting her puppy dog eyes so she instantly forfeited any possible way of resisting.

Still, the reaper's discipline was unbreakable, "Nope! Nuh uh! I WILL NOT BE TEMPTED BY THOSE EYES! You'll just have to wait just like everyone else," she stuck her tongue out at him to which he just blew a raspberry in response.

"I can't wait to get to Atlas! You think it's too early for beach season?" Nora asked excitedly, making Nova wonder if there ever was a beach season in the forever frozen north.

Ren who looked to be off in his own dreamworld suddenly popped out of his bubble, "Yeah probably… either way we need to stop off at Argus first to catch the air transport."

Weiss was looking less than happy, "Well I for one am not all that thrilled. Do you have any idea what lengths I went to leave that place?!"

"Don't worry Weiss, we'll make sure nothing happens to you," Ruby said with a smile so sweet it could melt titanium. Nova was actually jealous of Weiss at that moment.

"If anyone tries to hurt you or take you away from us, we'll be sure to… enlighten them as to why that's wrong…" Luna said with glowing eyes and a sinister smile that made Oscar silently make a note to never piss her off.

"Who's out there tryna touch my family? I have a brought a couple of mini-nukes with me if they…" Elain said as she returned with a bag of donuts.

"YOU BROUGHT THEM?!" Luna gasped in horror.

Elain blinked, "Uh, no? Maybe? Just one? And it's not that explosive…?"

"What are we going to do with you…" Luna said exasperated.

"Don't worry, with us around, nothing will ever happen to you." A new voice said causing them to turn in the direction of two scruffy looking men with weapons.

Jaune tilted his head, "Who're you?"

"Why Dee and Dudley of course! Argus Limited's very own Huntsmen. Protecting the train as we pass through Grimm territory. Of course… for a special tip, we can give your car some extra special attention, should things get… Dangerous." The one known as Dee said, flaunting himself, winking at the girls.

The girls in question burst out laughing along with everyone else there.

"What's so funny?" Dudley asked, irritated.

Nova wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, "Oh boy, you have no idea who you're talking to do you?" he pointed to the horns on his head.

The two shook their heads absently, "Listen, pal, I have no idea who you think you are, but we're professional Huntsmen!"

This just made Ruby and Nora keel over in laughter, "WAHAHA! Oh, that's a good one. The fact that he doesn't know who Nova and Luna are, boggles my mind, like, where have you been for the last three months?" Nora said regaining her composure.

"Are those names supposed to be familiar?" Dudley asked his partner.

Dee just shrugged, "Nope. But I know disrespect when I see it so…" he was about to continue when Qrow came out of a bar with a refilled flask.

"Oi, you want a tip? I got one for yah. Buzz off." He said disgruntled.

"Hey, you're mouthing off to a…"

"A professional Huntsman. I know." Qrow said flashing his license. "One of you pinheads left the door to the staff cabin wide open, so why don't you focus on not losing your job before it even starts." He finished dryly.

"WHAT?! But I didn't!" Dudley tried to cover for himself.

"Ugh, whatever. Come on man let's go…" Dee dragged his partner.

Hex facepalmed, "Is that what passes off as Professional Huntsmen these days?"

Qrow rolled his eyes, "Well… with the shortage of hands, I guess they're graduating anyone these days. I sure hope they weren't one of ours…"

Nova spotted Adam and the others on the walkover with Blake as they said their goodbyes.

Blake was giving Ilia a tight hug, "Are you sure this is okay? The team would love to have you with us," the cat Faunus said as she released the hug.

Ilia smiled as she fixed the bag around her shoulder, "Nah, sorry. I think I've had enough fighting for one lifetime. I… think it's time I return home and try to live the life I was supposed to be living. This whole fighting for the sake of the world just isn't might thing…"

Adam chuckled, "Don't worry, we'll take care of things back on Menagerie. The White Fang needs patching up and there's a lot of mistakes I need to fix."

"Don't you want to say goodbye to Nova and the others before you leave?" Blake asked tilting her head.

Bell waved her hand dismissively as she latched on to Adam's arm, "Nah, we already decided that this isn't goodbye. We'll see each other soon hopefully," she leaned over the rails and yelled, "HEY BOZOS!"

The rest of the team instantly whipped to the direction of the butterfly Faunus curiously. She chuckled at their response, "We'll see you guys later alright?!"

"OI! TAKE CARE OF THE TALL RED ONE! HE'S AN IMPORTANT FRIEND!" Nova yelled back, shooting a shit-eating grin at Adam who looked about ready to jump off the bridge onto a moving train after hearing him say that.

"Don't worry, I will!" Bell said waving back with a smile that looked more like an evil smirk than a friendly one. Still, they knew she meant well, even if she was rough on the outside.

"How are you getting back to Menagerie by train?" Sun asked now realizing the situation.

Adam felt his sweat drop, "We're not. Bell and I are going to be going around Mistral to a few White Fang outposts to see if we can patch things up here and there. With Onyx's influence gone, it's finally the perfect time to set things right. After that, we'll take a boat back home and the rest is for the future to decide."

"Oh, that's our train! We need to hurry!" Bell pointed out as one arrived at the station. They waved their last goodbyes until they were out of earshot, the blonde Faunus grabbed Adam by the arm and yanked him down to her height.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to not tell them about your condition? Elain could've done something…" she said half angry, half worried.

Adam brushed her off, "It's too late for that now. I've made up my mind. Besides, even if she _could _do something… I think… I'm tired of fighting."

Bell blinked rapidly, "But… a few days ago you were so ready to…"

"I took your words to heart and did some thinking. Maybe, after we fix the Fang, I might… take this opportunity to settle down, give the peaceful life a try…"

Bell huffed, "Well just so you know, you're my responsibility so, if you want to settle down then I guess I will too!" she said turning beet red.

Adam sputtered, "W-Wha?!"

The girl just grinned and dragged him forward with no verbal response.

This left Blake and Sun alone now, leaning their arms over the rails, "What about you Sun? D-Do y-you want to maybe… stick around to…?" Blake asked bashfully, her cheeks turning a little pink.

Sun gave a hearty chuckle, "Oh now you want me around?" he asked sarcastically.

"S-Shut up! I just think I'm going to miss that stupid grin of yours…."

Sun folded his arms in pride, "HA! I knew you'd warm up to me someday. Sorry to say kitty, but I've got my own things to deal with. I left my team to Neptune remember? I need to get back to them, and then get this information to Shade. If Nova's right and Onyx is hold up in Vacuo, then we're going to need all the time we have to prepare for him."

Blake's ears flattened against her head, as her face drooped.

Sun instantly felt bad, "Hey… don't be like that… this isn't goodbye remember? We'll see each other again. Good friends always find a way back to you."

The cat Faunus held an expression he'd never seen before. He couldn't tell but her face might have been blushing?

"Sun… I…" she then noticed her team getting prepared, and Nova signaling her that they were ready. "Shit…"

"Go on Blake. They're waiting for you," Sun said though he looked like he didn't want her to leave, and she mirrored that expression.

"Ugh… Sun, you tailed me when I didn't want to be followed. You disregarded everything I said and even yelled at me when I wasn't thinking straight…"

The monkey Faunus rubbed the back of his head, "Uh… what are you…?"

"Above all else, you stuck by me… through everything."

"That's what friends do Blake. When we see each other in pain, we never leave it alone until you're not hurting anymore."

Blake shook her head, "That's just it! We were _barely _friends, and yet you still did so much for me… if it weren't for you then my family might not be the same. You gave me an emotional ground point to hold on to… so for that… thank you…"

"Blake you don't need to thank me. You'd do the same for me…"

She had an embarrassed smile, "Y-Yeah…" she wanted to say more but… "Ugh, fuck it."

"E-Excuse me?" he blinked in surprise.

"Sun, whether it was intentional or not… I began getting… feelings… for you. Maybe… ugh, just…" she closed the gap between them and planted her lips firmly on his. The kiss was barely a ghost on his lips, barely giving him a chance to react when she pulled away.

"B-Blake?!"

"I-I'm not stupid you know. You have a crush on me right?" she said flustered.

"How do you want me to respond to that when you already know the answer?" Sun pointed out, though his mind was currently imploding.

"Look… I'm saying I may or may not have developed some feelings for you… I'm not saying I love you but… look I gotta go!" She said as she pulled away crimson in the face.

Sun barely composed himself before shooting her a flashy grin, "HEY BLAKE!" he called out to her as she was disappearing. She whipped her head around quickly.

"I Like you too!"

"D-DUMBASS! DON'T SAY THAT SHIT OUTLOUD!" she yelled back as she ran off to catch up to Nov and the others.

Under his breath, Sun mumbled, "It's not fair doing that and leaving… now I'm going to miss you even more…"

"Are you going to be alright?" A new voice said joining Sun on the walkway. It was Neptune. "I saw what was going on so I didn't interrupt. I want to be happy for you but you look kinda sad."

"Oh… hey buddy. Yeah, I… I'm going to miss her."

"Do you want to follow her? The guys and I will manage somehow…"

Sun shook his head, "No… right now isn't the time. She's where she needs to be, and I need to be where I'm needed." He roped his arm around Neptune's neck, "Come on, we've got _a lot _to catch up on…"

* * *

As the train made its way through the ever snowing mountains of the northern Mistral territory, the team had made themselves comfortable, split into separate cabins. The train ride shouldn't take longer than a few hours but, knowing the unpredictability of the weather, chances were they'd get snowed in halfway through and get delayed. Then there was the prospect of Grimm. The beasts tended to avoid the speeding train but some larger creatures, like Nevermores, tended to hover around and threaten to derail the train. With cross-continental communication down, there wouldn't be anyway for them to radio for help, even if it wasn't snowing, so the journey itself was a huge risk.

"Hey Hex?" Ruby asked as she rolled over in her bunk.

The purplette who'd been cleaning her equipment looked up, "Hm?"

"How come we're not wearing your fancy thermal suits you made?"

Hex smiled lightly, "Well after the suit got torn on the first mission, I tried to remodel it. The problem is, I was still working with the stuff when everything came crashing down. That, and the mobile CCT relay I was working on were among the few projects I was forced to leave behind when Beacon fell."

"Ohhh... I was wondering what happened to that stuff..." Ruby said absently.

Suddenly the train rocked, and the sound of loud screeching was heard outside.

"What was that?!" Nova asked running into their cabin.

Qrow grimaced, "Exactly what it sounds like..."

"Ugh, just my luck..." Blake groaned as her ears flattened against her head.

"Not yours..." Qrow bit his lip, "Come on, grab your weapons."

At the mention of the word, a gleam sparkled in Nova's eyes, "OH I FINALLY GET TO TEST HER OUT!" he giddily ran into his cabin.

* * *

They all climbed to the top of the train weapons in hand, prepared to face whatever threat was upon them. Qrow's eyes widened when they fell upon the Grimm. It was large and quadrupedal, with wings like a Griffin, but its neck was long and its head was more of a beast than a bird. Behind it were smaller but still decently sized Grimm of similar build, sporting lion heads, and spiked tails instead of the beast-like one.

The two huntsmen, Dee and Dudley were already trying to fend off the attack. Dudley ducked low to avoid a swooping Grimm and activated the train's defense systems. Armor plating began to wrap over the vehicle as automated turrets popped out of the top and began firing at the Grimm.

"Well... at least they're not fully incompetent..." Weiss said dryly.

Suddenly, one of the Grimm swooped down and made them scatter to avoid it, but Dee was undeterred as he valiantly, and stupidly, rushed in to face it, only to be taken into its clutches and flung off the edge into the abyss below. "DEE!" Dudley shouted in panic.

"What's the plan, Ruby? Nova?" Luna turned to their leaders.

The two shared a glance, "Don't let anyone else die." Ruby said clutching Crescent Rose.

"Good plan. Guys split the fire and draw the Grimm away from the passengers!" Nova yelled back.

"Hex, you're the expert, what're these things?" Nitro asked over the roar of the wind, as he punched one lion-headed Grimm in the face, sending it flying into the snowy abyss.

"Manticores and the big one is a Sphynx! I've only heard tales about these things. They're not supposed to attack like this!" she yelled back as she hooked one of them and crashed it into the mountain above.

The turrets shot at a few but the Grimm evaded easily. Yang and Luna were knocking away a few but were unable to land proper hits due to their range, and Luna was trying to avoid expending her powers, lest they need it for something else.

"ARGH!" Dee screamed as he got smacked by one of the Grimm, his aura taking a huge hit. The scream seemed to draw in more Grimm as Manticores began swarming out of the nooks and crannies of the mountain in droves. The white sky is blackened by feathers of death.

Nova was holding a briefcase in his hand, "Well, now's about a good time as any..." he popped it open to reveal a folded sheath of blackened metal. It was thick and very reminiscent of Nova's old weapon. The dragon coiling around the handle was a burning orange, and translucent. The dragon leader reared the heavy sheath and bent the handle to form a grip, a scope then popped out of the top of the sheath and a trigger on the underside. He took aim on the flying beasts, and once he had a good pace, shot at a Manticore.

The gun sounded off like cannon fire as a high caliber, armor-piercing round shot through the air and landed right between a Grimm's eyes, sending it dropping down.

Nova squealed in delight and kissed the gun, "OH YOU ARE BETTER THAN I COULD'VE HOPED!"

"Is that your new weapon?" Yang asked as he looked between him and Ruby. The dragon nodded vigorously, "Ruby helped me out a ton." he then fixed the hilt and the scope went down. Rotating the handle in its sheath, a solid click was heard and there was a soft hum.

"Meet, the new Asura, or as I call her, Helios. Let's see how well she cuts..." Nova got into a drawing stance, several Manticores hurtled toward him, but he stood calm. Breathing in deeply he pulled the trigger on the sheath and outshot the newly forged blade of Helios in all of its burning glory. The vibrating Incindium blade slicing through the air, superheating it and shredding through four Manticores like butter against a hot knife.

Nova then resheathed translucent blade and rotated the handle again, another resounding click was heard and the sheath split down the middle, the top half flipping onto the other end and locking in place to form a sleek pole, as the rough square edges segmented into a round handle. The blade rotated out of the shaft and formed the new scythe, with the burning dragon head, out of the maw came the scythe. The blade itself was radiating heat, and if one was close enough they could see that the Incindium had changed colour, it was now burning orange as compared to how it was originally near clear crystalline in its block state.

Nova then launched himself, channeling his fire into the weapon and spreading flames across the freezing air, the snow turned to water and steam as the flames burnt manticores to a crisp.

Ruby and Qrow had gotten tired of watching and the two took up their scythes and together the three reapers began knocking down Grimm after Grimm. The problem was the Sphinx on the back of the train, advancing toward them.

The numbers began to grow overwhelming as there seemed to be no end.

"WE NEED A PLAN!" Weiss yelled as she created white glyphs for Ruby to use as platforms to leap on.

Qrow grunted, "Head back inside! We need to regroup."

They all followed suit, including Dudley, climbing into an open hatch to find Elain, Oscar, Jaune, Ren, and Nora standing there helping deal with panicked passengers.

"What's going on out there?!" Oscar asked in a slight panic.

Nova sighed, "There's a shitton of Grimm out there, and I'm not sure how we'll deal with them all..."

"Why don't you use your powers? Blast them all to kingdom come?" Nora opted to try to be supportive.

Nova shook his head, "Too much firepower could melt the mountain, best-case scenario, we drop an avalanche on ourselves and derail the train. Worst case scenario? The rocks start falling with it and that causes panic. Panic means more Grimm. The real question is why are there so many...?"

"I can answer that," Ozpin said through Oscar's voice, piping into the conversation. "The Grimm are attracted to panic, but they're also attracted to this," he gestured to the relic of knowledge that sat hung around his belt.

They all widened, "WHAT?! We're carrying around a giant Grimm magnet, and you didn't think to tell us?!" Weiss yelled.

]"OZ WHAT THE FUCK?!" Hex looked furious, "YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL US THIS SOONER?!"

"I..."

"GUYS! Now's not the time for this! Professor Ozpin, is there anything else we need to know?" Ruby asked trying to be a mediator.

Ozpin shook his head, "No, I'm not leaving anything out."

Nova eyed him suspiciously, "Are you sure? 'Cuz it seems to me like there are some pieces that needed to be filled in..."

"We can talk about this later! Right now we need to focus!" Ruby reprimanded.

Nova eyed Ozpin, "This isn't over..."

Ruby looked at Dudley, "Hey you! We need you to turn off the turrets."

Dudley looked horrified, "WHY?! FUCK NO!"

Qrow grabbed him by the collar, "Listen punk, those turrets are drawing the Grimm toward the passengers. Turn them off, or I will personally do it..."

"Young man, we need you to turn them off, it's for the sake of all the people here..." Elain said, adopting her queen personality.

The man gulped but relinquished, opening his scroll and shutting down the turrets. Instantly the train rocked again, followed by more screeching.

"Okay we don't have much time... I have a stupid idea..." Nova said bitterly. "Ren, your semblance, it's like camouflage right?"

Ren nodded, "Yes, I can mask negative emotions, at best, someone in close proximity to me. Are you suggesting...?"

Nova nodded, "The whole train, can you do it?"

"Not without having enormous amounts of aura..."

"That's where Jaune comes in. Jaune, you amplify Ren's aura so he can mask all the passenger cars with his semblance, it'll allow you guys to get out." Nova said confirmingly.

"What about you?" the blonde knight asked.

Nova grimaced, "The Grimm are after the relic right? I'll take the relic with me and detach the last couple of cars, I'll meet you guys back at Argus."

"Oh hell no you don't. I'm coming with you!" Nitro said realizing what it meant.

Ruby was at Nova's side instantly, "Not without me either. We're partners for life, remember? Where you go. I go."

"And me," Luna said, "Can't leave my only brother out in the wild alone..."

"Us to," Hex said as she, Yang, and Blake came forward.

Weiss groaned, "You're all impossible..."

"Honey, I don't like this idea..." Elain said nervously as she looked to her children. What they were implying meant she'd be separated from them... again.

Nova bit his lip, "Mom, we'll be fine. We've done this before. We'll see you at Argus before you know it."

The wolf Faunus walked up and hugged her son and daughter tightly, "Don't do anything stupid okay? Please..."

"We promise mom..." Luna groaned as she shoved the woman off of her, "Now then, what're we waiting for?"

* * *

The team sprang into action, rushing the Grimm off the train and dispersing them. Nova and the others held the hoard off while Jaune and Ren got into position.

"READY?!" Nova called back as he cut down another Manticore.

"AS READY AS WE'LL EVER BE!" Jaune yelled back.

"Okay, they're in position... NOW!" He yelled as he deflected an oncoming fireball from one of the Grimm. Blake disconnected the train cars and Jaune pumped aura into Ren as the ninja channeled his semblance over the train.

Oscar watched them depart into the distance, offering a silent goodbye to his friends as he turned to help face the threat.

With expert teamwork and precision, they managed to fend off the Grimm hoard, as Ruby and Nova danced like reapers of death around the Sphinx.

The large creature swiped at them but was unable to properly move due to the lack of space for its large body.

Taking advantage of its slow movements, Nova ducked under and sliced at its legs with Helios while Ruby arced Crescent Rose over its head and along its back, tearing gashes of red in her wake.

The Grimm screeched in pain, summoning more to aid it, which Luna and the others took down with ease. When the Grimm was out of options, it began rapidly shooting fireballs at them, in a desperate attempt to take them down. Nitro deflected a few while Weiss put up a wall of Ice to shield them.

"You need to learn to shut up!" Nova yelled as he ungloved his left arm and gripped the creature's head in his palm, "You must be cold in all this snow... here, let me help you with that..." he channeled his fire into the creature's skull, burning through its thick armour and roasting inside.

In a final desperate attempt, he creature lobbed a fireball into the air, narrowly missing Nova but landing directly in the path of the train.

"SHIT! EVERYONE HANG ON!" Nitro yelled as he saw the tracks literally explode a ways in front of them.

"WEISS!" Ruby yelled.

The Schnee got the signal and used her gravity glyphs to lock everyone on the train roof down, while Luna used her powers, and Nitro his semblance, to try and slow down their crash. But the activation window was too short.

"Well... just another day for us I guess..." Nova said dryly before "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" they all screamed out in panic as the train derailed, crashing into the snow.

* * *

**Again I'm so sorry it's short. I wanted to write about Neo and start her story but I'm just too sick to really continue right now, and I didn't want to put it off any longer so I tried to finish as best as I could. I'll try to make it up to you guys next chapter.**


	55. Chapter 55: Colder Climates

**Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who sent me well wishes while I was sick. I kept a constant update on twitter and I streamed on twitch still when I wasn't dying.**

**I basically had every symptom of COVID-19 except for the loss of taste and smell. My parents were losing their minds like, "We need to get you tested," and I'm there like please god no hospitals, for the love of all that is holy don't make me go to a hospital. I did say if I got worse I'd get tested but I was still eating and smelling by the 4th day of being sick so I figured I could just ride it out. By day 6 I was feeling almost 100% and I'm mostly back to normal thanks to some herbal immunity boosting teas and good food. **

**The reason we thought it was COVID was because my uncle was super sick, and I got it from him and he works all over the country, and we had an influx of new cases so we were scared I was also infected, but thankfully I wasn't (I think?)**

**I feel like my priorities are out of whack for my fear of the health care system. I refuse to go to the hospital or see a doctor unless I'm straight up dying. Cut open my right hand? Naw I let it bleed and stuck a bandage over it to keep the skin together. 2nd Degree burns on my head? Nah I'll live. Burnt both my hands to the point where all the skin peeled off? Pfft fine. Ripped off part of my tongue on accident? Nahhhhh. Potentially infected with COVID? Screw that lol. **

* * *

**Chapter 55: Lost in the Snow**

* * *

Cinder stared at her reflection in the mirror, if she could even call it her reflection in the public bathroom mirror. Each time she gazed upon her own pale white skin, the darkness of her eyes, the cracks running down her face, she felt as though she were staring at the face of Salem herself, except, more familiar.

It'd been a few days since she awoke on the shore of that lake. Her first instinct was to call on her Maiden powers, the air was cold and damp so she wanted to dry herself off. Her extended arms were met with disappointment as nothing came, no surge of power, no flames wrapping around her as before. She vaguely recalled the flash of magic leaving her body as she fell, and she bit her lip, grinding her teeth in anger as the image of the face it went to flashed in her mind.

The detestable face of that brat Nova, and the eyes that looked at her with pity, and disappointment as though she were a child that had done something wrong. She wanted nothing more than to gouge out those eyes with her own bare hands, to feel the satisfaction of his flesh beneath her nails as she tore him apart.

The imagery brought a sinister smile to her face as her emotions began to bubble with glee. "I'll find you… you little shit…" she said to herself as she continued to gaze upon her new face.

"I want to say that white's not my colour but… I have to admit that this look… suits me…" she smiled to herself, thankful no one was around to see her. Even if there was, she wasn't against 'silencing' an unnamed civilian or two.

Her missing arm and eye had regrown themselves, her face was complete again, and that was something she missed dearly.

"**Are you quite done admiring yourself?" **Salem asked as her voice echoed through Cinder's mind, startling her.

"My queen! Where…?"

**"You possess power birthed from my own, we are eternally connected now. I can communicate with you telepathically…" **Salem responded calmly.

Cinder's eyes widened in surprise, she wasn't exactly comfortable with having Salem's voice now echoing in her mind…

**"No, before you ask, I can't read your thoughts, I can simply communicate with you, so don't misunderstand… though, now that you are… an extension of myself, you have no room for… disobedience…" **Salem said darkly, the unspoken threat lingering in the air. Cinder felt a cold chill run down her spine if the powers were so easily given, then they could just as easily be taken away, and she'd go back to being powerless, or at worst… dead.

She was no longer as independent as she once was… in exchange for a second chance, she was shackled to the Grimm Witch for eternity… though if it meant that she could have Nova, Ruby, and the rest of their heads, she didn't care what price she had to pay.

**"You are probably wondering what powers you now possess." **

"Well…"

**"Be not concerned, you will learn them in time. A word of advice: shed your human tendencies. Such things as comfort and basic needs for humans, you'll find you will not need them anymore." **

"What…? My Queen? What does that mean?" Cinder asked, but Salem was gone. "Great… Now what…?"

That was the most pressing question. Where does she go from here? She was currently stuck in the lower levels of Mistral, with only a brown cloak and a white mask that she'd lynched off passing strangers by lurking in the shadows. They enabled her to move around without attracting attention but… what should she do now?

She had no idea how long she'd been out of it, how far ahead her enemies were, or even where they were headed next. She would contact Emerald and Mercury to help her do some reconnaissance but she had no way of knowing where in Remnant they were if they were still alive.

Sighing to herself, she figured the best step forward would be to find a White Fang outpost, contact Onyx through them. She donned her mask and stepped out of the public restroom, onto the dreary streets of lower Mistral.

* * *

It was surprisingly crowded, with many humans and Faunus alike shuffling through the market streets with umbrellas that took up too much space in the narrow walkways. The rain drizzled down in a consistent downpour as she roamed the streets, her brown cloak beginning to soak in and the cold filtering through.

Deciding to step out of the streets, she pulled herself into an alleyway to shelter from the rain. That's when she came upon a group of Faunus conducting shady deals. Brown bags of unknown substances and Lien were being exchanged.

She approached them cautiously, "Gentlemen, you wouldn't happen to be able to point me in the direction of the nearest White Fang outpost… would you?"

One of the Faunus, a tall man with Doberman dog ears and a stubble on his chin looked at her warily, "Looks like fresh meat just walked in… lady, you made the worst mistake of your life…" he said with a smirk.

Cinder rolled her eyes behind her mask, "Ugh, can you not play the 'Tough gangster' for two seconds and answer my question?"

The man snarled, while his cohorts emerged from the shadows brandishing knives, "A feisty one? This'll be fun boys…"

Cinder blanched, "You have no idea who you're messing with…" on instinct she extended her arm, and a shadowy appendage shot out like a long arm and impaled one of the men behind the main thug, and her other arm grew talons as long as swords and cut down the other into thin slices, his blood splattering over the walls and the Doberman Faunus, staining the streets.

The Faunus looked horrified as he barely registered when his associates were killed, before he knew it, he was pinned to a wall by the masked woman, claws ghosting his throat, drawing blood just by being in proximity to his skin.

"Now that I have your attention. Answer. The. Question." She threatened, squeezing down on his throat with her other hand.

The man struggled to answer, so Cinder relinquished her grip slightly, "What did you say?"

The man gasped for air, "I said, the White Fang are done. Didn't you hear? They failed an attack on Haven Academy, and then their secrets got exposed by some princess from Menagerie. All their outposts are either being abandoned to raided, and their followers are leaving. I don't know what business you have with them, but they're all gone from this city!"

Cinder felt fury burning inside her, just what was that fucking beast Onyx doing?! How could he let this happen?! She groaned and dropped the man, letting him fall onto his rear on the floor, the blood of his friends pooling around him causing him to squirm.

"This is just fucking perfect…" she whipped around, "You! Tell me where I can find an information broker, someone who's usually got eyes everywhere, someone who'll know who enters and leaves this city."

"L-Lil' Miss Malachite! S-She's got her spiders everywhere. If you need information s-she's your best bet. She d-doesn't do anything for free though. You'll find her in the tavern three blocks down, with the spider on the sign." the man said shivering in fear as Cinder's eyes stared at him from behind her mask.

Cinder chuckled, "Good, thank you."

"C-Can I go free now?"

Cinder made a tch sound, "Aw, of course! Scurry on now," she said sounding like someone talking to a child.

The man bowed a thank you and began to run into the darkness of the alley. He made it a few meters before shadowy claws impaled him from behind.

"I said you could go, didn't say I'd let you live," Cinder said retracting her shadowy claws and looking at them. They were most certainly Grimm-like, and she had no idea how she knew to use them, but it felt like second nature. Calmly, she stepped over the shredded corpses and began looting their pockets.

"Hmph, for some low lives, you were making a decent amount… I certainly made a _killing,_" she chuckled at her own joke as she thumbed through the stacks and stacks of Lien. Whatever fee that Malachite woman wanted, she'd certainly covered it.

* * *

Cinder entered into the tavern that she'd been directed to. Inside wasn't unlike any normal tavern. There were the usual rowdy drinkers, the bounty hunters, the normal people, though given that this was lower Mistral, she had no doubt everyone in the room had more than a few black marks on their life, just like her.

A short blonde woman in a purple dress that looked too old fashioned to not stand out, sat her stocky self behind a desk. Two guards in similarly fashioned clothing, though theirs looked more like colourful rouge outfits, stood at either side of her. Amidst all the ruckus, she was untouched and unperturbed, looking through a notebook of sorts, with a quill pen of all things.

Cinder wanted to puke at the masquerade, it was a clown show. Just how in the world this woman saw no flaw in her choice of uniform was beyond her, but still, the woman stuck out like a sore thumb. There was no doubt in the world who she was.

"Madam Malachite I presume?" Cinder said waltzing up to the desk casually. She was instantly held back by the two guards while the woman regarded her with disinterest.

"It's Lil' Miss Malachite sweetheart, do I look like a 'Madam' to you?" the wide woman said without even sparing a glance.

Cinder grit her teeth in annoyance, this woman was clearly delusional. Still, the back end of society was always filled with the deluded and crazy, but out of all of them, one thing still rang universally clear despite the ambiguities of their own languages and that was money.

She tossed the bag of the Lien that she'd looted from the corpses of the thugs onto the table. Stacks of money came piling out of the bag and now Malachite looked up with interest. "Well now…" she signalled the guards to let her through.

Cinder took up a seat opposite the woman.

"Looks like your life savings~," Malachite said as she thumbed through the stacks with glee.

Cinder smirked behind her mask, "Well, it was somebody's."

Malachite eyed her curiously as she continued to flip over the money until her thumb landed on a single Lien with a bloodstain on it, and she smirked. "Cute. So, what's it you want then?"

Cinder noted the woman's cowboy accent, "I'm looking for these people… care to tell me anything you have on them?" she placed two scrolls on the table showing pictures of team ASHNRWBYJNR and Qrow. Yet another find from the corpses. Those gangsters turned out to be quite lucrative.

"You're after these kids? Well… I do recognize queenie and the gremlin alright, seen them on the tv during what happened at Beacon. Word on the streets is they're the ones who knocked down the White Fang. Good riddance I say, mongrels were crippling my business." Malachite spat.

Cinder gripped the table, digging her nails into it, "Old news. I need to know where they are right now, or at least where they are headed."

"My spiders tell me they're headed for Argus, probably goin' to catch a ride to Atlas. The only reason anyone ever stops at that place." She said, then one of her guards whispered something to her. "Sonny here says that was about a day ago, and none of our men at Argus station have reported on trains entering the area. Looks like you in luck, the train's not arrived yet."

Cinder hummed in thought, "Quite an impressive network if you've gotten information that quickly."

Malachite smiled smugly, "Well, we are the best for a reason."

* * *

Neopolitan stalked through the pouring rain with her parasol resting lightly on her shoulder, atop her head rested a bowler hat with a red stripe on it, the dusty memento was all she had left of her late mentor and friend, Roman Torchwick.

Since the fall of Beacon, Neo had been in a rough spot. After barely escaping the aircraft explosion thanks to Roman, she was left with nothing but the clothes on her back and a dusty old hat that somehow survived the inferno. She'd spent her life in service of Roman, he found her when she was nothing more than a pickpocket, lifting the wallets of tourists so she could eat her next meal. How she ended up on the streets was a story of bitter relations and broken mirrors. Everything changed when Roman found her, took her in, taught her how to be more than _just _a petty thief, to become the greatest burglar to ever walk the streets of Vale. He treated her like family, like she was a real person, not just some trash that was left on the side of the road, like everyone else in her life before that.

Now, thanks to one questionable and unfortunate decision that was probably not even his choice to make, Roman was dead, and there were two people she blamed. Cinder Fall and Onyx of the White Fang.

In their line of work, double-crossing was expected, in fact, it was a given that you'd be swindled by your client. Roman was always prepared, she was always ready to get him out. But how could anyone expect an army of Grimm, dragons, Maidens, and terrorists colluding together in a conglomeration of chaos?

Who would've expected that the double-cross would happen thousands of feet in the air, in the skies above Beacon Academy? At the hands of a man who wasn't even at the scene, or a flying Grimm the size of a plane? It felt like a fever dream looking back, but for Neo, the pain was all too real.

She'd come to Mistral because it was like a hub for people like her, and finding work wouldn't be difficult given her skills. Still, it begged the question, how the hell she ended up working as one of Lil' Miss Malachite's spiders?

Each day was like a fetch order for her. The fed pig of a woman would constantly send her on errands because, as she was told repeatedly, 'You need to earn your place'. Today she was sent out, in the rain, to pick up food for the bitch's pet spider, when the damn thing could just eat the bugs in the tavern.

Needless to say, Neopolitan was not in a good mood. She didn't think anything in the world could make it worse, at least… until she opened the door.

At first, things seemed normal, Malachite was dealing with a shady client, shadier than the usual lot but nothing to be concerned about.

"Ah, Neo! Good, you're back. Muffin was getting hungry," Malachite said delightedly staring at the rain-soaked girl in the doorway.

Neo grunted and made an annoyed face in response.

"Aw, don't be like that…. Wait… you were workin for that guy… what's his name again? Bowman Rotwieler or something?" Malachite asked oblivious to the vein swelling in Neo's forehead. "This client here's trackin' some of those kids you used to deal with, the ones from Beacon?"

Neo's eyes widened, she couldn't be talking about team ASHNRWBY?

The client turned around, her white mask hiding her face beneath the brown cloak. Neo didn't know who it was, but she got the distinct feeling they'd met before.

"Roman's little pet. It's been a while." Cinder said with an unknown tone.

Neo's blood ran cold on hearing that voice. The unmistakable bitchiness, the hint of fake flirtatiousness. There was only one person who had that voice. Cinder Fall.

"_YOU!" _Neo said in sign language.

Cinder got up from her chair, "Nice to see you too~"

"Oh, you two know each other? Well, why didn'tcha say so! Neo is such a darlin' " Malachite said with a fake smile.

"_Fuck off lady. You have no idea who this is!" _Neo signed.

"Honey, you know I can't understand you when you're doin the ninja hand movements. Use your words, dear." Malachite said making Neo wish she had a knife to throw at her head.

"I do hope there's no bad blood between us…~" Cinder taunted.

Neo's response was a flying kick to the face, which Cinder easily dodged by moving her head slightly to the left. She countered by grabbing hold of Neo and throwing her against the second-floor rails.

"I see you still have a bit of steam to let off!" Cinder said as she jumped into the air, blinking behind Neo with incredible speed, and sending her flying into the lower level, crashing through the wooden floor.

"HEY! YOU BETTER PAY FOR THOSE DAMAGES!" Malachite said with a shaking fist. "TAKE IT OUTSIDE!"

Neo grunted as she got up from the floor and picked up her parasol, unsheathed the sword, and thrust toward Cinder.

Fall easily sidestepped with her superior speeds but was blinded when Neo hit her from behind, the image to her side was just a false one created by Neo's semblance.

Cinder crashed to the floor, and instantly Neo was on her, the pink and white girl's boot pressing hard against Cinder's throat.

Cinder fought against her but the small girl was surprisingly very strong. She wanted to use her Grimm powers but she didn't want to reveal herself. Too many people, too much commotion.

The air began to leave her lungs as she felt her throat being crushed, and Cinder began to regret her decisions to hold back.

It wasn't until she saw the perplexed look on Neo's face that she had a moment of clarity.

The amount of force and length of time Cinder was under the boot, a normal person would have died, or at least passed out, but Cinder was still alive and conscious.

**"Do you understand now what I meant by casting aside your humanity?" **Salem's voice echoed in Cinder's mind, and she realized a shocking truth.

Cinder didn't need to breathe that's why she was still alive. Her body and mind could still function without the constant intake of oxygen. If that was the case then… just how far could she push herself?

Cinder amassed strength and pushed hard against Neo, against the limits of her muscles until she felt nothing, no pain, no stress. She effortlessly lifted Neo's foot off of her throat and turned the girl over, pinning her against the floor now.

Neo had no idea what was happening, one moment she was finally about to take revenge for Roman, and suddenly she's overpowered and on the floor.

"Calm down brat, I'm not going to kill you…" Cinder said as she eased some of the pressure n Neo. "I believe you and I got off to a bad start. See, I didn't kill Roman, that brat Ruby, her boyfriend Nova and all their friends did this. If they hadn't gotten in our way, then none of the things that happened at Beacon would've turned out like this. Roman would still be alive~ It was never our intention to kill him…"

Neo wanted to argue, that it was Onyx, she heard him give the order. It was their fault, Ruby and that Schnee girl tried to save Roman, but she had no voice to respond. There were two undeniable facts that were present to her.

One was that Cinder Fall and her cohorts were responsible for Roman's death. The second was that Cinder Fall, the woman currently pinning her to the ground, was unquestionably stronger than her, and her instincts said that this woman could easily have her killed.

"I want you to help me track down those urchins, together, you and I can accomplish, many great things~," Cinder said darkly as she released Neo, allowing her to stand him.

Neo despised the idea of working for Cinder again, a betrayal was most certainly to be expected, but when her options were to submit or die, well, she wasn't about to go down without taking Cinder's head first.

The ice-cream themed girl shakily stood up, eyeing the other woman with scrutiny, as if trying to smell her bullshit before it even had a chance to spawn.

"Do you accept?" Cinder proposed, extending her hand for a shake. Neo noted the pale white skin, was Cinder always that pale?

The short girl bit her lip, she didn't like her odds, but Roman always taught her to play both sides of the game to get what wanted. If she teamed up with Cinder, then somewhere, someday, she'd find her chance to turn on her when her guard was down. It might not be today, or tomorrow, but someday…

Neo sighed, "_Fine. I'll help you… that brat Ruby will pay for what she's done…" _

Cinder smiled, "Good~"

The two walked out of the tavern leaving a stunned audience and a horrified Malachite behind. After that display, Malachite wasn't sure she wanted to mess with them.

* * *

They made their way through the town, heading in the direction of Mistral's train station. Since the Argus train hadn't returned, they were left with one option. They needed to face the vast and ever frozen landscape of Northern Mistral, track their way through miles of wilderness with little to no civilization, towns for rest were few and far between on the route.

"No way in hell am I hiking through all this snow to get to Argus…" Cinder muttered behind her mask.

Neo shivered as she was not exactly equipped to deal with the cold, but Cinder seemed unperturbed by the sub-zero temperatures.

The vast expanse of snow seemed like an endless sea of white before them, until, out of the blizzard came the glowing eyes of Grimm.

Instantly Neo was on alert, drawing her parasol blade, Cinder however looked rather calm, which unnerved the ice-cream, haired girl.

A large Boarbatusk trudged through the snow that went up to its knees. It carefully approached Cinder, as if regarding her as more than a tasty morsel.

Neo was now extremely confused.

Cinder herself wasn't sure what was happening, but she didn't feel threatened by the creature.

"Master. Small Humans. Day away. Metal snake broken." The Grimm said through snorts.

Cinder blinked a few times rapidly then instantly recoiled, "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

**"You've figured out how to commune with the Grimm? I must say you are progressing far too slowly for my liking…" **Salem said as her voice rang through.

Neo tilted her head in confusion. All she saw was Cinder calm one-second then freaking out when the Boarbatusk snorted a few times. If things in her life were crazy before, they were certainly bizarre now.

"My queen… what…?"

**"You can speak to Grimm. They are more than just beasts, simple-minded as they are, they can be good for gathering information." **

"Grimm can speak?!"

**"Only we can understand them, after all, they are all my creation. Some of the more ancient Grimm are not so compliant, they were created by the old gods after all, but most that exist now are under my command."**

"Wait so… how does the Grimm know where they are?" Cinder asked referring to team ASHNRWBYJNR.

Neo felt her sweat drop as she observed Cinder talking to what appeared to be herself. '_Yup... the bitch's lost it for sure...'_

**"Because they can sense the relic and attempted to carry out my bidding."**

"So you knew where they were all this time?!" Cinder continued arguing aloud.

**"Of course. I was simply observing your actions, and I must say, you are quite attached to your humanity. You'd do best to abandon whatever traits you have left as soon as possible, and your power will become clearer to you."**

"Easier said than done my queen…" she grumbled.

**"Hmph, your sister was a much faster learner…" **

Cinder looked startled and confused, "I don't have a sister…"

**"As a human, maybe. But now that you possess an extension of my power, and have become like me, there is one other that shares your circumstance, though she was less… cooperative at first…" **

"I wasn't the first one?"

**"No, you were not and you may not be the last. I do have my eye on someone… someone who would fit in with us quite well…" **

Cinder tried to disregard the implications of that statement, "Who might that be…? How come I've never met this 'sister'?"

Salem chuckled, **"One day. For now, you will head to Atlas, and sow the seeds for our arrival. Retrieve the Relic of Creation. You will have your vengeance in time."**

"But! They're right there!" Cinder protested.

**"You will obey my orders child… or need I remind you of the consequences?" **

Cinder's face fell, "No, my queen.

**"Good. I've sent a Nevermore to take you and your associate as close as it can to Atlas. Arthur Watts and the Callows brothers are already on their way, as for your two disciples, they are under my care… for now…" **

A giant Nevermore swooped down from the blizzarding skies and landed in front of the two, startling Neo backward and causing a moment of fight or flight in her instincts.

Cinder was startled, but less so, "Get on Neo, we're going to Atlas."

"_I-Is it safe to ride this thing?_" she signed.

"Of course. Come…" Cinder beckoned as she took off her mask, revealing the pale skin. Neo's eyes went wide in shock and fear, Cinder herself looked like a Grimm.

She gulped and climbed on hesitantly, silently regretting her decisions to get involved with Cinder. If she actually commanded the Grimm, then… was she even killable?

* * *

**-Somewhere in The Snowy Landscape of Mistral's North-**

Nova awoke to the smell of smoke and gasoline. There was a distinct heat above him while the biting cold below his body, his ears were ringing from the previous explosion as he clamoured his way through the powdery whiteness, peering his eyes open to gauge his surroundings. Thanks to his aura and scales, he suffered no injuries from the impact, but he couldn't say the same for the train.

The smoldering cars lay in wrecks, haphazardly flung around the white expanse like disarrayed toys. As his eyes scanned the environment, he was able to pick out the distinct colours of his team, thankful that everyone was colour coded... except Weiss who seemed to blend in with the environment save for her scarf.

"Ugh... I feel like I got hit by a train..." Nitro said as groggily pulled himself from the snow and walking over to Hex who seemed half-buried. With a quick tug on her exposed left leg, he was able to pry her free from the wedge.

The purplette instantly began to furiously fix her hair, "F-F-Fucking h-hell, *ACHEW*" she sneezed, shivering slightly.

Yang emptied her shoes off snow and walked over to huddle with her girlfriend for warmth.

Oscar and Luna got flung away from the crash but they were already up, helping Qrow whose weapon was wedged into the side of the train.

Nova spotted the distinct red cloak lying in the ground a few meters away and he instantly rushed to her side, seeing her face down in the snow made his stomach churn with worry. He clutched the fabric and instantly it stirred, a quiet mumble was heard below it, and the rise and fall of breathing made his own flood with relief. He rolled her over into his arms to check for damage. She was fine for the most part, minus a few scratches on her face and a cut lip, she was fine.

Ruby peered open her eyes, the silver orbs taking in the sight of her boyfriend's mismatched eyes staring back at her with concern.

"Are you hurt?" Nova asked as he held her in his lap, generating heat to warm her.

She smiled at him sweetly before steadying herself, and wrapping an arm around his neck for support, leaning on him as the warmth was beyond comforting, "Yeah, just a few scratches, I'll be fine..."

"Ugh no fair, Ruby has her own personal heater. SHARE HIM!" Luna said waving her hand in the air as she and Oscar helped Weiss up.

Ruby giggled and stood up, dusting the snow off of her before it melted and soaked into her clothing, "Is everyone accounted for? What's the damage report?"

"A few wrecked cars, nothing too crazy. Bumblebee is fine," Yang pointed out as she got up to wheel the motorcycle out of the train car.

"Anyone know how far we are from Argus?" Nova asked, turning to Qrow who was digging in the snow for his buried flask. The older Hunstman just shrugged, unsure of where they were.

They didn't crash far from the train tracks if they kept heading in the same relative direction they' eventually come across something, but who knows just how far out of range they were.

Hex rummaged through her pack and groaned in frustration, "Well I have bad news, and then some bad news."

They all shared pensive glances, "What's the bad news?" Nitro asked warily.

"I don't have the right bag. I think the equipment pack got left with Jaune and the others. The other bad news is that our scrolls are dead out here. No signal and no function, there's something jamming frequencies out here. I think it's the snow."

Oscar facepalmed, "Great. So, we're stuck out here in Grimm infested territory, with a danger magnet, no supplies, and no idea where we are?"

"Sounds about right," Luna said dryly, tucking her hair behind her shoulders.

"Oh good. Thought for a second it would be hard, sounds like an average Tuesday night to me!" Nova said sarcastically, shaking his head vigorously. There was a soft ringing in his ears, but he couldn't quite tell if it was remnants of the crash... or something else.

"Quit your whining. We're all stuck in this situation whether we like it or not, so our best bet is to move forward." A new voice said, alerting everyone to the direction of the only undestroyed train car. Out of the container walked a short dark-skinned old woman with white hair and peculiar mechanical goggles... or were they glasses? Then Nova saw the goggles blink and he realized they were her eyes.

"Excuse me but who the fuck?" Qrow asked looking perplexed that a strange old woman they'd never met before suddenly showed up. He made sure the train cars were evacuated so how...?

Yang looked disgruntled as she checked her bike for damage. The engine looked like it got snow-clogged but it wasn't something she or Hex couldn't fix. Still the more she thought about the situation and why they were even in it in the first place began to drive her up a wall.

"Great, just perfect. We're stranded, my hair is freezing up, my bike is shot, we've lost some of our team and we've gained a defenseless old lady!" she groaned bitterly.

"Hey I'm not defenseless!" the woman tried to argue, "I'm just a little hard of hearing, and my eyes don't really work... and they're in need of serious repair... and I'm starting to see your point..."

"Come on babe, if we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting more Grimm." Hex said trying to calm her down.

"I don't know if we'll run out of cool..." Nova said dryly as he stared blankly at the endlessly expanding tundra.

"Does it even matter at this point? Apparently we've been attracting Grimm since we left Haven! I mean how can we forget we're walking around with a big fucking bullseye painted on our backs?!" she vented, letting it out.

Nova chose that moment to intervene, "Speaking of which... Oscar, can you ring up Oz for me? I want to know why he didn't bother to tell us that the relic was a Grimm magnet?" he asked the boy calmly.

"Mr. Flareheart, your question is... within reason..." Ozpin responded through Oscar, and instantly Nova's face grew irritated.

"Within reason? Oz, you willingly let us walk onto public transport with dozens of civilian passengers with an item that put all of their lives in danger! Why would you keep that from us?!" Nova asked sounding more desperate for a solid answer than angry.

Ozpin folded his arms behind his back, "I simply thought that telling you would only cause anxiety and hesitation, somethings we can't afford on our mission. It was in our best interest."

Weiss eyed him irritably, "You know, I'm sick and tired of people deciding what's best for me without my consent..."

"Is that why you lied to the people of Mistral? Is that why you didn't tell me about Salem back then?" Nova asked folding his arms, his eyes narrowing at Ozpin with suspicion.

"What're you talking about?" Luna turned to her brother looking confused.

"Back at Beacon, after we fought with Thorian and Gale, 'What did they mean by their Queen?'. Ozpin hesitated, he said he didn't know, but later I find out about Salem from someone whose sworn against him. Oz chose to withhold information back then, and he's doing it now."

Everyone gasped in shock.

"Mr. Flareheart, back then you were not privy to the world that we are in now. You didn't need to know about..." Ozpin began weaseling his way out of it.

"Not privy? Seriously?! When her own subordinates are knocking on my fucking doorstep asking for my blood? When they infiltrated our school and your first line of defence was your own students? We didn't need to know back then? Stop fucking treating this as a game of chess Oz," Nova's anger began to flare as the heat around him began to melt the snow.

"I certainly hope you are not insinuating what I think you are... It would be in your best interest not to..."

"Oz, I'm insinuating that you need to trust us. We're not pawns to be used in your game alright? If we're going to be on this road fighting Salem together, then you need to be transparent with us," he countered, simmering down. He didn't want to start a fight with Ozpin or provoke an attack. He didn't want to hurt the body of Oscar after all.

Ozpin began to glare at Nova, which would have been threatening had he not been in the body of Oscar Pine. "A game of chess? How dare you allude this to... I have my reasons, but trust me when I say I'm not holding anything back. Not anymore."

"Oh really? Trust you? Oz for all we know you're still keeping secrets." Blake said now said folding her arms and glaring at Ozpin.

"ENOUGH! Don't you think that you are only told what you need to know? I've learned my lesson in the past, not to just disseminate information because it all just backfires in the end." Ozpin was furious, which was saying a lot since Oscar's face was oddly unnerving when it was angry.

"Backfires? Ozpin if you want us to trust you, then you need to trust us. We're not like Lionheart, we're in this together." Hex said trying to appeal to the former headmaster.

"Miss Magenta, do you really think Lionheart was the first? I've been alive for more years than you care to know, and out of them all, I've learned to trust only one person... myself," he said not looking at Qrow. The older Hunstman just stood in shock and hurt that he, who was closer to Ozpin than them all, gave his life to the man, was not considered 'trusted'.

"It matters not now. I swear to you, from this point on, I will keep no secrets." he began to walk off briskly while patting his side for the relic... which wasn't there. "Where's the relic?!"

Just then Ruby came walking behind them, carrying the blue and gold lamp, "It got lost in the crash..." she said dusting off the snow.

"Ah, well-done miss Rose, here give it to me," Ozpin instructed as he held out his hand.

Ruby was about to give it to him, then hesitated. She was looking at Oscar's eyes, but she could clearly tell they were Ozpin's, and she didn't know how she could tell, but the emotions she was seeing, were... questionable.

"What does it matter who carries it...? You said it couldn't do anything right now..." she asked instead of handing it over.

Ozpin froze up, his tongue seizing in his throat as they all glared at him for a reasonable answer.

Ruby felt it deep within her, the things Nova had been saying all along, about Ozpin not being fully trustworthy, about him not telling them everything they needed to know, that he was hiding a dark secret that affected them all. She wasn't sure why, but her instincts said that handing the relic to him at that moment, would be a mistake.

"I need you to listen to m-" He was cut off when Oscar's voice broke through, "I-It's still... working..." Oscar said through choking breaths, he looked to be in pain.

"OSCAR!" Luna yelled in concern as she wanted to run up to him.

"H-He's afraid...you'll find out... what... he's hiding... S-Say... her name to summon her..." Oscar pleaded.

"H-Her name?" Ruby asked hesitantly as she stared at the lamp, running her thumb over it curiously. It glowed slightly, movement beneath the glass as if it were alive. She didn't know how she knew, but she said the name aloud, "Djinn."

Time around them slowed to a halt, the snow began to slow until it stopped falling completely, frozen in mid-air. The wind stopped blowing, and everyone watched in awe as the lamp floated out of Ruby's hands and began to glow a bright cyan blue, smoke erupting out of it until the unthinkable occurred.

A giant woman, made of wisps of smoke materialized before them, her skin and hair blue as the lamp's colour, she wore no clothing except for the gold chains, bracelets, and circlets that materialized around her body. Nova didn't know why he felt embarrassed to be gazing upon the woman, but nevertheless he averted his gaze, even though he was half girl himself, it was still embarrassing to a degree.

Everyone else just gawked at the woman, completely bewildered and in awe at the spectacle.

The woman, supposedly by the name of Djinn, stretched and let out a sigh of content, "It feels good to be free again..." she turned to the party with a mix of amusement and curiosity, "So tell me... what knowledge do you seek?"

* * *

**Well Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I wanted to go into the whole secret of the world thing this chapter, but I think I need time to get my thoughts together on how I want to properly tell that story. Volume 6 is a really wonky ride for me, compared to the other volumes where I know exactly the details of how I want things to pan out, I'm still in the air about a lot of stuff here. It's mostly just a bridge for me to build up to Volume 7 stuff, which I am extremely hyped to do.**

**The other thing is the Oscar and Neo arcs. I was originally going to do Neo's full arc in Volume 6 but I'm seeing a lot more potential in 7, as for Oscar, his is special and I have no idea how you guys would react to what I have planned, so I'll keep thinking on it more.**

**Also in case you've noticed, yes I have changed a lot of the cannon conversations. I just feel more comfortable with the scenes playing out like these rather than how the show handled them.**

**Til next time, stay awesome ^-^**


	56. Chapter 56: Ozpin's Secrets

**I do sincerely apologize for how late I am, AGAIN. I was held against my will and forced to go to back to back birthday parties and by the time I finally came home I was either too drunk or too tired to write. On the bright side, now that I'm back to Friday, let's see if we can maintain this day.**

**Also, Ethos, it is Jinn with the D, thanks for pointing that out. I'm usually accustomed to using the D that I left it in, I'll use Jinn instead of Djinn from now on.**

**Anywho, Enjoy ^-^**

* * *

**Chapter 56: Genies and Secrets in A Frozen Landscape. What Could Go Wrong?**

* * *

The still air of the environment frozen in time brought with it its own chills, even if the temperature was no longer there. The party stood in awe, staring unbelievably at the mystical spectacle before them, yet none forgot the tensions that still rode high in the atmosphere.

Jinn stood, floating in the air before them like a towering mass of the unbelievable, a giant blue woman who'd just erupted from a lamp they'd been carrying for days. If you believe any of the stories about a genie and the lamp, you probably wouldn't expect this.

"I am Jinn, an entity created by the God of Light. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one-hundred years. You're in luck, as I can still answer…"

"ENOUGH!" Ozpin interrupted Jinn. Everyone turned around to glare at the man inside the child's body, kneeling in the floor on his hands and knees. Their eyes were full of venom and distrust.

"I can still answer two questions this era…" Jinn finished.

They all stared at Ozpin with a mix of violent rage and disappointment.

"And here I thought the relic was unusable…" Nova said dryly, folding his arms and glaring at Ozpin who at this point looked like a kicked puppy.

"Ruby, Nova, please… don't…" Ozpin pleaded, for once using their first names instead of calling them by their surnames.

Qrow looked back and forth between the teens, "Hey…"

Instantly weapons were pointed at him with hostile intent, except Ruby, Nova, and Luna, despite it all, they'd rather not turn a weapon on their own uncle.

"Woah, easy… I wanted to say, do whatever you think is right…"

Nova bit his lip, "I think there's only one real option we can take here…" he leaned his head to the side and glanced at his girlfriend.

Ruby nodded affirmatively, "Jinn, what is Ozpin hiding from us?"

The genie lady smirked a half-smile.

"NO!" came the sound of Ozpin's voice, but all faded to nothing as the moment they blinked, they were standing in a room of nothing but white.

* * *

**(A/N: Here on is my take on the narrative for Ozma and Salem's tale, it's more or less the same but keep reading if you're interested, otherwise you can skip this to the point where I mark off)**

"Once upon a time," Jinn's voice echoed as if coming from the air around them. "There was a lonely castle, that housed, a lonely girl…" the environment began to materialize before them like magic.

A grassy plain with a singular path running toward a grand castle, too complex in design to be replicated, but burned in the memories of everyone there for it looked very uncannily similar to Beacon Academy. The endless weapons, strewn about and lodged in the fields before the grand structure, as if a war had taken place.

"Her name… was Salem…" they could see now, a beautiful tall woman in a white dress, sporting blonde hair and aquamarine eyes.

"Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing… freedom." As Jinn told the story , each member of the team saw what was happening with their very own eyes.

"This was in a time long ago, when magic was free and given to all," they saw Salem materialize orbs of the elements and swirl them in her hands with amazement. Even after all this time, seeing magic in its actuality was unbelievable.

"Amidst all, there was one hero who stood out. The people knew him as, Ozma." A tall tan man in armour stood, his brown hair flowing in the wind as he proudly took up a stance, his cane in hand with a green crystal on its end. Qrow tried to touch him but his hand faded through.

"Unlike all the others before him, he fought not for the hand of Salem, but for righteousness and justice, and, it was his pure heart that prevailed where all others had failed. Together they escaped the fortress, and the man who'd fought his whole life for justice and good, had found himself lost in the eyes of the woman he'd saved. And the girl, who craved freedom, found it not in the outside world, but in the eyes of the man who'd rescued her."

Everyone in the team choked on their own air, gawking in awe at what they were seeing. Ozpin, or rather, Ozma and Salem… were… in love?!

"Where should we go now?" Salem asked, taking Ozma's hand.

"Wherever you'd like," he warmly responded.

The scene faded as Jinn continued to narrate, "The two fell in love, planned adventures, and lived happily ever after… at least, that's what should have been…"

Now they all saw Ozma laying in bed with his eyes shut, Salem kneeling at his bedside clutching his cane, "Ozma the infallible, got ill, and where all the blades of men and beast had failed, a single sickness won…" the body of Ozma dissipated into smoke and Salem was left crying her eyes out, desperately clutching the cane as if it were Ozma himself.

Ruby's heart stung as she watched Salem. She knew the pain of loss all too well… first her mother, then when Nova was thought dead, she had felt broken, torn apart on the inside with no will to go on.

"The gods that ruled the world, Light and Darkness, Creation, and Destruction. Salem prayed to them so that they would recognize the injustice that had been done. The domain of light was a sacred place where the god of creation would reside. It was here where Salem would come for aid, and it was here where mankind would fall to ruin…"

The scene showed Salem walking with Ozma's cane up a grand staircase to a volcanic crater, a pathway leading to a golden tree sitting in the middle of a lake, the ground, a blanket of golden petals.

Salem walked to the water and knelt before it, "Please, God of Light, hear my plea. Bring him back…" she choked out while offering the cane in humility.

Petals swirled from the tree and landed on the lake, from that spot materialized an entity of pure light, who bore no features except for horns on his head.

"I understand your pain, but I cannot do what you ask, for it will disrupt the balance. Life and Death are two halves of the whole, where one cannot exist without the other." The god of light explained.

"So… you won't do it?" Salem asked, her mind racing the question of why?

"I cannot for, you must understand, the balance of life and death is…"

"But you're a god… I just want him back… it's just one person… please…" she continued to plead.

"No, I will not. The cost of one life is too great to simply bring back. Let him rest." And with that, the god of light dissipated into petals and blew into the wind, leaving Salem clutching the staff in agony. She would have despaired had her mind not grown an idea.

If the god of light won't do it… then perhaps his brother…

"The god of darkness, none dared to enter his home as men knew what monstrosities emerged from his pools of annihilation. So, imagine his surprise when he found a line woman kneeling before him." The team saw the grotesque altar of darkness, with its purple rocks and bone strewn staircase. Creatures of Grimm swarming around like a hive

Salem knelt at the pool and out came a similar being to the one of light, except he was entirely made of darkness. His horns were different and his body writhed in horrendous forms.

The girl showed no fear as the monsters surrounded her, instead, explained to the god of darkness her plight, and made no mention of his brother.

The god of darkness complied and brought Ozma back from the dead, lying in the arms of Salem.

He gasped for air in panic, "Wha?! What?!"

Salem smiled warmly and held him, "It's alright… I'm here…"

Upon seeing the face of his beloved he instantly fell back asleep, though somewhat restless.

At that moment the god of light materialized in the domain of darkness, and the god of destruction was peaked with fury.

"Brother! Behold what I have done! You may rule the powers of creation but you do not own them!" The dark god said with pride.

"No, brother. This is wrong, that man was dead. You disrupt the balance by doing this…I will do what I must to maintain order." And with that, the god of light raised his hand and a beam shot out, killing Ozma into dust.

Salem felt her heartbreak again, tears forming in her eyes.

The god of darkness grew with fury, "HOW DARE YOU?! You come into my domain and exercise your power against mine? Such disrespect!" he then resurrected Ozma again out of defiance.

"You come here into my altar, and try to exert your judgment upon me, the moment a singular human comes to pray to me instead of you…" The dark god vented, swirling smoke around him until he was now a dragon of himself, on all fours with great wings and the face of a skull.

A flash of light erupted killing all of the nearby Grimm, and the god of light was now a long serpent-like dragon made of golden light. "This is not about that brother. This is about balance. Did this human not tell you how she came to me first seeking aid? I refused and she came here…"

The god of darkness looked to Salem in annoyance, "I see… forgive me, brother… allow me to correct my mistake…" and with that he blasted a beam of dark fire onto Ozma and Salem, disintegrating Ozma once more.

Salem no longer despaired, she was furious. "YOU MONSTERS!" she yelled to the gods, magic swirling around her, "GIVE HIM BACK TO ME! GIVE HIM BACK!"

She, however, was not given the chance to retaliate as in that instant she was teleported with the gods to the domain of light and plunged into the clear pool of life.

She struggled for air against the water and was pulled out, the two gods standing before her calmly.

"You who do not value the balance is now cursed… with immortality." The god of light said.

"Immortal…?" Salem asked, questioning as to why this was a curse.

"Yes… you will no longer be able to die, by any means. You will never be able to enter the afterlife and be together with your beloved."

Salem paled, "W-What?!"

"For your selfishness and arrogance against your creators, as long as this world turns, you shall walk it."

Salem found herself now alone in a desolate field, her world now nothing but an empty shell of itself. Without Ozma, she had no reason to live, yet she could not die…

* * *

"In all her turmoil, she found one thing… a realization. She a human, had turned the gods against themselves… they were… fallible…" Jinn narrated.

The scene now showed Salem in different kingdoms, speaking to royalty, "She spread tales and lies of how she stole immortality from the gods and asked any swordsman to cut her down. With the kingdoms in awe, wrapped around her finger on the promise that they'd never see their loved ones wither and die again, she was set."

Now they saw an army of soldiers from multiple kingdoms, running up the stairs to the domain of light, only to be met by the gods in the dragon forms.

Upon seeing Salem they felt their anger boil…

The humans demanded immortality from the gods, but when they were refused they launched an attack, intending to take it by force.

Magic was shot from every mage toward the gods, but the god of darkness easily caught the magic and collected it in his palm, "My own gift… used against me… how… ironic…" he crushed the ball of magic and in that instant, a pillar of darkness erupted from the skies and spread to every corner of the world.

All the soldiers were gone and all that was left when the light died, was Salem.

"We punished you and yet this is what you do? Turn our own creation against us?" The god of darkness vented.

"I'll tell the rest of the world… build a new army…" Salem countered with anger.

"You don't get it… there is no one left… you are that remains of humanity…"

Salem's eyes went wide with shock. Her plan had failed.

"This planet was a beautiful experiment for us, but it is a Remnant of what it once was… we will learn from this mistake… we hope you will to…" With that, the god of light was gone.

"You can't leave! YOU CAN'T LEAVE!" Salem pleaded in anger, but he had already disappeared.

"Still demanding of your creators…" the dark god said distastefully before flying into the sky, with a burst of power he shot through the moon, shattering it into pieces, the fragments falling to earth in a hailstorm of meteors, leaving Salem to cry in her despair amidst the endless destruction.

"Salem was left to wander the earth alone alongside the endless destruction," Jinn narrated, the scene now showing Salem wandering the endless wasteland of the earth with nothing but herself and the Grimm. "She cursed everything, the gods, the universe, everything but herself. She would wander the earth awaiting a death that would never come. Until… fate led her back to the land of darkness. She stared into the pool and thought, if the one of life gave her immortality, then the pools of Grimm would finally take it away…"

Salem plunged off the edge into the depths, hoping that she would die, or simply cease to exist, "But… this force of destruction could not kill a being of infinite life. Instead, it created a being of infinite life, with a desire for endless destruction…" Salem emerged from the pool, her skin pale white, and her eyes black like the Grimm.

"And in time, she would find her adversary…"

Now the team saw Ozma standing before the God of Light in a world of pure white.

"What's going on?" Ozma asked bewildered.

The god of light spoke, "A tragedy has befallen your world at the hands of my brother. Mankind is no more… but in time your kind will grow to walk the earth once more, but without us there, it will only be but a fraction of what it once was…"

"I don't understand…" Ozma said as he knelt on the ground.

"Creation, Destruction, Choice, and Knowledge. These were the ideals that mankind was created. I leave them in the form of relics. Should these relics be brought together, they will summon my brother and I, and mankind will be judged. Should you be found of resolving your differences, then we will once again live among you. However, if you are found to still be fighting amongst yourselves, then you will be wiped from existence… Until your task of resolving humanity is complete, you will reincarnate endlessly until it is done."

Ozma looked at himself, and then at the god, "Please, if I may. I would prefer to return to the afterlife and be with Salem, it means nothing to me if I return and she is gone…"

The god of light flinched though one couldn't tell directly, "You… will not find her in the afterlife."

"What...?"

"Salem lives, though the woman you once knew is gone. Be warned, where you seek comfort, you will only find pain and suffering…"

"Why me…? Alone?" Ozma asked, seeing the task as incredibly daunting for one person.

The scene now panned to Ozma waking up in the body of a man with white hair, defending someone from the Grimm.

"He didn't know…" Oscar murmured as he observed Ozma defending people from the Grimm. Ozma didn't know what Salem did to incur this…

Nova scoffed as he observed the scene, "For gods that preach about balance, to make a person who can never die goes against their own words. Sounds to me more like they didn't _want _to resurrect Ozma."

"Careful there, Salem." Hex said jokingly, but the argument was sound. Why would gods who endlessly pursue a balance between life and death, create a being that can't die, and a man who will eternally resurrect?

* * *

"As Ozma wandered the earth, he realized it was completely different from what he once knew. Without the power of the gods, humans could no longer use magic. A race that bore resemblance to the humans but with animal traits now existed, caged and treated like monsters.

What was curious was that the humans and Faunus seemed to exist, eras before Ozma's first incarnation, which begged the question in Nova and Luna's mind… just what exactly happened in that empty period of history?

"Through his years, Ozma would hear tales of a witch, and as fate would have it, he would be reunited with his loved one, and though neither recognized the other, they knew exactly who they were." The scene now showed Ozma and Salem reuniting in a broken house in the forest.

"They told tales of the events that led up to their reunion, leaving out some things. Ozma never told Salem about his deal with the gods, and Salem blamed humanity's destruction on them." Jinn continued.

"Salem would tell Ozma about the things they were capable of, they were only ones left with magic. They could create the paradise that the old gods could not… The hearts of men, are easily swayed…" Jinn now showed Ozma and Salem crushing a Nevermore with their magic, and appearing the humans like superheroes or gods.

"They amassed a following, and that following grew into a prosperous kingdom, and at the head of that kingdom… a family…" the scene showed the massive castle with Salem and Ozma, and four daughters.

"Are you sure what we're doing is right?" Ozma asked as he stood pondering while Salem observed humanity fighting wars through a crystal ball.

To the team, it looked like an ordinary skirmish, but given the estimated time period, it was possible that they were observing the War of The Four Kingdoms. Did that mean that Ozma, or Ozpin, was responsible for instigating the war? Was all the bloodshed his fault?

"You said we should bring humanity together. In order to do that, we have to spread our word, and destroy those that get in our way…" Salem said with a dark smile playing on her lips. Ozma felt a chill run down his spine, he knew in his years with her, that Salem was harbouring dark intent, but he was too blinded by love to see it.

"Daddy look!" one of the daughters came rushing in swirling magic around. This brought a smile to Salem's face, and a solemn look onto Ozma.

"Their daughters could perform magic, but what should have been a joyous occasion, was short-lived… Ozma told Salem everything, about the relics, about the judgment day…" Jinn continued to narrate.

"Don't you see? None of that matters. We can just replace the humans with what they could never be!" Salem tried to explain her ideas of wonder to Ozma, who simply viewed it as an act against the gods, an inhumane decision.

That night he tried to leave with the children to safety, but Salem was there. The team saw a battle ensue, with destruction and reckless abandon, the children being caught in the crossfire and amidst the bloodshed and broken caste, Ozma was left crawling on the floor bleeding out, with Salem sending him to the final blow.

"What followed Ozma was an endless cycle of rebirth and death. Through this, he learned the importance of living _with _the souls he was paired with, but no matter where he went, her influence was still there. He believed now he could fulfill his promise to the god of light and reunite humanity. He found my relic and asked me his questions. 'What are the powers of the relics?' and 'How do I kill Salem?'. And while I answered him to the best of my ability, not all of my answers were to his liking." The scene showed Ozma as a man in a pinstripe suit holding the relic of knowledge, asking Jinn how to kill Salem, and her response, "You can't."

Ozma was left on his knees in despair.

* * *

**(A/N: And that's where that ends, carry on)**

The scene faded and now they were back in reality.

"And that's the story of what Ozpin's been hiding from you." Jinn finished, taking up a seat in the air.

Most everyone was too shocked for words, still digesting it all. Ruby, Nova, Luna, and Weiss looked to be the only ones coherent.

"Would you like to know anything else?" Jinn asked curiously, resting her chin on her palm and looking intently at Nova and Luna, the two drags holding on to each other for support.

"What do you mean?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"Well, I told you what Ozpin's been hiding, but I am capable of one more question if you should choose to use it…"

Nova felt his skin begin to prickle, there was something about the way she asked it, that made him feel like she was insinuating for him to use that last question.

"No thanks… there are questions I want to be answered but I think we should save your last question for when it's important…" Nova said shakily; he felt rattled as if the decision he was making was… neither wrong nor right, it was… uneasy.

Qrow approached Ozpin, "All my life… no one wanted me. I was abandoned, you took me in… I thought… I thought you cared!" he threw a hard right, slamming into Oscar's face slamming him into the tree.

"QROW EASY! I know you're angry, but remember that's still also Oscar… don't hurt him…" Weiss pleaded, trying to get a hold of the man.

Ozpin stared at them starkly for a few moments until… nothing. "Ouch!" Oscar yelped rubbing his cheek in pain. If it weren't for his aura there would certainly be a bruise.

"What happened?" Ruby asked looking at the downed boy.

"He… he's… gone…" Oscar said looking confused.

"Huh…? What do you mean?" Weiss asked seeming like the only sober one.

"I don't know… it's like… he's just not there anymore. I can't feel him or find him in my head… it's just… me. It's almost as if he's locked himself deep within my head and I can't find him... I HATE THIS!" Oscar finished looking hollow, crashing his head into the tree he was leaning against in a desperate attempt to lodge Ozpin free as if the old man was a parasite.

"That bastard! We're not done with you Oz!" Yang yelled regaining her fury. Oscar flinched and Yang almost regretted yelling at the boy.

Jinn observed the altercation with amusement, "Well, this is certainly interesting~. Well… for the entertainment and because I haven't been free in nearly a hundred years, I can give you a freebie."

Now everyone turned back to the blue genie who they almost forgot was there.

"What are you talking about…?" Luna asked, releasing her hold on her brother and now approaching Jinn.

"If it's for you two, I can bend the rules a little, I'll just show because I think you deserve to know just a tiny bit about your roots."

* * *

Everyone was spun for a surprise when the room panned white again, this time there was no Ozma, only the Gods of Light and Darkness, standing on what was now materializing as the plain of the earth.

The world was dark and desolate, with barely any life. The clouds had gone, the grass of the plains were brown and dead. The soil was infertile and there was no life besides the Grimm.

"Brother, as much as it pains me, I believe I was a little excessive in my cleansing…" The god of darkness relented as they gazed upon the dead world.

"Humanity was our greatest accomplishment, and the actions of one should not have been the punishment of all. It was our own flaws that did this. In all of our strife for balance, we tipped the scales. For true balance, the world must be self-sustainable." The god of light said studying the world.

"We must try again, this world was dear to me…" The dark god responded solemnly.

"Then so we shall…" the god of light drew golden energy from his body and produced three gems, and then the god of darkness did the same. Each gem was shaped differently. A red oval-shaped gem that looked unmistakably like the Agniseki, a green hexagonal one, a blue emerald shaped gem, a white sharp dicone crystal, a luminescent yellow pearl, and a shadowy black pyramid.

The gods then poured their energy into the crystals until they all began to glow with their respective colours. "These gems shall be the foundation of the new world." The god of creation said as he levitated the six crystals into the air, and scattered them across the world.

As he did so, the light began to emerge in the world, it was no longer endless darkness. The wind began to blow, the waters of the dried rivers began to flow, the soil began to replenish and slowly warmth began to come back.

"The basic needs of life have been restored… now all that is left is to fill this empty shell…" The god of destruction said, "Well… not completely empty. She's still here is she not…"

The god of light glanced toward the sky and saw an image of Salem wandering the plains of darkness in her turmoil, oblivious to the changes occurring to the world as she was too swallowed by her own despair. "It seems she has not changed…"

"Be that as it may, humanity needs to be reforged, and sustained." The dark god said apathetically. He'd only intended to wipe humanity, but in his rage, he had wiped all sentient life from the world, a mistake that plagued him since the day they left the planet.

"Then together, let us give them, a second chance." The god of creation generated a new gem, this one was a burning orange that radiated warmth and energy, it felt powerful and condensed.

"The sun shall be the essence of life, for, without its warmth and light, life will not be sustained." The gem began to glow with the energy of the god's own power, erupting into a mass of heat that ascended into the atmosphere before dispersing outward in a brilliant blaze. The god of light had now resurrected life on the world, humans would evolve from their early stages in time, but until then the world would continue to sustain itself.

The god of destruction generated his own gem, a quartz-like crystal made of a pitch-black, at its core was a luminescent cyan blue. He glanced at the destroyed moon, its fragments still floating in the air as a reminder of his own rashness, "The moon shall be the essence of death. The embodiment of its cold and reflected light shall be a reminder of my mistake and a reminder that without death, there can be no life." The crystal imbued with the power of destruction flittered into the air and vanished without a trace, a biting cold wind blew through the atmosphere.

"So… that's how the world was restored…" Nitro said in awe as he dropped to his knees. For a human to witness the creation of the world, it was… mind-melting.

Nova and Luna on the other hand recognized the unmistakable gems, "Those are… the Fragments of Remnant…" Luna said gaping, struggling to grasp everything. The quartz that the God of Destruction sent out… it resembled what Onyx was wearing around his neck… the very gem that resonated with her powers…

* * *

The scene now moved to a new area, much greener earth, the darkness gone and life was beginning to spring up again. The forests were populated and the familiar sound of the fauna, birds and various animals, now resounded like a welcoming tune.

A host of animals stood before the two gods as they stood on the shores of a beach. Amidst them, all these stood out the most black bears, golden-maned lions that towered taller than a human, panthers whose fur looked a mix of black and dark purple, grey wolves, blue peacocks, yellow monkeys with large builds and long tails, speckled hawks and in the water were schools of fish, sharks, and turtles.

The animals seemed to instinctively know to revere the gods and kneel before them.

The god of creation then began radiating with power as magic swirled around him before settling over the animals like a shower of radiant glitter. There was no direct change instantly, but soon enough, a few of the animals began to change and morph into human-like forms of themselves, still sporting the features of animals but possessing majorly human bodies.

"The Faunus!" gasped Blake as she realized she was witnessing the birth of her own race.

The gods then turned to each other and took a portion of themselves out and combined them, the bright light mixing with the darkness until it formed a pure white orb.

The white orb of power then began to materialize and take the form of a person, much like the other animals, this person resembled a human but possessed alternate properties. The person, now perceived as a man, had shining silver hair, that seemed to glow white in the light. His eyes were mismatched dragon-slits, with his right being a bright yellow and his left a luminescent purple, akin to the colours of his creators. Atop his head was a pair of long black pointed horns that curled then spiked as if it were a merge of the two gods' horns.

The being knelt before the two gods.

"Listen, all of you. You were created to maintain the balance of the natural world, to protect the Fragments that we the gods have left behind. You, creatures of nature, are the bridge between the divine and the human realm, and you shall be lead by him." They pointed to the kneeling dragon.

Everyone looked to Nova and Luna in shock. That dragon was without a shred of doubt, their ancestor. The Dragons weren't just elected as the Faunus leaders, they were born from actual divinity, and set on that path. The thought didn't excite the two siblings, the prospect of being descendants of divinity unnerved them.

"Rise my son." The god of darkness said to the man.

"You were born from our power, you are our embodiment. Lead with wisdom and humility, for it is through you that we have placed our hopes." The god of creation explained.

"I will endure this task, but may I ask that I not do this alone?" The dragon answered calmly.

The gods looked at each other, "If that is your wish, but... guiding the others of your race to the path of restraint and balance lies with you." A few of the new Faunus began to glow with power until five stepped forward. A lioness Faunus then a male panther that looked rather burly, a thin hawk in the form of a young boy, and a tall deer man. "You six shall be the first bearers of our divine power. Watch over the world, maintain the balance in our absence."

"May I ask if you will ever return?" The dragon asked his creators.

The gods looked at each other again, then back at the dragon, "In time, we will return to judge both your kind and humanity. If the balance is not maintained, and your kind are found to have strayed from the path we have set you on, then you will be wiped. This goes for the humans as well."

* * *

The scene then faded and Nova began to grow flustered, "Wait I need more than this? What about the two other stones? What happened after that? How did we…"

"I can only answer one question," Jinn said as everyone came back to reality. "Please decide if that is what you wish."

"Wait… bro. Think about this. Don't use that last question on something that I think we might find the answer to." Luna said tugging on him though her eyes looked mystified.

"What do you mean?"

"Pages were missing from the book mom and I brought back… I think that's where those answers are…"

Nova bit his lip. He was curious, he was burning with desire for knowledge, he could see Blake as well looked lost and hungry for more. There was so much they didn't know.

The fact that they now knew how the original Faunus were created, it opened up even more questions like, how did the Faunus end up in this situation, how did they become enslaved? When did the fragments become lost? How did they get lost? What happened to the balance? What about the two fragments of life and death?

"When you decide on your questions, you know where to find me," Jinn said before disappearing back into the relic, leaving a stunned audience.

Luna helped Oscar to his feet, Qrow's punch seemed to have rattled him more than he let on. "I'm just going to be another one of his lives... aren't I...?" Oscar asked, hoping for reassurance even though deep down he felt otherwise.

The blue dragon's expression softened, "No you won't. You're your own person... you're so much more than he could ever be..." she smiled, holding out his cane which had fallen on the snow. Oscar looked at the item with a mix of distaste and involuntary comfort.

"Don't lie to him pipsqueak, we're better than that..." Qrow said grimly as he took a swig of his flask.

Luna almost unsheathed Galaxia and put one over her uncle had their situation not been as tense as it was. "Keep your head up Oscar... I'm... we're all with you, you're Oscar Pine, not Ozma or Ozpin or whatever the hell his name is."

Nova passed by and ruffled the boy's hair, "Come on, you will have time to mope about this later. We need to get moving."

"If we linger here any longer we're going to be caught in a blizzard and freeze to death. There's a path up there, let's see if it leads to a town." The old woman said, pointing to the cresting hill.

Hex quirked her eyebrow, "The skies are clear, and I thought you couldn't see?" she asked turning to the woman who was climbing onto Yang's bike.

The woman flinched, "My eyes are not fully functional, but I do have... moments of clarity."

The tech-wizard eyed her suspiciously but decided to brush it off. No sense in arguing when they're all already so emotionally drained.

* * *

The sun was bearing down on them providing some much-welcomed warmth, though the temperature still felt like it was dropping. If Nitro's eyes were any good, he'd say that the darkness on the horizon wasn't because it was getting cloudy, that perhaps the old lady was right and there was an approaching blizzard.

As they crested the hill overlooking the vast expanse of forested tundra, Weiss fell to the floor in pain, "ARGH!" she screamed out clutching her head.

"Weiss! What's wrong?" Ruby rushed to her side in worry, Nova followed up soon after.

"It's like... there's a ringing in my head!" she said struggling. A sharp noise like she was hit by a stun grenade had hit her like a truck, dulling her senses and momentarily disabling her, though she seemed to be the only one experiencing this. After a moment the noise subsided to a resonating hum, that seemed to change in pitch whichever way she turned her head.

"A ringing in your head? Like... white noise?" Nova asked, his eyes brimming with curiosity now that the Schnee looked like she wasn't in serious pain.

Weiss nodded, "How do you...?"

"I've been hearing it too. I thought it was just headache from the crash, it's not very loud, almost ignorable unless I focus on it, but since you're hearing it, then it must mean there's something else..." the dragon leader said with interest. The noise was very similar to when they first encountered the White Fang Research Lab on their first team mission...

Weiss stood up shaking, "It's coming from that direction..." she pointed Northward, along the path. The dragons and Blake could see with their Faunus eyesight, a frozen lake a few kilometers from where they were, and past that, a small village hidden behind a fence of pine trees.

Luna's nose twitched, "Guys I'm picking up a rotten smell coming from that place..."

Nova held his nose and so did Blake, "Something's down there..." Blake said ominously.

"This whole place is just giving me bad vibes," Nitro said shivering and rubbing his arms.

Nova had to agree, looking at the treeline he got a sinister feeling. It was as if they were being watched by something or multiple somethings. Normally he could tell if it was Grimm or human, but in the snowy wasteland with the ringing in his ears, his senses felt dulled and hindered.

"Come on, it'll be dark in a few hours we need to move," he instructed. Everyone geared up and began moving down the hill, with Qrow falling behind slightly, choosing to stray and drink from his flask as if he didn't care about survival.

The clear snowy expanse soon became densely populated with trees as they entered the forest. The air was still, and there were no familiar sounds.

"You know normal people would _avoid _the scary forest that has a bad smell," Nitro pointed out dryly, his normally straight hair had frozen on end and he looked slightly deranged.

Nova didn't smile at his friend's antics, his face was stone-cold serious, "Normally yes, but this is directly in our path to Argus, and unfortunately the only other option is to go around it and risk getting lost for days."

"Stay on your toes, I don't like this place one bit..." Ruby said clutching Crescent Rose in sniper form.

Nitro recoiled and fell behind with Luna and Hex as they helped tow Bumblebee, "At least there are no scray forest noises right?"

"That's a problem." Blake pointed out, her ears twitching nervously.

"How come? There's no wolf howlings or anything," Oscar asked, trying to get his words in so he could break the ice within his own heart. He figured attempting to voice his thoughts would help him fight his own emotional despair, he didn't want to draw in any Grimm.

"Kid, there's only one way a forest goes silent, as in completely silent like this. Animals cut noise to stalk prey but they also do it to hide. When the whole forest is quiet, it means there's something in the forest that scares everything. I've only come across this once... and I really hope I'm wrong about it..." Nova said darkly, his hands wandering to Helios at his hip.

Luna's eyes widened with fear, "No... it can't be..."

"Let's not jinx it yet. Come on, the lake's right there," Weiss said as they entered into a clearing in the forest. It looked more like a glorified pond but in the density of the forest, the size of the lake was the least of their worries, because it created a wide-open space with no cover. If they were to be attacked out here, they'd be sitting ducks for whatever was stalking them in the forest.

Upon seeing the lake in person, Weiss felt the sharp pain again, this time, instead of pounding at her head from all angles, it was coming from a directed point. The Schnee held up her right index finger and pointed to the center of the lake, "It's... coming from there..." she said clutching her head, the pain beginning to dull.

Nova glanced back at the team before taking a test step on the translucent surface of the frozen lake. The ice felt solid enough to walk on, despite its near transparency. "It's solid, and it might hold all our weight. Just to be safe though, hang back a bit. I'll give it a test..."

"Why do you have to be a scapegoat? What if the ice breaks and you fall in?!" Nitro pointed out in alarm.

"Because I can heat myself remember? I won't die from hypothermia if I take a little ice water." Ruby and Luna shared a nervous glance. They didn't like the idea but, it was a sound argument.

Nova cautiously walked over the frozen lake, scanning the ground for whatever was causing Weiss to act up the way she was. The ice proved to be solid as he crossed, though the ground felt as though it had no traction and he could slip at any moment. As he neared the very center of the lamina shaped lake, his eyes picked up a distinct glow at the bottom. It was faint and almost invisible had it not been for his dragon eyes. The more he focused on it, the more he lost sight of his surroundings. No one noticed the dark wispy shape skittering under the ice.

"There's something down there!" He called back, trying not to be overly loud. "I think I might be able to get it."

Ruby's eyes widened in alarm, "Nova Alexandrite Flareheart, you are not about to do what I fucking think you are!"

The dragon shot her a half-smile, "I'm a walking heater remember? I can stand a little cold water... I think."

Everyone facepalmed. This was not going to end well, they could feel it.

* * *

Ruby almost began thawing the snow around her with how much steam was coming from her face after watching Nova strip down to just his shorts. They'd been together almost a year and she still wasn't used to seeing him without a shirt on. In a desperate attempt to retain her sanity, she buried her face in Weiss' scarf, the latter of which just blanched in annoyance.

The dragon extended one of his claws on his left arm and began generating heat over it, careful not to cover his body lest he melt the ice from beneath him, and began sawing a hole.

"Diving in a frozen lake, I haven't even gone diving at the beach! I haven't even been to a beach!" he cursed as he mentally prepared himself, generating a layer of heat around his body before diving headfirst into the freezing waters. He would be leaving Helios behind with his clothes since he had nothing to attach it to in just his shorts, and swimming with the weapon would be cumbersome.

Under the ice was surprisingly illuminated, the water was clean and crystal clear as if it were purified, allowing the daylight to filter in unhindered. He almost wanted to open his mouth and check for himself, but that was probably a bad idea. The further down he swam in the surprisingly deep body of water, the brighter the blue glow became. As he finally reached the sandy bottom, he could make out, even at the depth, the coarse lakebed which held the most unusual environment. The sand at the bottom was pure white, there were no signs of life or vegetation, but there were endlessly strewn bricks and metal objects, pieces of iron, and what looked to be... bones.

Littered like a war-torn battlefield, whole skeletons were in various places around the lakebed as if at least seven people had drowned in the waters. The glow was coming from one skeleton, too small to be an adult. Given the fragile bone-structure and the diagrams from his mother's medical books, he could tell that it belonged to a child. The skull was damaged, fractures over the right eye at the forehead, teeth were missing and the arm bones had scratches on them, as if the child had been cut so deep it grazed his bones. The most curious part is, that the bones didn't look old, they seemed... new, as if the flesh had only recently been removed.

The skeleton was curled up in a fetal position, in its hands was a glowing object, a gem-shaped like an emerald but it was an ocean blue. As he removed the gem, he could feel a chill overtake his arm. The stone itself was generating a cold aura, and as he rested it in his left arm, the Agniseki on his hand began to glow in response, as if it was resonating with the jewel. To his surprise he almost dropped the gem, what he was holding in his hand was a Fragment of Remnant.

Quickly, he swam to the surface, popping his head out of the freezing waters, through the hole he'd made, and signaled for the others.

"GUYS! YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND!" He yelled beckoning them to him.

The team carefully filtered onto the lake with Nitro, Yang, and Hex staying behind with the old woman riding Bumblebee.

"What is it? What did you find?!" Blake asked with feverous curiosity.

The dragon held out the stone, the glow subsiding. Luna gasped, "That's one of the Fragments! Looks like the blue one the God of Light created! But... what's it doing here...?" she took the gem and rolled it over in her palm, before handing it to Weiss who admired it curiously.

"Why did a Fragment of Remnant make that ringing sound? And why were we the only two affected?" Weiss pondered, clutching the cold piece.

Nova shrugged, which looked weird considering he was still half in the water, "No clue, but we can figure this out later. Right now I really need to dry off. I might not be able to feel the cold, but my legs are getting a little stiff- WOAH!" he was about to exit the water when he was abruptly forced back down as if something dragged him.

"NOVA!" Ruby yelled in horror as she failed to react in time to catch him.

* * *

The moment Nova was pulled under the water, a loud series of cracks and thuds were heard echoing from the forest. The loud cawing of birds being thrown from their roosts as trees began to fall resounded like the bells of doom, a rhythm that signified a dark omen.

"Guys... I don't think we have time to worry about Nova..." Yang said nervously as her eyes were trained on the surrounding tree-line.

"Something's coming..." Blake said biting down on her lip and drawing Gambol Shroud.

Everyone equipped their weapon while the old lady hid behind Nitro, "You look like a strapping young man, I'll be in your care," she said climbing onto the taller boy's back.

"Oi! Why do I get the old lady?" Nitro complained equipping Atomizer.

"Quit whining gingerbread, you look after her, we'll protect you, that sound good?" Hex voiced back, her eyes glaring at the same spot Yang was.

Nitro was about to complain when the thuds grew louder, the distinct cracking of branches being trampled underfoot was now ringing out in their ears. Ruby and the others stood back to back on the lake while Qrow, Yang, and Hex guarded Nitro and the old lady.

Out of the trees, stalking toward them were the predators that silenced the forest. Beowolves came prowling out of the tree-line, snarling and baring their fangs. Behind the line of Beowolves came a four Deathstalkers and two Ursa Major.

"Someone call the Grimm Elite hit squad?" Nitro asked nervously as the Grimm slowly marched encircling them. It was unlike these Grimm to behave like actual predators instead of outright rushing them, it was as if they were waiting for something.

Suddenly the distant stomping grew louder, and the trees to the team's right broke down, and out of the forest emerged a Grimm none of them had ever seen before. It looked like the Nuckelavee, with the top half a skeletal humanoid Grimm while the bottom half was a horse. Unlike its predecessor, this one did not have long arms that extended to the floor, instead, its left arm was a long curved blade, while its right was a shield that looked like a Grimm mask. Its face bore no upright horns, instead its horns curled downward like a ram.

"Oh shit..." was all Oscar could say before the Grimm screeched an ear-piercing howl, and suddenly all the Grimm launched forward in a synchronized attack.

* * *

Nova didn't know what happened, one moment he was talking to his team, the next he was being dragged underwater at rediculous speeds before he was stopped. Instantly he was on alert. Whatever entity dragged him down, it had disappeared again. He wasn't sure how long his breath would hold, but if he turned his attention for a moment, he was afraid whatever it was would attack him again.

Within the freezing waters, his actions were limited, Helios wasn't with him so all he had for defence were his scales, his arm, and his powers.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a black shadowy figure flitter past. Reacting to it, he whipped around tried firing off a blast of fire. The eruption was slow and bubbled the waters but within the sub-zero temperatures, it seemed his flames were not as effective.

"_Shit, I'm hindered down here..._" he thought, looking around for the enemy. Whatever it was, it was stealthy, managing to hide itself in his blindspots within an area that had almost no cover... there was only one thing he knew that had that power, and he never would've expected to encounter it underwater of all places.

His lungs were burning for air, he needed to breathe, "_Fuck it!" _he yelled in his mind before making a mad dashing swim to the hole where he'd been pulled down. As he was about to break the surface of the water, he was dragged back down, this time he was able to see exactly what it was.

A wispy figure, its body seemingly made of sentient black cloth, its face was a Grimm mask that looked again to a skull with dagger-like teeth. It swam in the water effortlessly, like it was part fish. It had no distinct torso, but its only other appendage was a singular right arm with long sword-like claws.

"_Well, if it ain't the one who gave me these scars..._" Nova thought dryly. He wasn't sure if Grimm had memories, or even if they were capable of sentience, but the anger that flashed on the Phantom's eyes when he saw Nova confirmed, that Grimm do in fact hold a grudge.

Upon realizing that the person it was targeting was the very one that took its arm, it abandoned all hit and run tactics and rushed straight at Nova startling him. The dragon barely had time to react as the claws sank into his arm, trying to strip away at the flesh on his right shoulder thankfully his aura protected him from taking real damage.

"_Fuck, I can barely move in this water, if I can't dodge then I might as well opt for defence..." _he tried to let his scales overtake his skin so at least he would be able to defend against the attacks, but the more he tried concentrating on making them appear the more he realized that he couldn't.

The scales came out in patches but got stuck instead, becoming brittle and freezing up under the ice.

"_What the fuck?! This isn't supposed to happen!" _he cursed as the fiery scales slowly came out. It was exhausting him mentally to fight against the freezing temperature, and even with his heat being supplied, it was like he was trying to push a giant metal ball up a mountain.

"_Alright fine, then what about this!" _he tried summoning the powers of the Fall Maiden, his eyes glowing as he channeled the magical flames. A blast of fire shot out like a pillar, with speed and precision at the Phantom. The Grimm was not expecting to be blasted by flames underwater and was caught off guard, still with its mobility, it easily dodged, vanishing out of Nova's vision.

He would've celebrated the fact that he could conjure magic while simultaneously using the natural fire element to keep his body heated. His semblance had adapted his body to the limited oxygen, he was no longer feeling the intense burn in his lungs but he wasn't sure how long that would last. If it came down to it and he ran out of aura, both his elemental power and his semblance would stop working. The Grimm wasn't aware of this information, but if the fight dragged on long enough, Nova would lose through a battle of attrition.

Right now Nova was in a spot where he had no weapon and was fighting like a stationary target against an enemy that had both power and agility and could last longer.

* * *

Back up top, the rest of the team were chipping away at the Grimm while Ruby, Luna, and Weiss tried to tackle the giant creature.

The red reaper used her semblance to dance around the Grimm, trying to get into its blind spot, but its ability to rotate a full circle without moving its horse was proving to be too versatile. Weiss summoned a giant knight to lock the creature in combat while Luna worked around trying to force the Grimm to stand in one place. The Grimm easily blocked the knight's attacks with its massive shield while fending off Ruby with its sword. Luna attempted to attack the horse, just as they did with the Nuckelavee, but the Grimm seemed to be aware of the tactic, and leaped into the air, proving nimble for its size.

"Okay, we might need a new plan," Ruby said looking tired. Normally fighting like this wasn't a problem, but for some reason, it was taking a larger toll on her body than it usually did, the same went for everyone else.

Yang and the others who were fighting off the swarm of Grimm were beginning to look exhausted as if they were fighting while wearing heavy weights.

"I think this thing's plan is to wear us down then kick us while we're down!" Oscar yelled as he beat down a Beowolf.

Weiss shook her head, "No, this thing isn't that complex. There's something else at work here..."

"We'll figure this out later! Right now we need to take this thing out and get to my brother!" Luna yelled as she tried attacking the horse again, this time from the rear, only to be hit by the horse bucking its hind legs and clocking her in the face and sending her skating across the ice. "FUCK THAT HURT!" she yelled rubbing her nose.

Ruby studied the Grimm, observing its properties. It had full body control, strong defence, strong offence, and high mobility. There were three of them, and one of it... so how?

"RUBY LOOK OUT!" Weiss yelled startling the reaper. Ruby had a moment of panic as the Grimm's arm blade extended from its original length, growing in size at a rapid pace, hurtling toward her like a stinger. In an effort to save her friend, Weiss commanded the Knight to block the attack, incidentally shattering the construct.

"Thanks, Weiss!" Ruby called back as she scrambled to her feet. The Schnee shot her a thumbs up, but in reality, she was feeling shaky. The Knight was Weiss' strongest summon and under the pressure of battle, her aura wouldn't hold out long enough for a second summon.

"Guys! I think I can hold it down with my powers if we can just get it to sit still for a second!" Luna called back from her spot on the ice.

Ruby instantly hatched an idea, "Weiss can you make another one of those summons?"

The Schnee flinched, "I can try, but I only got enough for one shot left."

"That's all we need." Ruby said confidently, "Follow my lead and when I signal, you do your thing okay?"

Weiss deadpanned, her leader was as vague as always.

Ruby sprung into action, petal bursting around the creature, drawing its attention. She swiped down with Crescent Rose only for it to be blocked by the sword, but she wasn't aiming to harm it, just to distract it. The creature saw her as a flying annoyance and tried to knock her out of the sky, but Ruby was too quick, bouncing around. The red leader knew she was overusing her semblance and would feel the repercussions at any moment, but if she could just get it to focus...

The moment came, the creature extended its sword like a stinger and shot at Ruby, its shield was also focused on its rear to avoid unseen threats. "LUNA NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!" Ruby yelled to the blue dragon.

Luna extended her arms toward the Grimm and began focusing on the forces around it, her body began to glow a cyan-blue as did her eyes, and soon that glow enveloped the Grimm. "I...got... it...locked..." she said struggling to concentrate.

The Grimm, upon realizing it could no longer move, began thrashing to no avail. Still, the movements fighting against Luna's power was putting an incredible strain on the young girl.

"WEISS NOW!" Ruby yelled as she hooked Crescent Rose on the shield, pulling it down and anchoring it to the ice.

The girl in question used all of her remaining aura to summon the largest knight she could conjure, and brought its massive blade down on the Grimm's head, resulting in an explosion of white dust.

Luna and Weiss collapsed on their knees from exhaustion, "Is... it over?" Ruby asked as the dust cleared. She came to rest on the powdered snow that ran along the perimeter of the lake.

Their answer came in the form of a shrill screech, the Grimm was not dead.

Through the thick white, Weiss had but a fraction of a second to see the speeding blade piercing through the dust, aimed at her head. She was out of stamina, out of aura, and out of time. Was this where her story ended? The infamous Weiss Schnee's last moments would be on a frozen lake in the middle of nowhere at the hands of a nameless Grimm? As a Huntress, Weiss was prepared to die at any time, but for this moment, the only thought that rang in her mind was, "I don't want to die!"

The Fragment in her possession began to glow once more, a hum that did not try to attack her, but instead calmed her mind, and as the blade inched toward her face, Weiss felt no fear. Everyone watched in wonder as the gem glowed a luminescent blue, and the hurtling sword was stopped a hair strand's distance from Weiss' face. When the smoke finally cleared, the large Grimm was frozen solid.

* * *

Underwater, Nova could hear the gunshots and blasts from above the ice, the sound of his team in battle, but he couldn't worry about them when his focus was on survival.

The Phantom reappeared in Nova's line of sight, and he instantly shot a blast of magical fire. The Phantom swam out of the line of fire but Nova kept blasting in the direction of its movement, trying to predict its patterns, but with every blast, Nova was becoming more and more exhausted.

The phantom saw the opportunity, the moment the blasts stopped, and went in for the kill. Nova tried in vain to dodge, but its speed coupled with his own lack of energy was too much to handle, and the claws of the beast carved right up the middle of Nova's chest, his aura shattering instantly.

Now that his aura was depleted, Nova began to feel the burning sensation in his lungs again. His body was beginning to fail him, and he had mere seconds of air left before he would drown. His only option was to commit a kamikaze attack, to bring the Phantom down with him, or hope that his friends would win their battle and come to his aid.

The Phantom, on the other hand, had other plans. It wasted no time, now that it saw that the dragon was incapable of firing attacks, and moved in for its final strike. It slithered toward Nova, slowly, as if relishing the moment that its triumph would occur, knowing fully well that danger had passed. All it had to do now was move its claws a few inches in and strike, but it wasn't expecting its seemingly lifeless prey to still have a spark of life in it.

The moment the Phantom was within range, Nova used his last ounce of strength and drew on the Agniseki, draining at whatever was left in his body to deliver a five-clawed strike directly into the Grimm's wispy body. The seemingly intangible torso burst into flames, aided by the magic of the Maiden's power, incinerated the Grimm underwater.

"_See you in hell I guess_" were Nova's last thoughts before his vision began to fade.

It made no sound as it died, or at least, Nova didn't hear anything as his consciousness faded, the carbon dioxide in his lungs escaping in bubbles as he no longer had the strength to swim to the surface. He couldn't even register the feeling of arms wrapping around him as he was being pulled to the surface.

* * *

**Tell me what you guys think about the creation of the Faunus. Rewatching Volume 6, they never really explained much. Even though they told us a lot, there are so many gaps in the story that I think were left out purposefully. It just gives me so much creative room, you have no idea.**

**Til next time, let's hope I can stay on schedule.**


	57. Chapter 57: The Dead Leave Trails

**I took a little longer than I expected with this. It was finished maybe a day or two ago but I kept getting conflicting ideas about how I wanted to treat the Apathy. In the end, I did a full remodel of a lot of things, especially the house, and well you'll see.**

**I also got an interesting question from the silver-eyed knight. They asked how much power would Onyx and Salem have to exert to defeat Nova in his current state, and who would win in a fight between Onyx and Salem.**

**To put the answer I gave him in short: Onyx would beat Nova with around 60% (Maybe 70... situationally dependant) of his power due to Onyx himself not having tapped into the limits of what he can do. Salem will defeat Nova with little to no effort because Nova has no way of matching the wide variety of magic she posses, he is accustomed to hands on combat but Salem would defeat him before he could get close to her.**

**Onyx vs Salem would go to Salem. Onyx would put up a good fight at maximum output, but Salem's access to all magic, Grimm included, and her knowledge far outclasses him. Even if they were on exactly equal footing, she would win because she's a being of infinite life and even the pool of destruction could not kill her. There are weaknesses to both that render them killable, Salem obviously being Silver Eyes, but there are more, and saying them would be spoiling my plans.**

**Disclaimer: There will be some self-harm in this chapter. Self-harm is not to be taken lightly and is extremely serious. As someone who's been there myself, I know what it feels like so if you are there right now, or approaching that part of the pain, talk to someone. Find someone to confide in because you will end up doing things you regret. Seek help before things get out of hand, that's something I wish I listened to when I was there.**

* * *

**Chapter 57: The Apathy**

* * *

It'd been a full minute since the Grimm above were defeated. Team ASHNRWBY fell exhausted on the ice, barely able to contain themselves. Weiss was the most shaken, having frozen an entire beast without even remotely knowing what or how she did it.

"What just…happened?" Oscar asked looking nervously toward Weiss.

The Schnee girl turned robotically toward him, her neck stiff and her eyes wide from a mix of surprise and fear, "I don't know, t-the stone, it… did something…" she said holding out the gem.

"But why would it react? Weiss, you're not even an Aspect like Nova or Luna let alone a Faunus…" Blake raised the point looking baffled, though was she really one to talk? She was also an exception, tapping into powers without a mark.

"I don't know why… but I'm glad it did. According to what we saw with Jinn, those gems are fragments of divine power, so maybe... it has a mind of its own?" Luna said as she helped Weiss to her feet and hugged her tightly.

The Schnee slowly thawed her frozen confusion and pet the blue dragon's hair.

"The stone did react to Weiss, it was calling for her… maybe, and call me crazy but, this thing _wanted _Weiss to find it…" Hex said as she and the others joined up. Qrow was pretty much taking a backseat to everything. The realization that Ozpin never considered him close, to begin with, was hurting him and the old Huntsman looked too emotionally burdened to provide any insight so they all excluded his input.

"Do the stones have minds of their own then?" Oscar asked he was voicing the obvious questions because he had nothing else. If he were to turn his mind toward himself for a moment he'd sink into a visceral pit of self-loathing, something that could get him killed in such an unfamiliar and hostile environment. He may be just a fourteen-year-old kid, but the wisdom of a centuries-old man in his head was providing useful, though he didn't like it.

"What do you think Nova?" Nitro asked looking around for his leader, "Uh… Nova?" when there was no response, everyone's face began to morph from relieved confusion to horror. Nova hadn't come back up from the water.

"Oh…fuck…" was all Luna managed to say before they instantly raced to the hole in the ice. There were no bubbles coming up, that was never a good sign. Air always sought an escape route and if the only available crack in the ice had no sign of life then…

Ruby's stomach began to knot and a sickening feeling was overwhelming her. The normally stoic to happy expression on her face was cracking, and Luna could see it, she was scared.

"Someone's gotta go down there! What if he's… he's…" Yang said looking fearful.

Nitro bit his lip, "I'll do it."

"NO! You'll freeze! I should go my semblance can…" the blonde responded getting ready to dive in but Nitro stopped her.

"My gauntlets have jet boosters. They're not as effective underwater but they can get me in and out of there before the cold gets to me." The redhead pointed out equipping Atomizer.

Before anyone could argue further he tore off his jacket and dived headfirst underwater.

Nitro spotted Nova, his body floating still in the freezing depths not too far from the surface so he activated the jet boosters on his arms and used them to speed toward his friend, the ice never having a chance to form due to how fast he was travelling.

The dragon leader's body was too cold, his skin was slightly turning blue but the Agniseki on his left arm was glowing a faint orange as if it were desperately trying to keep its owner warm, but it wasn't the cold that was keeping him down. There were no bubbles from his nose or mouth, only trails of blood.

In the split second he took to notice, Nitro scooped him up in his arms and sped him out of the water. The moment he crested the surface he tossed Nova's seemingly lifeless body onto the ice before helping himself out.

"WARM HIM UP NOW!" Nitro yelled, scrambling to the dragon's side.

Ruby took off her cloak and wrapped it around him while Yang took off her jacket and draped it over his chest.

Hex placed her hand over her mouth mortified while Ruby did her best to remain calm. The red leader knelt down and placed her ear by his nose then shot up in alarm, "HE'S NOT BREATHING!"

She then checked his pulse, it was faint, very faint, but it was there, this gave her some semblance of relief, "Oh thank Oum he's still alive… Does anyone know CPR?"

Nitro who'd shaken off most of the cold was there, "MOVE! I got this!" he brushed them aside and began repeatedly pumping onto his chest, "Come on! COME ON! DON'T GIVE UP ON ME NOW MAN!"

The redhead in his panic began forming graces of tears in his eyes though it was hard to tell with the water, "SHIT! I can't lose you… not again… we can't take it a second time…" he leaned down, opened Nova's mouth, took a deep breath, and blew the air into the dragon with his mouth. Then he checked for breathing, still nothing, so he kept pumping Nova's chest.

Ruby and the others sat there in anxious waiting as the Zephyr boy kept pumping and blowing air, for what seemed like ages. "Please… I can't lose my brother again… you, still have a mission to do…" Nitro's pumps were getting slower, as tears began to fall from his face, dripping onto the cold body of Nova.

Luna and Ruby began to tear up as well, "No…Nononono…." Ruby's face was pure horror, Luna's head buried in Oscar's shoulder with the poor boy awkwardly trying to provide comfort.

*COUGH COUGH* Nova suddenly began sputtering as Nitro felt his pulse quicken. Water began to come out in spurts as the dragon coughed harshly until he stopped and blearily opened his eyes.

"Hey… what'd I miss?" He asked hoarsely, his lips trembling as he struggled to smile. Everyone who was about to give up hope smiled with happy tears.

Ruby launched herself at her boyfriend and hugged him tightly, "Fucking hell, you scared me half to death…" she said through the tears as she kissed his forehead.

He chuckled, "Can't kill me that easily…" he said only to receive a light smack on the top of his head.

"Really? Because you were basically fucking dead. AGAIN! I don't know about you… but I can't handle my best friend dying twice in my lifetime…" Nitro said with a sad smile.

"Speaking of which… I was drowning…. Who…?"

"Gingerbread was the one who saved you… you should be thanking him," Hex said throwing a thumb to Nitro who was kneeling beside Ruby.

"Next time please don't eat so much tuna before drowning, that's all I taste right now…" Nitro groaned and gagged.

Nova turned slightly pink, "Wait so you… and… Oh…my…god. Well… what matters is you saved my life, I can be embarrassed about that later. For now…" he held out his right arm, "Thanks… brother."

"I'd give my life for you, man," Nitro smiled taking the arm in the form of a forearm handshake.

"Well, I certainly would prefer you didn't do that..." Nova rolled his head onto Ruby's lap, his eyelids were discoloured and dark, his lips looked a little blue and his general energy was fading, "I'm… a little tired…" as the words left his mouth his vision began to blur and swirl.

"Hey, are you okay?" Oscar asked worriedly.

"Yeah… fine… just…need…some…sleep…" the moment he said it his head lulled to one side and he blacked out in Ruby's arms.

Instantly she checked his pulse and breathing, "It's okay… he's asleep. I think he needs some rest to regain his strength. We all do."

The old woman popped up with Qrow, "We should head over there, maybe we can get some shelter in the village," she pointed to the group of housings that were located just beyond the treeline in the direction they were heading.

Ruby nodded, then wrapped Nova up in her cloak as Nitro helped carry him to rest on Bumblebee, "Come on. We don't have much time before that snowstorm shows up," Ruby said eyeing the darkening skies.

Luna grabbed Helios and Nova's clothes while Weiss made sure she kept a close hold on the Fragment of Remnant in her possession. They all made their way toward the village.

* * *

As the team neared the borders of the village, they could feel a level of unease settle over them. It was like this forest itself was harboring a curse, where every time they thought they were safe, something else would rear its ugly head and spit in their direction. Just like before, a wave of unknown and unsettling feeling creeping behind them just out of vision.

None of them could tell why they were feeling anxious, but they were, and though they would choose to ignore it, their unease was more akin to fear.

It was a piece of clay hovering behind them, the more they ignored it, the more it stayed behind, but if their nerves let up for a moment, it would creep up and take form, changing itself into whatever dark thoughts wandering through their brains, and after the ordeal with Jinn, there were many. Still, there was an unspoken agreement, they would not acknowledge their fears until they were within the safety of Argus walls.

For how long that agreement would last… well…

"I thought the forest was bad, but… this place is worse…" Nitro said shivering. They entered into the village through an arch of trees that seemed to have grown and warped itself to form a foreboding entrance. It was almost as if it wanted people to enter while simultaneously warding them off.

The snowstorm was beginning to make its entrance, with the biting winds picking up and the chill in the air all too prevalent to the weary party, especially the two who'd gone diving in the frozen lake. Nitro seemed to be doing fine, but Nova was looking pale.

"We need to get him indoors, this… is the first time I've seen him so cold," Luna said worriedly as her hand hovered over her brother. Normally Nova would radiate a comfortable warmth even in his sleep, but right now his body felt like that of any regular body temperature in the winter, with his skin somewhat cold. Normally that wouldn't be cause for alarm to normal people, but toward a dragon whose entire life was spent with an abnormally high body temperature… this was cause for concern.

The town was desolate and empty, the streets were blown over with snow and various objects were left in the snow, houses were open and some even had wide-open windows, yet there was not a single sign of life anywhere.

"HELLO! Anyone here?!" Nitro called out only to be punched by Hex and his mouth held shut by her hands.

"Shut up! Not so loud. We might've taken care of every Grimm in a ten-mile radius but I get the distinct feeling that announcing our presence here is a bad idea…" Hex said darkly, her face deadly serious. The redhead boy just silently nodded until she released him.

Ruby gripped Crescent Rose, "Come on, this house seems big enough. We should get inside before…" she was interrupted when the wind picked up harshly and snow began to fall at alarming speeds, "The storm hits…"

They all hurriedly filed inside a large, two-story house that bordered the centre of the village where a large open well stood. The house seemed in perfect condition, too perfect to be abandoned.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place," Ruby said as they approached the front door.

Weiss wrapped her arms around herself, but out of habbit not cold, as oddly enough, she wasn't feeling it as much compared to the others, "What do you mean?"

"This place is too… whole."

"Huh?" Oscar asked curiously.

"Most of the abandoned villages I found in Mistral were either broken or old and destroyed. This place… it's like it was perfectly fine up until yesterday, there's no sign of damages, no sign of Grimm, and no sign of people. The stuff we saw on the road, it's like the people just up and vanished while they were carrying about their daily lives." The red leader explained.

"Maybe they just all left in a hurry?" Yang asked hoping for some light.

"Maybe… or maybe not… we won't know until we find out," Ruby said holding out her weapon in sniper form. They all looked at her and nodded before barging in through the front door weapons armed and ready. Except… there was nothing inside, no people, no sound of danger, no rotting smells, no blood.

They lowered their weapons, "This is weird…" Oscar pointed out, slowly taking a few steps indoors.

The house was fully furnished, paintings hung on the wall neatly, the floors looked lightly dusted.

Ruby spotted a picture on the wall, it showed what looked to be everyone in the village standing at the entrance, smiling happily with their tools. The most notable people were a Faunus couple and their child, a mother who seemed to be a white cat Faunus and a father who was a wolf with dull grey hair. The child, a little boy, barely ten years old with his father's Faunus traits. The most curious thing about the picture was that it seemed recent, perhaps not more than a few months ago.

"Something's not right… this place, it's perfectly fine so… why did they leave?" the reaper felt a chill run down her spine.

"You guys get Nova to the living room, I think I saw a fireplace. Get the windows shut and a fire going before we all freeze to death. I'll check upstairs, see if there's anything useful." she instructed, going full leader mode.

"I'll come with you… just in case," Luna chirped though she didn't look as happy as she sounded.

Ruby climbed the staircase and began inspecting the rooms. A children's room, with blue wallpaper and a small race car bed. Pictures of various superheroes plastered on the walls, toys, and figures littered over the room as if the boy had left in a hurry.

The upstairs carpet was scrambled and shoved toward the stairs as if someone had slipped on it while running.

It was then she spotted, at the far end of the corridor, another door. She hesitantly cracked it open, with Luna behind her, and upon opening it she almost froze in fear.

Luna spotted what Ruby had seen and screamed in horror alerting the whole house.

Lying on the bed, still in their clothing, were the dried corpses of two Faunus, their hair and bodies still recognizable, no rotting, no blood. It was as if their life was drained from them as they slept, or they starved to death and their bodies remained. Their eyes shut and sunken in, the lids blackened, their lips dried, almost skeletal. The picture plastered itself to the inside of Ruby's eyelids and no matter how much she tried to look away, the image burned itself in.

Qrow came rushing up to the sound of the scream and saw the corpses, his face falling in pain, though he was more stoic than the girls, undoubtedly not his first dried up dead body.

* * *

The party sat together in the living room while Qrow came back indoors, dusting the snow that had clung to his clothes before it melted and soaked him. He'd just buried the corpse in the forest.

"It's horrifying…" Luna mouthed as she hugged her knees to her chest.

Qrow clutched his shoulder, "It's like this everywhere."

The fire in the hearth crackled and popped, "What?" asked Oscar.

"Every house, there's bodies in all of them, all in the same condition as the ones we found. Dried and dead."

"It's like the whole town went to sleep and never woke up," Nitro said morbidly.

"We're not staying here…right?" Weiss asked fearfully.

Qrow grimaced, "We don't have a choice. Snowstorms going to be up for a couple of hours, and it's almost nightfall. We'll freeze to death out there before we make it anywhere near Argus."

"Hauling him around won't make things any easier I guess…" Hex said dryly while throwing a thumb in Nova's general direction.

They all looked sick to their stomachs but knew they were right.

The dragon leader was laid out in front of the fire on his back, still wrapped in Ruby's cloak. They'd put his clothes back on, which were thankfully dry.

Ruby spared a glance toward her unconscious boyfriend before looking to her team, "Okay, since this place _wasn't _abandoned, chances are these houses have supplies. We can dig around and see what we can scrounge up before we head out. There's no telling just how long we have to make it to Argus."

"Well since we're stuck here, we might as well get comfortable…" The old woman said hopping onto an armchair.

Yang looked toward Hex, "Well we're the most able-bodied, let's go see what we can find?"

The purplette shrugged, "Sure why not, snow doesn't mess with my hair product anyway."

* * *

Weiss sat huddled by the fireplace next to the sleeping Nova, she was hungry, not cold but she still had that feeling. The gemstone that seemed so bright before was now normal, sitting between her fingers, radiating a cool feeling, and though she wanted to feel some sort of comfort from it, she only felt dread and foreboding as if the stone held something in itself.

She figured staying awake wasn't doing herself any good so she opted to close her eyes. Her mind was on edge, her instincts didn't want her to fall asleep in a house where sleeping seemed to have caused the death of its occupants. No matter how much she tried to fight it however, her tired body compelled her to rest, and before she knew it, she was nodding off.

The moment her mind finally drifted to sleep however, a cold pain shot through her palm where the stone lay, jolting her awake while simultaneously flashing her mind with images too blurry to make out.

She pried open her eyes in shock, her lids feeling heavy, "Shit…" she cursed under her breath. The stone in her hands had calmed down again, but why did it force her awake?

"Hey, Weiss? You okay?" Ruby asked looking concerned to the huddled girl.

Weiss turned her head slowly, the underside of her eyelids were dark, and shook her head, "No, I'm tired but I can't sleep. This whole place… it scares me…"

Ruby smiled warmly and took her friend by the arm, "Come on, food always makes me feel better."

As the two moved through the house looking for edible supplies, they came across a room past the kitchen. They entered to find a darkened room with no lighting, but candles on the walls and tables, thus Weiss used one of her glyphs to spark the wicks, bringing light to the room. It was a recreational room of sorts, small chairs, and a bar stocked to the brim with alcohol bottles.

"We should probably keep this room locked…" Ruby said with a ghost of nervousness in her voice.

"Why?" asked Weiss, looking confused.

"Well… I'm not sure how my uncle is taking all of this in. You saw him back there, it's like he's lost all motivation, and well… he's a bit of an alcoholic…" Ruby explained with her eyes downcast.

Weiss deadpanned, "Really? I wouldn't have guessed."

This made the reaper smile, "Oh shut up Weiss, there's one more room over there," she pointed toward another door at the back of the bar.

They went through it to find a staircase leading downward. At the bottom was a wine cellar with shelves fully stocked with bottles of wine.

"Great… more alcohol," Ruby said dryly.

"Hey, what's that?" Weiss asked pointing to a locked hatch at the end of the room. It was stainless steel with a thick chain wrapped around the handle. Weiss didn't know why, but she felt a horrifying feeling emanating from it, she wanted to chalk it up to her imagination but she swore there was a dark aura billowing out of the creases.

Ruby looked uneasy, "Okay… we should definitely keep this room closed. I don't know what's down there but I've seen enough horror movies to know _not _to fuck with the basement."

Weiss blinked rapidly, it was unlike the reaper to use swearing so frequently, but it seemed that since they left Mistral, she'd adopted a few words into her vocabulary, using them in choice scenarios. "Yup, totally agree. We should get back to the others."

* * *

In the living room, the old woman had found herself a collection of books from the shelves that seemed so well stocked. Blake had taken up a few and isolated herself to an armchair where she was sprawled over, while Oscar rummaged around looking for something to do.

"Well now this is interesting…" the old woman said, though she looked rather unsettled. She was holding up a bookmarked 'III', suggesting the third entry in its series.

Oscar careened his head toward her, almost too eager to find something to alleviate his boredom, "What's that?"

"A history of this village. Seems the folks here kept a written log of everything that's happened since they founded this place." She explained, thumbing through the pages upon which words were scribbled in various shapes and forms.

At this point, Yang and Hex returned from their excursion carrying a few cans, and after placing them in the kitchen, joined the team by the fireplace.

"We found an old cart we can hook up to Bumblebee outside, what've you guys got?" Hex asked dusting snow off her jacket.

"Perhaps something that can tell us what happened to this place," the old lady said. They all hummed with interest, while Nova just silently slept.

She began to summarize what she'd read so far, "Well, I've made it through a few books, and from what I can tell this village was perfectly normal. According to this, the place was lush and green unlike the freezing tundra it is now, and the village thrived on farming for a certain period of time."

"What stopped them?" Nitro asked curiously.

"Mostly Grimm, the longer they stayed the more they began attracting beasts, and while the trees did provide some sort of barricade, it wasn't enough to fully keep them out. They lost a few people and farming slowed down after that, so the village had taken to finding other methods, mostly through trade."

"Alcohol," Ruby said unconsciously.

"Excuse me?"

"Their primary trade was alcohol, right?"

The old woman blinked, "Yes… but how did you…?"

Ruby was about to answer when she held it back, "Um… never mind. Does it say what happened here?"

"No, not yet. Though there are still two more books, I'll get to that in time. For now, I think we all need a little sleep do we not?"

The team unpacked whatever cots they could find, cloths and blankets were spread out around the singular fireplace. Amidst all the fear and unease, the one thing that plagued their minds was that Nova hadn't woken up yet. The last time he was asleep this long, he was blacked out from blood loss in Beacon infirmary.

Ruby pulled herself next to his sleeping form and draped an arm around him. He was cold, normal for a person but for him to be cold unnerving, still she did her best to warm him up. The Agniseki on his arm was no longer glowing, it looked dull and deactivated.

* * *

Once they were all asleep, Oscar found himself distanced from the others, thoughts plaguing his mind and making him restless. Now that he was left with nothing to focus on besides himself, the vacancy in his head was like a blaring alarm.

He picked himself up from the fireplace and began walking toward the kitchen, hoping maybe a cup of water or something would calm him down, but once he was out of earshot of the others he collapsed on his knees.

He didn't know why he was feeling so awful. It was nothing but pure self-loathing overwhelming him from every angle.

He was Oscar Pine, or at least he was supposed to be. For all he knew now he was just some new form of Ozpin. He wanted to say that his thoughts were his own, that his life was his own, but who's to say everything he'd done to this point was even his own choice to make?

When he swung the cane he knew what to do, that much he garnered was because of Ozpin, but what rattled him was how accustomed he was to the older man's influence. The lines between Oscar and Ozpin were blurring and it was no longer black or white but sitting in the middle was a little swirl of the colours, an awful grey that was not enough to make a difference but the subtle overlapping ground at his gears like a person with OCD in an abstract art museum.

If his fate was to become the next Ozpin he didn't want to live anymore. He took pride in being who he was, and the fact that his own thoughts and actions were being subtly influenced without his notice by a mind that was not his own was driving him mad.

The fact of the matter was, that Oscar Pine did not _want _to be Ozpin, he didn't want his own consciousness erased, but it wasn't a simple matter of him being removed and Ozpin taking over, no it was much more complex than that.

He was beginning to realize it, his ability to think rationally in combat, leadership skills, calm in the face of danger, calculated and decisive, they all came from Ozpin. They weren't his own thoughts and experiences, yet he could not get rid of them. At first, he believed it was due to Nova's teachings, but the more it pressed on, the more he felt… wrong.

It wasn't that the consciousnesses that resided with Ozpin were removed, it was more like Ozpin's thoughts had latched onto them like a parasite, rooting itself in their minds until they could no longer differentiate between Ozpin and themselves, and then all that remained was a version of Ozpin with new memories.

He would never have been privy to this had Ozpin not locked himself away in his mind, hiding in the shadows like an insect that you know exists but whenever you looked for it you were blinded.

Whenever he had a stroke of genius or an idea, a string of thought or making a decision, he felt disgusted with himself, because he knew he was drawing from Ozpin's memory but he could not stop it. It was out of his control to pick and choose what he thought or didn't think about, and it made his skin crawl.

It felt like Ozpin was dirt under his fingernails, except it was in his head and under his skin like he was just the sleeve and Ozpin was the one behind it all. He hated it, every moment he hated it, but he couldn't escape from himself. But who was he really anymore?

"ARGH!" he cried in frustration. He couldn't take it anymore. He wanted Ozpin out of his head, gone, but it was beyond his power to do so. Before he knew it he began scratching at his own skin.

Sinking his nails into his arm flesh until blood poured forth in small amounts as if hurting himself was the only he could reassure his mind that this was him and not Ozpin. The pain was immeasurable but Oscar couldn't take it anymore, and he began sobbing, with his knees pulled to his chest.

* * *

Luna awoke from her spot curled up by the fireplace. She couldn't sleep, every time her eyes closed and she felt she would drift off, the dried corpses blared back into her mind, waking her with their horrifying image.

Sighing to herself she got up and quietly moved to the kitchen, she needed something, anything to ease her mind, but as she neared the kitchen she eared the quiet sound of sobbing. She was on alert now, thinking someone else was around, but as her head peeked around the door she saw Oscar with his knees to his chest, crying.

"Oscar…?" she called quietly.

The boy's head shot up in alert, his crying ceasing as he looked at her with his tear-stained eyes. Quickly he wiped his face in his hands, "Who's there?"

Luna stepped forward into his vision range so he could see her in the dimly lit room. She sat on the floor beside him too quickly for him to react and run away.

"It's me, Oscar, are you okay? I heard you crying…" she asked softly, concern marring her features.

Oscar flinched, "I… wasn't crying… I…"

"Oscar Pine don't you dare lie to me. The stains are plain as day on your face. What's wrong?" she asked placing her left hand on his right knee.

"Really it's nothing…"

"It's about what Jinn showed us… isn't it? About what happened with Ozpin?"

The boy felt his breath hitch in his throat and his fingers go numb, yet he said nothing.

His reaction was enough to justify Luna's theory, "Are you going to talk about it?" she opted for the subtle approach.

Oscar sighed and removed his knees from his chest and tried to adjust his sitting position with his arms only to flinch when his left touched the ground. Luna picked up on it instantly and her eyes trained on the left arm, her enhanced vision allowing her to see through the dark that his arm was bleeding slightly.

"Did you get hurt? Those look like…"

Oscar recoiled as she was about to touch his arm and hid it, "I said its nothing, I just need to be left alone…"

Luna felt a vein throb in her forehead, "Oh no you don't!" she used her powers and locked him down before he could move.

"You are NOT moving until you tell me what's wrong. Is that understood?" she instructed with a stern voice. Her face said there was no room for argument.

He sighed, "Fine… It's about Ozpin."

Luna released her bind on him, "Good now we're getting somewhere."

"Since Jinn explained how Ozpin's reincarnation works, I've been… noticing things." He said.

She tilted her head, "Elaborate."

"Well, I realized that I don't really know how to do anything myself. All the fighting and decisions, they came from Ozpin. I might not have realized it but I've been unconsciously drawing from his memories, or maybe he's been feeding them to me? I don't know, but since he locked himself away, I've been feeling… raw. It's like he's living under my skin like a parasite but I can't reach him, no matter how hard I try. I'm slowly adopting his styles and thoughts and I'm scared, Luna." He said with tears reforming in his eyes.

She softened but said nothing, allowing him to continue.

"I'm scared that, one day, I'll end up becoming him and I won't even know it. It'll be subtle like you can't tell its there until bit by bit who I was before gets erased and all that's left is some homogenous mixture of my memories and his, and I just… get absorbed in him." Oscar explained.

"Is that why you hurt yourself?" she asked forcing his hiding arm out and examining the damage. It wasn't deep but it looked like it stung.

"It probably sounds silly now that I think about it, but I felt like it was the only thing I could do. I was uncomfortable in my own skin if that makes sense." He said without meeting her eyes. He felt ashamed that he would even try something like that.

She forced his gaze to hers, "Oscar Pine it is not silly. This is serious, deadly serious. If you're worried that one day you end up becoming him, then you need to find the parts of yourself that are unique to you and hold on to them."

"Unique to me…?" he asked confused.

"What makes you, you?" she asked, only to receive a blank stare. "Nova's a leader but he's a goofball and maybe insane."

"Maybe?" Oscar asked rhetorically, causing her to giggle.

"Okay, he's insane. Yang is explosive, Nitro is earnest, Hex has her technology and sisterly vibes, Ruby is pure, Blake has her silence and bookworm tendencies, and Weiss is well… Weiss. The point is we all have something that identifies us as who we are, something that no one else in the world has. So I think you need to stop focusing on what Ozpin's ingrained in you, and try to focus on what makes you different from him." She explained taking his hand in hers.

"But I don't know what that is…"

"That's the beauty of it. We don't always know what it is, and there's a joy in finding it. You already have it but you just don't see it."

"Do… you see it? What sets me apart that is."

Luna turned slightly pink, grateful that Oscar wasn't a Faunus so he could see her blushing in the darkness, "Maybe…"

"OH You gotta tell me," he said eagerly, his earlier depression slipping away. It was incredible how she had that effect on him, just dragging him out of that pit he'd dug himself into with so little effort.

"Ugh promise you won't laugh?"

Oscar smiled, "Cross my heart."

"Well… Ozpin's cold and has a one-track mind. You on the other hand are caring, a little airheaded but sweet. There's a lot of kindness in you that you share with others, even if it's not intentional. I mean I've only known you for what, two weeks? And I can tell that you care about the relationships you build with people, you treasure them because everyone you're close to is special. You have something that Ozpin will never have." She said with a bright smile.

"And what's that?" he asked, though he was blushing furiously.

"A heart."

Oscar blinked rapidly, "T-Thanks…" he fumbled out of his mouth. An awkward silence fell over them and before they knew it, they'd fallen asleep on the floor, with Luna's head leaning on his shoulder.

* * *

It was Weiss' turn to rouse herself. She physically couldn't fall asleep, the stone kept waking her. At one point she'd mentally threatened to toss it, but she could find no fault in what it was doing. For some reason, it was trying to stop her from sleeping, as if there was something she needed to do.

"I need to use the bathroom…" she mumbled to herself, forcing out of her blanket. She was pretty sure she'd seen a bathroom upstairs, it was just a matter of remembering where it was.

As she approached the staircase she felt a sense of dread wash over her. A creeping feeling like something was up there, watching her out of the corner of her eyes, lurking in the shadows. "Mind over matter Weiss. It's just your imagination."

She inhaled deeply and began her ascent. The floorboards creaked eerily and she swore she picked up the stench of death in the air, but she chalked it up to the fact that this house did hold two dead bodies until recently. *tap* *tap *tap* came the subtle sound of something hitting against the window that stood just at the top of the stairs.

The outside was dark, and the snowstorm was thick. There was no semblance of light other than the silver moonlight washing through the window. *Tap* Tap* *Tap*

It was louder this time, she'd heard it for sure. She approached the window, peering out into the endless dark of the night.

Snow began to fall on the window, the white flakes latching onto the glass one after the other. She figured it was due to a change in wind direction, not uncommon during a blizzard. Still, she was mesmerized by the falling of the snow. It reminded her of the winter nights she would spend as a child, locked in her room hiding from the party her parents had going on downstairs, the snowflakes were her only friends back then.

Suddenly the stone shocked her with cold again forcing her away from the window. She looked down at the stone then back toward the window. Something had changed.

The snowflakes that were settled in what appeared to be random, was no longer random. They formed a picture, a distinct picture that when Weiss realized what it was, she no longer had the voice to scream.

The snowflakes had formed faces in the glass, multiple human faces of varying shapes and sizes, all staring at her with eyeless sockets and open mouths. She felt a shrill screech pierce her ears like a flashbang, but the fact that there was no echo suggested it was her own head that heard the screech. It shook her out of her fear as she tore her gaze from the window and bolted into a nearby room, as her eyes left its glued spot she caught a glimpse of something, she swore it was her imagination, but it was there, in the corner of the window, behind the faces. A ghastly figure, skinny and dark, with a skull for a head and gaping open mouths, glowing red eyes. Maybe it was Grimm, maybe it was something else, she wasn't sure.

She slammed the door behind her and crumpled to the floor, her heart hammering against her chest with ferocity. She gauged her surroundings. She'd stumbled into the children's room, or child's room granted the singular bed.

The stone in her hand suddenly began to glow and she felt her vision blur with images she'd seen before, the ones that were too fast to realize, but now they were slow and clear.

A little Faunus boy, clad in what looked to be a blue and white striped shirt and blue jeans sat playing with his toys. Then the boy heard something outside of his room, and he leaned his ears to the door. Whatever he'd heard scared him and he ran under his covers to hide.

The scene changed and now the boy was looking out of his window with fear on his face, something was scaring him but Weiss couldn't tell what was happening. The picture then changed, the boy was now writing something in his journal, a brown leather-bound book, before he tucked it under his pillow and ran.

Weiss, now brought back to reality, instantly raced for the bed and lifted the pillow. Sure enough, under the fabric was a small leather-bound book, tied together by a strap and a button. On its cover wrote the name 'Michael Frostfang, Mikey'.

Inside detailed the events of the boy's life, the first few pages were nothing abnormal, so she thumbed to the last set of entries and began to read.

"Oh… my… god… we need to get out of here…" she mouthed unable to hold back her fear. Thankfully, the sun was already beginning to rise and the sounds of the blizzard were already dying down, but it seemed exhaustion had taken hold of her and she'd unconsciously fallen asleep on the stairs.

* * *

The next morning Ruby awoke with a start, nightmares flashing through her mind of people screaming as others simply stood there and died without fighting against anything. It made her slightly nauseous, the very memory of it all, but it was just a nightmare... right?

She found Qrow asleep on a chair, the stench of alcohol radiating off of him like heat, a bottle of wine clutched in his limp arm, much to Ruby's disappointment. "Wake up, Uncle Qrow. It's morning," she said rousing her uncle.

The man woke up with a start, fear marring his features, but when he saw Ruby he calmed down, not in a good way. He looked depressed, the bags under his eyes suggested restless sleep, and the lingering stench meant he'd been drinking all night.

"It's still too early... take a load off... I'll wake the rest of you when it's time..." he said grouchily. Ruby nodded and left him alone, but proceeded to do the exact opposite and wake Yang first. Everyone else followed suit, minus Weiss who was nowhere to be seen, each member of the team barely managing to peel their eyes open from a night of restless sleep. Nightmares tormenting them all from the looks of it.

They'd found Luna and Oscar awake, sitting on the porch and chatting away, the two seemed to have grown awfully close as if overnight. After a series of morning routines, Yang and Hex wheeled in the cart they found, it was a sizeable wagon, probably used to carry goods.

"Alright let's see if we can get this thing hooked up…" Qrow said as he approached the two-wheeled cart and raised his foot to touch the wheel, as he did, the other side blew out a flat and deflated.

"You people are just magnets for bad luck aren't you," The old woman said dryly.

"Ugh, who's deflating balloons this early in the morning? And why the hell is it so cold?" a voice said coming from the house.

They all turned their heads to see Nova standing in the doorway, looking quite a bit better, though his skin was still a little pale.

"NOVA!" they all exclaimed looking brighter compared to how they were originally. Ruby ran up and hugged him fiercely, planting a quick kiss on his lips before taking her cloak from around his arms and wrapping it back on herself.

"Thank Oum you're back… I was afraid you'd be 'out cold' until we hit Argus," Ruby said giggling.

Everyone's jaw dropped, "Ruby… did you just… make a pun?!" Yang almost spat out.

"What you guys get to do it and I don't?!"

"No, it's just… unexpected." Hex said looking slightly unnerved.

"Come on, I think I saw a tire pump in the garage, let's go grab that." She replied trying to brush off the subject. Something felt off to Nova. Ruby seemed normal, but the others didn't react the way he'd expected. A few laughs maybe some high fives, but nothing but surprise and mild expression… as if they were… tamer.

It now begged the question, what happened while he was asleep.

"Why should we?" Nitro voiced out, finally. He was unusually quiet given his personality, something which was making Nova and Ruby feel uneasy.

"What do you mean…?" Nova asked eyeing him.

The redhead slumped against the staircase, "It seems to me that that's all we do. Fight to get by. We fight so hard every single time, and each time we just have to fight even more. What's the point?" he asked drearily.

This began to raise some red flags in the leaders' heads. "Nitro, bro, we signed up to save the world?"

"Did we…? Because to me it sounds like we're just delaying the inevitable, Salem can't be killed after all…" now it was Blake's turn to be despondent.

"Don't… say that. We need to make it to Atlas…" Ruby tried to argue.

"And why should we? Ozpin hid the relics behind large doors guarded by powerful Maidens, and Salem hasn't broken the vaults in what a hundred years? More than that? For all we know, we could leave it alone and things would be fine. Think about it, if we just dropped the relic down that well, or buried it, the Grimm would never find it! It'd take them years, maybe not even in our lifetime!" Yang said, sounding bitter and angry.

Nova felt a wave of unease, something was wrong, and it was infectious… so why wasn't he feeling it? Or Ruby?

"Guys please, we have a mission remember? Human lives are at stake!" Luna voiced pleadingly.

"That's bad… but I can't seem to bring myself to care right now…" Oscar said reclining until his back lay flat on the boards.

"…. Oscar?" Luna mouthed looking horrified. The boy had a blank, glass look on his face.

Ruby clutched the lamp in her hands, standing at the edge of the well, staring into its black abyss. "Ruby don't you dare! Whatever it is you're thinking, don't fucking do it!" Nova said in alarm.

The reaper, however, seemed to zone out, staring more into the well, until… she saw it. Eyes as red as crimson peering in from the dark depth. "WAH!" she screamed startled and dropped the lamp.

"OH NO! Oh no no no no!" she panicked while the others seemed morbidly apathetic.

"It's okay Ruby…" Yang said with no emotion at all.

"NO! It's not okay! We need to get that lamp!"

"I don't want to…" Blake groaned.

"WE ARE GOING DOWN THERE NOW!" She screamed startling them out of their stupor.

"Ugh fine… let's just… do whatever…" Hex said with lidded eyes.

* * *

The team filed down the well consecutively, with Ruby heading off first. The tunnels were a sort of waterway under the well, a series of connected pipes, more or less dried up with little runoffs of clean water. It was almost like a sewer had it not smelled like pure water.

As soon as they left, Weiss came through the door, "Ugh sorry guys, I fell asleep on the stairs… guys?" she asked looking around for her team. Only Luna, Oscar, Qrow, and the old woman sat on the porch. The woman was thumbing through the final volume in the history books with keen interest, on the page were the words in bold 'The Apathy'.

"Where are they?"

Oscar who'd sobered up a bit and was pumping the tire full of air pointed to the well.

Weiss was about to ask what they were doing in the well when they heard a shrill scream that was undoubtedly Ruby echoing out.

Ruby raced through the darkness trying to find the lamp. As she turned the corner, she saw it, lying on the floor unharmed, this made her breathe a sigh of relief. She hurried over and picked it up, but when she was ready to turn around and leave, her eyes fell upon the most horrendous sight.

Standing in a horde, in various deformed positions, were the lanky builds of skeletal Grimm, with their bodies hunched over like someone with no care for posture, their heads humanoid skulls with gaping maws. All heads simultaneously turned to her and screeched.

Ruby screamed instantly at the terrifying sight a bolted away, crashing into her team.

"Ruby?! What is it?" Nova asked as he caught her.

"T-There's something down there! EEP!" she squealed as the Grimm turned the corner, slowly, allowing the team to see the monstrous horde that crawled toward them.

Everyone drew their weapons ready for the Grimm to rush them, but the Grimm continued its slow pace, so once they were within firing range, Blake shot a series of bullets at them, which bounced harmlessly off their heads.

"Okay… bulletproof Grimm. Not good. Anyone got any other ideas?" Nitro asked gearing up his fists.

"I got one," Nova stepped forward and extended his left arm, "Roast 'em." He then began to channel his fire to blast the Grimm… except nothing came out.

He blinked in surprise, "Huh?"

"Uh… Nova, shouldn't you be setting them on fire now?" Hex asked worriedly.

"I'm trying!" he said desperately trying to gather energy. The Agniseki flickering like a lightbulb. He felt his arm getting hotter but not enough to do much, still, he shot the fire out anyway. All that came out was a spurt of flames that wasn't much other than a glorified lighter fire.

"SHIT! Okay… what about Maiden Powers?" Nova opted to his magic, his eyes glowing with the powers of the Fall Maiden as he felt the magic surge through him. He aimed at the Grimm and fired off… except the magic backfired on him, exploding in his face causing a blast that knocked him back and the others, encompassing the tunnels in front of him in a fiery explosion.

"Woah! Are you okay?" Ruby asked as she caught him from flying back.

The smoke cleared and a couple of the Grimm had burn marks on them, signaling that fire was effective, but it wasn't enough heat to burn them outright.

"Something's wrong with my powers!" Nova said in a panic. For the first time in a long time, he felt fear. True fear.

"Okay, what's the plan now?!" Yang asked as everyone began slowly backing away from the Grimm.

Suddenly the creatures let out a shriek that reverberated through the whole tunnel. Instantly everyone lowed their weapons unwillingly.

"My… weapon feels… heavy…" Blake said struggling to speak, her ears flattened against her head.

"So does… my body…" Nitro voiced weakly.

"Guys… pick yourselves up. Those things aren't fast but our attacks have no effect, we need to run!" Nova yelled, seeming the only one barely affected.

Everyone mustered whatever will they could and instantly bolted down the waterway, following the tunnels they weren't sure where they were going in the darkness until they came across the old woman and Weiss standing in the tunnels looking panicked.

"Weiss?! Old lady?!" Ruby exclaimed as they almost crashed into them.

"Quickly! No time! There's a way out follow us!" Weiss said in a panic beckoning them. The team followed the pair through the tunnels until they emerged through a hole in the wall to a staircase with barrels at the bottom. The Grimm however were right on their heels as just on the other side of the wall, a new group had found its way to them.

As they were about to climb the staircase to safety, the Grimm echoed a loud screech again, this time several in succession.

Everyone in the room felt their legs give out from under them as they crashed to the floor, not quite paralyzed but they didn't have the will to move.

"Come… on… it's… right there…." Ruby said as she crawled toward the staircase.

The Grimm were upon them, however.

"Blake move!" Ruby screamed but the catgirl just lay there, unmoving.

"It's… fine…" Blake mouthed, her eyes wide open but her face held no fear or emotion.

One of the Grimm approached her, reaching its long claws down, inching ever so close to her face.

Ruby felt a shot of fear in her, fear and power, and at that moment, the necklace beneath her cloak began to glow, "BLAKE!" she yelled with such emotion driving through her that her eyes lit up, encompassing the entire tunnel in silver light pushing the Grimm back as they screamed in pain.

Instantly everyone felt their strength return as they scrambled for safety, "What just happened?" the old woman asked curiously.

"Never mind that! We need to leave!"

They were almost all to the staircase when the Grimm shrieked again collapsing them.

The old woman rushed to Ruby, she was the only one somewhat capable, "Child what colour are your eyes?"

Ruby weakly turned over to her, "Silver…"

Were it not for the gravity of the situation, Ruby would've seen the surprise on her face.

"Quickly, you need to think about what drives you. Do you have a family? What about your friends?"

"What does that have to…" Ruby mouthed.

"Shut up and listen, what is it that you feel strongly for? What do you have a strong emotional connection to? It's the key to your eyes!"

Ruby shut her eyes and began to think.

"The urge to protect others. To become the guardian of those you care about! Protect them!"

Yang and the others had all but fallen, Nova was barely awake, rolling over to use his last ounce of strength to push through, he crawled his way to Ruby's side and took her hand in his.

"I… don't want this to be our last moments, Ruby…" he said weakly, his strength giving under him as he fell at her side.

This seemed to spark something in the reaper as she awakened with vigour, turning her eyes to the Grimm as they turned pure shining silver, beams of light shot out of them encompassing the room.

The Grimm shrieked in terror, trying to push away the light but it could not hide. The silver light enveloped them all, disintegrating them.

"What just happened…?" Hex asked looking at Ruby.

"Doesn't matter. MOVE NOW!" Nova instructed with renewed vigour. They all climbed up the staircase into the wine cellar. Rushing through the house and into the bar where they found Qrow drinking.

"Qrow! We need to get the fuck out of here!" Nova yelled at his uncle.

"Uh… what are you kids…" he groaned.

"Fuck this…" Nova grabbed him by the collar and bolted out of the door with the team in tow.

A screech was heard from the cellar signalling that more were coming.

"WEISS THE ALCOHOL!" Ruby said in realization.

Weiss nodded in understanding and began throwing bottles of alcohol at the doorway they came through.

"HEY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Qrow screamed in protest as he fought against Nova but the boy was still too strong for his uncle.

Weiss then drew a fire glyph and set the room ablaze while everyone scrambled onto the cart, with Yang driving Bumblebee.

As they left the village they saw the house go up in flames, not a single bit sorry for it.

* * *

"The Apathy." The old woman said as they were finally out of danger. "They're not ferocious, or ravenous like other Grimm, but deadly all the same, even more so. The signs were all there but I was too blind to see it. They usually wander in small groups, but those were in a huge pack…"

"You know about those things?" Hex asked as she leaned against the cart.

"Found one or two in my time yes. Normally they're not supposed to be in places like that. It's not natural, but this here explains a lot…" she waved the final volume of the village books.

"According to this, the village head wrote his secrets in it. Apparently, establishing a village with no constant Hunstman protection was dangerous since people attract Grimm. Just a single argument could lead to disastrous results. He needed everyone compliant, at all times." The lady began to summarize.

"What are you saying…?" Oscar asked with interest.

"The head found a couple of Apathy wandering around outside the village. A pair, normally dangerous in a pack, two lone ones were easy enough for a normal person to capture given their well apathetic nature. He stored them in his cellar and locked them down. Their subtle influence made people more agreeable… well… with effects. Of course, it was controllable up until the pack came around looking for their missing pair. They made their way into the village through the underground water tunnels and with enough Apathy, began to drain the whole village."

"That's horrifying…" Blake mouthed placing her hand over her lips.

"Says it right here… 'No one would argue, no one would fight. No one was happy… no one was sad, until… no one was anything anymore. I'm so tired'." She read aloud from the book.

"So… this Apathy, fed on people's emotions? Making them drained and feeding them negativity until they just gave up the will to go on? That's when it got them?" Nova asked with concern marring his features.

The old woman nodded, "Exactly, it explains why you were all feeling so tired just by being in the village. Why everyone was so restless and irritable."

"Do these Grimm have the ability to make you see things?" Weiss asked, remembering the horrid images in the window.

The old woman eyed her carefully, "Uh… no? They're not supposed to. Why?"

Weiss felt a chill crawl down her spine, "Uh… well I found this…" she held out the book she'd found in the boy's bedroom.

"This belonged to the son of the people living in that house. Most of the entries are typical of a kid, except for the last few. One is about how the adults in the village seemed different, they were sleeping more often, not doing as many things. The kids would play outside all day and no one would care.

The next one talks about the older kids, they were falling ill, looking tired. The parents weren't cooking for them, no one was doing anything, the kids had to find food on their own.

The following one talks about a group of kids trying to leave, but none of them made it very far… screams in the forest and garbled noises according to the writing." As Weiss read aloud Luna wanted to vomit. Hearing the story from the perspective of a child was much more horrifying than the other books, even the old woman looked mortified.

"The last entry says that the kids had run out of most food, and were tired of eating from cans. The boy gathered some of his stuff, ready to leave. He'd heard his parents finally moving one night, at least, he thought it was until there was a scream and the sound of dragging feet, and horrible scraping noises. He packed up his family's most precious item, a gem that his mother cherished, and a few of his toys and made a run for it. He figured he could sell the gem and toys for money to make a living, smart kid. That's where it ends though…" Weiss said with a tear in her eye.

"Adults are like a hive of dark thoughts and raw emotions. That explains why they fell first and most of the kids were unaffected," Qrow said bitterly, "What I want to know is what happened to the kid..."

Nova grimaced, " I think I can fill in the blanks…"

They all looked to him with curiosity.

"When I was in the lake, I saw things at the bottom… it was confusing back then but it makes sense now that I know the rest of the story. Seems like the kids were chased by the Apathy. It followed them out of the village. They thought they could outrun it by swimming across the lake, this was before everything snowed over. The moment they were in the water though, I think the Apathy used its scream on them, and…"

"They all lost the will to go on, and let themselves drown…" Oscar said with horror.

Nova nodded, "Exactly. At the bottom of the lake was like a graveyard. I even found that gem in the hands of a child's skeleton. I think that gemstone, the Fragment of Remnant that we found, it froze the lake over, sealing the bodies. There was so much negativity that it drew in The Phantom, and when the snow came in, it froze over the lake sealing The Phantom down there. That explains why the bones looked so fresh even though they'd been down there a while."

"The Phantom?!" They all exclaimed, even the old woman.

"That thing's a legend. You're saying you fought it and survived?!" The old woman said.

Nova blanched, "Oh there is so much you don't know about us."

"I doubt that _your highness,_" she said with a smirk. This startled everyone.

"HUH?!"

"Took me a while, it really did, but now that my eyes got a good glimpse of you and the talk about Fragments of Remnant, well, there's only _one _family that comes to mind young prince," The lady said chuckling.

"Who… are you? Even back then how did you know about my silver eyes?" Ruby asked with interest.

The woman laughed, "Well, I do suppose its time I introduced myself. Honestly stuck out in the wilderness and not one of you asked me my name…"

Nova facepalmed, "Shit… well with all that went on, names weren't exactly on our priority list… so now's a good a time as any. Lady, just who in the living hell are you?"

She sat at the edge of the cart, her legs leaning over, "My name is Maria Calavera, and I once had Silver Eyes too."

* * *

**And what are your thoughts on how I treated the Apathy? I wanted to make it a lot more supernatural, but then I wanted to go down the whole Lovecraftian plaguing your mind with subtleties of madness vibe. This was my compromise.**

**The thing with Weiss seeing faces in the glass is the Fragment giving a voice to the restless souls of the dead that still lingered in the village. The Fragments of Remnant have minds of their own, kinda. They are capable of storing memory, events that have directly influenced the stone are stored in them like video footage and are shown to whoever has the right to wield its power. The first instance of this was when Nova found the Agniseki and was given visions of the experiments on it.**

**What will Maria tell Ruby about her Silver Eyes? Will Nova's powers get fixed? Will Oscar stop being awkward around Luna? Find out next time on this crappy fic.**


	58. Chapter 58: Frozen Seaside City

**I feel like I'm eternally apologizing for being late but it really wasn't my fault. University's starting soon so I had an enormous amount of stuff to do this week for it. I got sidetracked, mentally lost, and then got hit with mental block along the way.**

**Also thanks so much for the kind words on last chapter guys, it means a lot. And KawaiiMomoko-chan thanks for saying this is a great fic, to me it will always be somewhat crappy cuz I can't write as well as I want cuz I do lack some writing experience.**

**I have a way I want to do Ruby's training and Oscar's arc, but I need time to truly polish it the way I want it to flow, so you'll have to suffer with a short chapter this time so I can really pack the heat next chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 58: Argus It's going to be an emotional drama**

* * *

"My name is Maria Calavera, and I once had Silver Eyes too," the old woman said, watching the faces of everyone in the carriage spring in surprise and awe, especially Qrow who looked about ready to have a seizure.

"WHAT?!"

"Is it so hard to believe I was once a huntress like you?" Maria asked looking genuinely offended.

"No, it's not that. Silver Eyes?! Really?" Ruby peered closer looking interested.

"Never mind that! Maria Calavera you… you're the Grim Reaper!" Qrow said with wondrous awe. For the first time since they left Haven, they'd seen the semblance of a smile ghost the lips of the depressed Huntsman. "YOU WERE A LEGEND! My hero! I based my weapon off of yours, I wanted to be just like you!"

The old woman did not smile, "Yes well… looks like I'm nothing more than a washed-up disappointment, just like a lot of the things happening right now…" she said grimly, and the thick veil of worry that had temporarily lifted over the party had returned just like that. Still, Ruby refused to be kept down.

"Wait… Calavera… are you perhaps related to Raisa Calavera?" Ruby asked. Nova had to admire her, the ability to speak above the doom and gloom like it wasn't pressing was astonishing. A trait of a true leader, something that even he still struggles to make work, but Ruby Rose pulled it off like it was nothing.

"You mean that old lady we met back in Mistral?" Nova prompted, remembering their escapades in the bank.

The woman made a humming noise, "You know my older sister? So the broad is still alive and kicking… seems like even old age won't take her…"

Everyone deadpanned, they could tell there was some sibling rivalry going on.

"Yes, she had silver eyes too, and… unfortunately she more versed in using them than I was… well in some aspects. I still beat her ass six ways to Sunday in a fight every time." She said proudly, holding her head high.

Ruby wasted no time, "Can you teach me how to use my eyes?"

The woman sighed, as if knowing the question was coming, "My dear, for everything that you've done to protect me, even _if _most of it was your own faults, I am grateful."

Ruby perked up looking hopeful.

"BUT!" this caused Ruby to deflate, "I can't teach you how to use the eyes. I can only offer small bits of advice. If you really want to learn more then…" she was about to say 'go to my sister', but the idea of letting her sister one-up her in the aspect of having a protégé irritated her, "You know what? I will teach you, but it won't be easy, and we need time."

"Which is something we don't have a lot of…" Nova said darkly.

"Exactly… still until we get to Atlas, I'll do my best."

"LOOK! I see the city walls!" Yang said as she drove the bike uphill. As the cart behind it crested the top of the mound they could see the gleaming city of Argus, resting comfortably on the shore of the ocean that separated Atlas and Mistral.

"OH I got a signal!" Ruby said holding up her scroll. She scrolled through her list of contacts and found Jaune's phone number.

'_Hello? RUBY?!'_ it was Nora who answered.

"NORA?! HOLY SHIT THANK OUM! We're almost to Argus, meet us outside in five minutes?"

* * *

As the team finally dragged their weary hides to the outer gates of Argus, they could see the market stalls and guard posts that lined the cobblestone entryway. It was a large open area just within the walls, a sort of tourist hub that gave people time to marvel at the massive walls that acted as a defence for the city.

"CUTE! BOY! OZ!" They heard the shrill shriek of an unmistakable orange-haired Valkyrie within the crowd of people.

"Oh… god… no…" was all Oscar had time to say before the rocketing body of Nora crashed into him tackling him to the floor. The rest of the team followed with Jaune and Ren running up to meet everyone.

At the back of it all was Elain looking worried and nervous until she saw them.

"Hey, mom… OOF!" Nova choked out as his mother ran into him and glomped him, Luna, Ruby, and Weiss in an uncomfortably large hug.

"Nice… to… see you too… Dr. E…" Weiss choked out her face turning slightly blue.

"Hey, Aunty Ellie!" Ruby chirped hugging back the warm lady.

"Weiss honey, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Auntie or just Ellie? Drop the honorifics," Elain berated the Schnee.

"Sorry Doctor… I mean Aunty…" Weiss said embarrassed.

"Honestly, you kids will be the death of me. Do you have any idea how worried I was?!" Elain said rubbing her thumb over Ruby and Luna's faces wiping off the dirt.

"Sorry mom, it was kind of a rough experience…" Nova said, his eyes falling downward.

She eyed him with curiosity, then worry, and instantly grabbed his hand, "You're cold…"

Nova tried to play it off, "Well it _is _freezing outside… anyone would be cold."

Elain shot him an irritated look, "Miss me with the bullshit… tell me everything…"

The dragon held a pained expression and a sad smile, before clapping his hands and shaking himself. It seemed to change his solemn demeanour instantly, "Alright! I don't know about the rest of you but I'm starving. You might've eaten the ancient canned beans but I need food!"

"Oh right! You were unconscious for a whole day…" Nitro pointed out realizing his friend hadn't eaten anything since they got stranded in the snow.

"WAH?! Unconscious?!" Nora piped up looking worried.

Nova waved it off, "We'll tell you about it later, for now… you guys know where we can stay for a few days? We're exhausted," he said gesturing to him and his team who looked barely alive.

Jaune blinked rapidly, "AH! Right, we'll take you there. You're gonna love them."

"Them?" simultaneously said ASHNRWBY.

* * *

Argus was beautiful in every essence of the word. Unlike Vale with its grey cityscape and overly modernized structure or Mistral with its natural focused aesthetic, Argus was a balance. Its stone streets and lack of cars mixed in with its intricately designed buildings that seemed to come from a time many decades ago, the city was like something out of a movie. The snow that settled on every rooftop, windowsill, and tree seemed to just accentuate the comfy feeling the city radiated, it wasn't chaotic and bustling, but peaceful and calm, as if the people there didn't feel the constant need to busy themselves.

"You know, Argus is the largest city to be built outside of the main kingdoms," Jaune said proudly as if he lived here. They were traveling in a tram across the city as Jaune gave them a tour.

"What? No way," Hex waved her hand, "I hear there's a huge settlement in Vacuo's desert that's supposed to be bigger."

"But, the desert portion is still considered relatively close to the kingdom compared to Argus so…" Ren countered.

"Wait… wouldn't it be hard to settle something this big outside the main city?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Well it was… until Mantle showed up," Jaune explained as if it were obvious what Mantle did.

"Huh?" Nova was confused.

Jaune facepalmed, "Oh right, sorry. Mantle settlers helped them survive the cold in return for goods Solitace couldn't provide."

"And Atlas planted a military presence here to keep the people safe, and keep healthy relationships between the kingdoms." Ren supplied.

"So… where exactly have you guys been staying this whole time?" Oscar asked as they stepped off the tram.

Jaune chuckled nervously, "Uh…"

"OH! There you are! I've been looking all over for you guys," a voice said coming from the other side of the street. They all turned to see a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes holding a baby with black hair and brown eyes.

Instantly recognition fell on everyone's faces as they glanced between Jaune and the woman.

"Jaune… the baby's not yours is it? Because I can't deal with two babies at once…" Luna whispered pointing to Nova discreetly.

Jaune looked flustered, "WAH NO! Guys this is my sister, Saphron."

Jaune's sister's house was neat and large, with a living room large enough to hold everyone. It was surprising but their only assumption was that she was well off.

"Are you sure you're good with letting us stay here?" Ruby asked trying to be polite as they sat on the couches with the baby, named Adrien, playing on the rug with Weiss, Yang, and Nova.

"Perfectly fine, we're happy to house Huntsmen and Huntresses, you guys already risk so much for us," Saphron responded happily as she tried to mess with Jaune's hair, the latter of which was desperately trying to fight her off. "Speaking of which…" she turned to Qrow, "You're having students help you on an official mission… is that even legal?"

Qrow almost choked on his flask, "Uh… well, it was officially allowed and if it's a question of their skill, they're way better than us back when we were their age… well except me of course…"

"Oh please old man, I'd kick your ass any day," Nova said proudly, folding his arms.

"Wanna test that theory?" Qrow said with a glint of his former self.

"Gladly…"

"Kids, please, the city can't handle spontaneous combustion, even if it _is winter_," Weiss said pinching Nova on the arm, earning a yelp.

"Heh, serves you right-OW!" he cried out as Ruby and Luna smacked him over the head.

"Same goes for you too uncle Qrow," Ruby eyed him.

"Sheesh… fine…" he settled down.

Hex snickered as an idea popped into her head, "Hey Saphron, got any embarrassing stories to tell about Jaune?"

The blonde boy in question began to pale, "Please… no…"

"Of course!" Saphron clapped her hands excitedly, "I'd love to share stories about my baby brother!"

Jaune huffed, "I AM NOT A BABY! THAT IS A BABY!" he angrily pointed toward the general spot on the rug.

Adrien and Nova looked up simultaneously confused, and both proceeded to simultaneously fold their arms in annoyance.

Ruby almost choked at Nova's expense, it was just too funny to see her boyfriend pout like that.

"I'm homeee~" rang a voice as they entered the house. It was a woman with dark skin and brown hair, she looked like Adrien. "Woah, quite the party here," she said noticing the team as she moved to place groceries into the kitchen.

"Everyone this is my wife Tera," Saphron introduced as Tera joined them.

"Nice to meet you all, Oh! Your highnesses, I greet you," Tera said bowing politely before Nova and Luna. Elain tried to shrink away to avoid interaction.

"You know about us?" Luna asked looking confused more than surprised because at this point nothing was surprising about that statement.

"Of course! I heard your little speech during the Vytal Tournament. Quite inspiring," she said lightly with a smile, looking toward Nova.

"Highnesses? Tera why didn't you tell me they were royalty earlier!" Saphron said elbowing her wife, "I would've gotten the good snacks…"

Nova's sweatdropped, "Uhhh, you really don't need to do that… right, mom?" Nova asked turning to Elain who almost smashed her head against a wall in frustration.

"MOM?!" Tera and Saphron exclaimed as they looked to the woman who'd been staying with them for three days.

Elain rubbed the back of her head and her ears flattened, "Eheheheh…"

"Damnit, a queen _and _the heirs living under our roof…" Saphron face-palmed. "I feel like I need to change now…"

"It's fine Ma'am… really…" Luna said embarrassed.

"So, what are your plans while you're here?" Saphron asked as she got food from the kitchen, Ren and Nora went to help her prepare sandwiches for the team.

"We're hoping to head to Atlas, so we'll start with the military base and try to get some transport…" Nova said chowing down on a sandwich only to bite into bologna, to which he casually picked it out and tossed it to Ruby who caught it and placed it in her own.

"Eheh… about that…" Jaune said nervously, "We already tried… and failed… and things got heated and we kinda sorta maybe let Nora on a rampage…?"

Nova paled, "Please tell me there weren't any casualties…"

"None to anything organic?" Jaune offered.

"Oh boy…"

* * *

The base was larger up close than they expected. With ten-foot-tall walls and heavily armed security guarding what seemed to be a central command hub built into the island mountain that extended from the mainland, it was like a small fortress. The team crossed the extremely lengthy walkway to the gates and were immediately met with shut bars and two guards that were practically twins of themselves.

"No one is allowed to enter this base without permission by order of the esteemed General Ironwood!" the guards said simultaneously.

Qrow grimaced, they were like lapdogs. "Yeah James Ironwood. We know the situation but we have Weiss Schnee here with us and we'd like to return her home safely," he gestured to Weiss who looked nervous.

Luna walked up and held her hand for comfort. She smiled weakly as if the semblance of support helped wonders.

The two guards eyed Weiss, "Hmm… we shall alert our commanding officer." They said again.

A few minutes later a short woman with pale white skin and grey hair strut forward in a white Atlas commander's outfit.

"Who is that so desperately desires to enter this compound that they'd bring up the great… OH MISS SCHNEE!" she said in surprise upon seeing Weiss' face.

"Hey, lady, we need to escort Weiss back home, so if you'd be so kind as to let us in and give us a ship…" Qrow said dryly.

Instantly the lady sobered up, "By order of the great, infallible and almightly Atlas Military, I Special Operative Caroline Cordovin, shall not allow anyone through the Atlas borders. Miss Schnee is fine, but in the company of her… questionable associates, this I cannot allow." She said eyeing Blake, Luna, Nova, and Elain.

This made everyone on the team's blood boil, Ruby herself looked ready to pick up Crescent Rose.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss shot out raising her eyebrow, pulling the all-powerful and infamous Schnee bitch-face.

Then the short lady spotted Nora, "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NEVER TO COME BACK HERE AGAIN!"

"AND I SAID THAT WE WON'T REST TIL YOU LET US THROUGH! BE IT BLOOD OR BONES I WILL GET IN!" Nora screeched while Ren and Jaune held her back.

"Cordovin… I thought I heard the sound of an animal screeching," Maria said walking up to the front of the group.

The two old ladies stood at the exact same height, in a stare-off. "Maria Calavera… its been decades of peace and quiet and now you turn up to spoil the air…" Cordovin said with disgust.

Everyone facepalmed, this wasn't good.

"Same old Cordovin, still the lapdog of the Atlas Military and still walking around with that stick shoved up your-"

"OKAY!" Nova said pulling the old woman away, "Listen, Madam Cordovin, it is a matter of international importance that you get us to Atlas, it's highly likely that there are known terrorists planning an assault as we speak and we need to warn Ironwood." He said pulling his commander attitude.

Caroline eyed him, "A likely story… but also likely fake… Since CCT is down, I can't radio to Ironwood… I cannot allow you entry since you have no proof. Miss Schnee, you can come with me now…"

"No."

"Excuse me?" she asked looking confused.

"I said no. I will not go anywhere without them." Weiss said sternly.

"Well, Miss Schnee, know that if you change your mind its open for you, and you _alone_"

Nitro whispered to Nova, "Should we pull the royalty card?"

"Don't bother. Woman's clearly a Faunus hater, pulling that won't mean anything."

The team began to walk off, "Cordovin doesn't hate the Faunus, just the White Fang." Maria explained.

"But they're gone now! Why would she…" Blake prompted.

"Old habits die hard."

"Come on guys! There has to be something we can do! We have the great Ozpin with us, he knows what to do!" Nora said holding up Oscar like a puppy.

Everyone paled, Nova grimaced hard "About that…"

* * *

"RAAAAAAH!" Jaune punched the wall in frustration cracking it with the force of the impact.

"Jaune, I know how it feels but calm down…" Ruby said trying to appease him. Nova watched him with a stern gaze, Jaune's emotions about the fall of Beacon were already unstable, and finding out the truth of Ozpin seemed to do more harm than expected. When someone was in that emotional state there is no telling what they could do.

"Calm down? You expect me to calm down after that?!" he held his face in his hands, "All this time… ALL THIS FUCKING TIME HE'S BEEN PLAYING US FOR FOOLS!"

"Every fucking thing has been for nothing…" he continued to stomp around in his anger.

"No… it's not…" Hex tried to say.

"Really? Because it sure sounds like it," Nora said as she screamed into her hands.

"If Salem can't be killed then what's the point of even trying?" Ren said despairingly.

"Look, I know it's rough but there's still hope…" Oscar pleaded, his face a mix of fear and guilt.

Jaune turned to him with a dangerous look in his eyes, "YOU!" he rushed forward and pinned Oscar to the wall, "He's been in your head! HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOW?!"

Nova and Nitro were on him instantly, pinning Jaune's arms behind him, "Jaune chill the fuck out or I break your arms… multiple times over…" the dragon threatened darkly, glaring at Jaune intently.

Jaune struggled against the restraints with impressive strength, still, the other two were physically superior even without their aura, "HOW DO WE KNOW WE HAVEN'T BEEN TALKING TO THE LIAR THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Jaune roared staring at Oscar.

The amount of anger was surprising for the young boy, so Nova opted for a different approach, and relinquished is hold, instead, draped an arm around Jaune, "Its no him, for sure."

"And how do you know that?!" Jaune replied, tears stinging his eyes.

"Because I can attest to it. It's… something personal and I don't think Oscar would want me to share it so, please trust me when I say, that is Oscar and not Ozpin…" Luna said speaking up for the boy.

Jaune hesitated, before drooping, and letting him go, "I…. just… it means that Pyrrha took that burden and almost died for nothing…"

"Jaune…" Nitro tried to comfort his friend but Jaune brushed him off. "I… need some time alone…" and with that, he stormed off into the city.

The others, too depressed to continue, just dispersed in silence, with Ruby and Nova leaving to the back yard while Luna tried to comfort Oscar.

* * *

Ruby tried calling Qrow, but it just went to voicemail. "ARGH FUCKING HELL QROW WHERE ARE YOU?!" Ruby yelled in frustration tossing her scroll in anger, scaring away the blue butterflies that hung around the various plants that adorned the Cotta-Arc household. The older huntsman had disappeared before they returned, most likely out drinking.

Nova caught the scroll, "Woah there. Don't take it out on the technology. Poor thing survived Beacon and Mistral, don't kill it with your rage now," he dusted it off and handed her. Instead of taking it Ruby hugged him and buried her face in his chest.

Nova sighed and pulled her close, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her forehead, "I know it sucks. We have a shitty irresponsible drunkard, an emotionally distressed team and the threat of the apocalypse looming over us, but look on the bright side, at least we have each other?" he said with a half-smile.

She giggled in his shirt and wiped a tear away, "You're full of cheese you know that?"

"I happen to know you love cheese," he said lightly.

"Fuck you for being stupid, and sweet…" she smiled and leaned up.

"Woah there potty mouth, I guess I gotta take responsibility for that…" he was about to close the gap when a loud AHEM was sounded making them freeze.

"You know I came outside to avoid the shouting and here I am getting a show, please if you're going to do your little couple routine, save it for behind closed doors…" Maria said amused.

They jumped back and turned to the old woman.

"We uh…" Nova faltered, "Are sorry?"

Maria chuckled, "No harm kid. I was once young and in love too, though he got eaten by a Grimm before I could tell him so…"

Ruby flinched, "Yikes… sorry…"

"That was more than fifty years ago so don't worry about it. On another note, you two don't give yourselves enough credit," she said reclining on her chair.

"Thank you?" the reaper opted.

"It wasn't exactly a compliment. I think the both of you need to stop thinking that you need to carry everyone's burden on your shoulders and just carry yourselves. Things will work out better that way."

"Wise words, you almost sound like your sister," Nova said with a chuckle.

"Speaking of which… can you teach me how to use my eyes now?" Ruby asked with a gleam.

Maria sighed, "Sure, take a seat."

Ruby sat on the wooden floor of the porch.

"Tell me, child, what do you know about your eyes?"

Ruby thought for a moment, "Well… I know that they're rare, and I once turned a giant Wyvern to stone, and vaporized those Apathy!"

"Oh boy… this is going to be rough…" Maria said dryly.

"Use the force of your emotions, Ruby…" a distant voice echoed in the air.

They all turned around rapidly looking for the source, but none was found.

"Who's there?!" Nova shouted ready to draw Helios.

A pink glowing cherry blossom petal flittered by and Maria groaned very loudly, "OH FOR THE LOVE OF… QUIT MESSING WITH THEM AND SHOW YOURSELF, RAISA!" Maria shouted shaking her stick at the air.

A rush of cherry blossom petals appeared and whirled around a spot before the image of a short, very old woman who looked very similar to Maria appeared, except her eyes were closed.

She wore a pink dress and her hair was tied in a bun, walking with a cane that looked like Maria's but the skull was white instead of dark blue.

"Hello children, long time no see," Raisa Calavera said with a smile.

"Old lady! What're you doing here?" Nova gasped.

"Oh you know, drifting through the world as I always do, when I hear the awful voice of my younger sister grating in my ears. Then I hear the young reaper's voice and well… I come to find Maria's trying to steal my pupil."

"Your pupil? She came to me first!" Maria fought down.

"Oh please, I found her first, finders keepers," Raisa shot back.

"Really? Because I always thought you were a weeping loser instead!" Maria countered.

Ruby and Nova felt their sweatdrop. "Um… how did you… do that?" Nova asked.

"The petals?" Raisa said, "Oh, it's my semblance. I can use any flower petal native to a country of origin and use them to transport myself to places I've been before or people I've already met. It just gets me around."

"It's so annoying honestly…" Maria spat.

Raisa turned to Ruby and folded her arms, "Ruby Rose, are you ready to learn the secrets of the Silver Eyes?"

"More than ready," she responded excitedly.

Nova kissed his girlfriend on the cheek, "I'll see you later love, I think I need to help the team patch themselves up," he said before dipping through the door.

* * *

Back inside Oscar sunk the floor at the wall where Jaune had pinned him previously, and Luna sat with him. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his eyes were glassy and distant. This worried the blue dragon as she knew the extent of his mental state and for Jaune, someone they trust, to have turned in on him like that... the boy must be shaken beyond all measure.

"Oscar..." Luna started to say, but the boy cut her off.

"I... don't know anymore, Luna," he said dejectedly. The hurt was evident in his voice. "It seems that, everywhere I go, no matter what I do, or how hard I try to not be Ozpin, his sins keep coming at me and I have to pay the price for his cowardice..."

"Hey, don't think like that. You don't have to face these problems alone..."

"Don't I? It seems to me that despite it all, because that coward chose to run and hide, I'm being forced to take his place and be everyone's punching bag to vent their frustrations... I hate this... I hate him and I hate myself for just outright existing because apparently just wanting to be Oscar Pine is a goddamn crime," he cursed, balling up his fists as tears threatened to take hold of him.

"Then let me help you..." Luna said clutching his shoulder.

"How Luna? How can you help me now?!" He said with a pained expression.

"I..." she wanted to say that she could do something, but what could she do? This was a fight that Oscar had to deal with himself, something he had to come to terms with himself. It wasn't something any matter of council could fix.

When he saw her saddening expression, it stung him deeply to see her face like that, and know that he was the cause. He sighed deeply, "Luna... I'm sorry, I know you mean well, and I appreciate it, I really do... but right now I need to figure this out on my own."

"What are you..."

Oscar got up, wiped the tears from his face, and walked to the door, "I'm going to cool off," he said before slamming the door shut behind him. Not a single person was around to see him leave besides Luna.

* * *

Jaune stood staring at a statue of Pyrrha and Nova in the center of Argus, well it was supposed to be Nova but they got his proportions all wrong, his chest was far too wide and his horns were too large, and the face was slightly too sharp, but otherwise it was a decent resemblance. On it read a plaque, 'To the Heroes Who Sacrificed Everything: Pyrrha Nikos and Nova Flareheart'.

At first, Jaune was curious as to why they added Nova but then he remembered that the world assumed Nova had died during the fall of Beacon, and that he'd given his life to protect his friend Pyrrha. The statue was off the two fighting side by side, it was such detailed work that only a master craftsman would have been able to pull it off. The spot was less populated since it was evening, but park where the statue was encircled by benches and hedges, it would've made for a good relaxing spot.

Compared to Nova, Pyrrha's statue looked like the spitting image of her, they got every detail right down to the cracks in her armour.

"What am I supposed to do now Pyrrha? I feel so helpless and lost, especially now that you're not here..." Jaune said aloud, staring up at the stone image as if he were talking to the real one.

"You know she's not dead right?" Nova said emerging from his lurking spot behind a hedge.

Jaune jumped back startled, "WAH! Oh... it's you."

Nova looked offended, "Hey, that sounded hurtful."

Jaune winced, "Sorry... it's just... I miss her so much that..."

Nova held him by the shoulder, "I know what that feels like Jaune, trust me. If I were to be separated from Ruby again, I'm not sure I'd be able to handle myself. For you to go on so long, it must've been hard on your mind."

Jaune sighed, "Listen I'm sorry for exploding back there it's just..."

"Dude, relax. I admit you were rash, but I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

Jaune's eyes widened in horror, "Oh... my... Oscar! He's just a kid and I..."

"He's a kid and he's also suffering enough from his identity crisis as is, so I'd say you owe him a HUGE apology."

Nova's ears twitched at the sound of approaching footsteps. He turned to see a woman with red hair, green eyes, she looked exactly like Pyrrha, but shorter and a bit older.

"Surprised to see people out here when all the rage is at the hospital," the woman said with a light smile. "Are you friends of Pyrrha's? You with the white hair kinda look that statue..." she pointed to the stone Nova.

The dragon realized what the statue was supposed to be and almost choked on his own air, "IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE ME?! Who the hell gave them these proportions... I mean just look at my ass! I happen to have a great ass!"

"So I was spot on? I thought this person was dead," she said pointing to stone Nova.

"Yeah well, more like just assumed killed in action. The question is... who are you?" Nova asked curiously.

The woman looked flustered, "Oh, sorry. I'm Pyrrha's mother, Crysanthemum Nikos, but you can call me Cris, it's a lot easier than my full name."

Jaune instantly bolted alert, "M-m-mother?!"

Nova elbowed Jaune and winked, "Well, well, well. Miss Cris, I'm Nova Flareheart, and this baffled blonde is Jaune Arc, he's your daughter's -OOF!"

Jaune slapped Nova's mouth shut, "Her friend! I was her team leader back at Beacon!" he said laughing to play it off.

"Mr. Flareheart, if you are really the person in the statue, then... from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for saving my daughter's life... My family and I are forever in your debt..." she said bowing with a red face.

Nova bowed in return, "No thanks necessary, I was just doing what any friend would do..."

"Friend huh? Maybe that might jumpstart her a bit if she saw a familiar face..." Cris said with a downcast gaze.

"What does that mean?" Nova asked, concerned.

"You mean you guys don't know? That explains why you're here..." she said pensively, "Pyrrha woke up and the doctors moved her to the hospital here for special care. Most of her admirers and fans have been hanging around the hospital hoping she's alright. I don't blame them honestly, she's an inspiration to so many... you to Mr. Flareheart.

"She's here?! As in Argus?!" Nova exclaimed with vigour.

"Yes, if you'd like I can take you..."

Jaune was instant, "Please..."

* * *

The Argus Hospital was clean and modern, much more advanced than it looked from the outside. There were a number of people in the waiting area, all crowded and chattering though none of them looked sick. At the front of the room stood a desk with a microphone system and a very tired looking clerk who seemed to have been sitting there all day. He then received a message on her scroll that seemed to relieve him deeply.

Jaune and Nova observed as the clerk got up, took the microphone and spoke with a tone that sounded like he was hiding his smile, "Visiting hours are closed for the day, Miss Nikos is not and will not be accepting any visitors, well-wishers or distant cousins to see her. You may all leave!"

The crowd of people all groaned simultaneously before filtering out of the room in a semi-orderly fashion, leaving an empty white waiting area and the trio staring down the tired clerk, "And what do you three want?"

"We're here to see Pyrrha," Nova said walking up to the desk with the others.

The clerk deadpanned, "Are you for real? Did you not just hear me?"

Cris approached him, "I'm Pyrrha's mother, or have you forgotten that I have unlimited access to her? These two are her friends from Beacon, her team leader" she gestured to Jaune, "and the Faunus Prince that saved her life!" she pointed to Nova.

The clerk looked unimpressed, "And I'm supposed to just let you waltz in? I don't care if you're goddamn General Ironwood, I am not compromising the rules..."

Nova sighed, straightened himself, and took up his commanding tone, "Listen Mister..." he looked at the name tag, "Carlson, as her friend and the person who's statue is literally a few blocks away, I think we deserve at least five minutes with her. Please..."

The clerk wanted to argue but the tone of Nova's voice was so commanding that he had to comply, "Fine... right this way your highness..."

He led them through several corridors before they arrived at a room with the label on the door 'Pyrrha Nikos'.

Jaune held his breath as he stared at the closed door. This was it. He was finally going to see the love of his life. For some reason, this made him ten times more nervous.

"Look kid I don't got all day... so just..." the clerk reached past him and opened the door.

Sitting on the bed in the evening light was the clear figure of Pyrrha Nikos, clad in hospital garb, she was staring wistfully out of the window, a tear falling from her eye.

Nova and Cris stood back as they let Jaune in first. The blonde nervously walked up to the bed and gulped. "P-Pyrrha?"

The girl flinched at the sound of her name and Jaune continued, "Pyrrha, Oh my god... It's been so long I don't... I've missed you so much... there's so much I want to say that I..."

Pyrrha turned around slowly and met Jaune's eyes, a single tear leaking down her right eye, "I'm sorry... who are you?"

* * *

**DUN DUN DUNNNNN!**

**YEAP I DID THAT. You all hate me now, I know I'm sorry but being the evil author that I am, I HAD TO DO IT.  
Again sorry it's so short but I need some time to really perfect how I'm tackling Ruby's training and Oscar's little arc.**


	59. Chapter 59: Oscar's Identity Crisis

**Okay, this took very long because I needed to get it right, and... I still don't feel like I got it all the way there. I just settled on this because I can't come up with any other way to make the concepts flow.**

**This chapter might be pretty dark for some, lots of strong themes and the sort, and even then I tried to water it down as much as possible. Like I actually couldn't sleep due to my own dreadful imagination, so you can only imagine what I was seeing in my head.**

* * *

**Chapter 59: Shady Nights in Wintery Gloom**

* * *

"I'm sorry… who are you?" Pyrrha said with a tear leaking down her right eye.

Jaune stood stock still, frozen in place with disbelief plastered across his face as if his ears were deceiving him. He'd known, in the back of his mind, that his happy end would never be so simple. Cursed and forsaken by the man that caused this all, Jaune instinctively knew that Pyrrha wasn't lying... still he tried.

"Pyrrha… it's me, Jaune? Team JNPR? Beacon Academy?" Jaune said almost despairingly.

She shook her head regretfully, "I'm sorry, um...Jaune. I… don't remember much of anything. It's all hazy and practically blank…"

Cris walked into the room with Nova trailing closely behind her. They both wore worried expressions and uneasy smiles.

"Oh! Mom! I… didn't expect you to be here at this hour…" Pyrrha said looking toward her mother, the woman held a smile and nodded.

"Well, two very important people happened to show up at your statue, figured they'd want to know you were okay," Cris gestured to the two boys.

"Very important people?" Pyrrha looked at Nova and Jaune in confusion.

Nova flinched but kept his negativity repressed, "Come on Pyrrha! How could you forget your favourite rival?" he said with a laugh, "and here I thought I was pretty memorable."

His light and joking tone seemed to ease her mind and lift her spirits, in truth she barely remembered anything besides who she was and her family. It was as if there was a huge chunk of her life missing, and she hated it. She wished she could remember but whenever she tried, her mind would be flooded with painful screams and dark emotions.

Gazing upon the blonde boy before her, her heart ached, as if it was begging her to remember something important as if he meant something to her. Addressing Jaune she said, "I… feel like I'm supposed to know you especially… c-can you tell me…how exactly do we know each other?" she wanted to know... no, she felt like she _needed _to know.

Jaune felt his breath hitch in his throat as the pain of the thought struck at his inner being like a sharp knife, twisting in his gut, refusing to let him die and keeping him eternally in pain.

Nova saw the blonde's face, for a split second, just for a mere fraction, the boy's face was agonizing pain, but to the normal and distant eye, no one would've picked up on it, instead, Jaune lifted his head. With a smile forged of fragility and sadness, Jaune flashed her a grin so horribly bright, Nova knew he was faking it.

"I was your team leader at Beacon Academy. We were…" Jaune chose his words very carefully, "… really good friends…"

The dragon felt his own heart tear looking at him.

"T-The rest of our team is here too, maybe… bringing everyone around might help you remember," Jaune continued with his charade of cheer. He was making it believable, really believable, so much so, Nova was having a hard time seeing through it now.

Still, it was there, as Jaune described some of their stories, the cracks in his face, the little chips in the glass fell through. Pyrrha didn't seem to notice, and it was probably because Jaune knew how to hide it from her. The red-head giggled and laughed as Jaune reminisced.

"Well, Mr. Arc, you and your team sound like wonderful people. I'm sad I can't remember…" her face began to fall.

Jaune was ready, "Oh don't worry about it. Whether you remember or not doesn't matter. You're our precious friend and teammate, and nothing will change that. If you remember its just a bonus, the real gift is knowing you're okay."

_"__Oh, Jaune… what are you doing to yourself…"_ Nova thought as he stared at the blonde.

Cris looked at the clock on the wall, "It's getting late boys. I think my daughter needs some rest," she said. She could see they wanted to stay more, but even she could see that the one called Jaune was beginning to falter by the minute, and staying like that wouldn't be healthy… for both of them.

Nova waved to Pyrrha, "See yah Nikos, when you're feeling better we should spar sometime again. I guarantee I'm not the same person I used to be."

Pyrrha giggled and waved back, "I barely remember how to fight!"

Jaune smiled back sadly, "We'll swing by tomorrow… I'll bring the rest of the gang."

"I can't wait to meet them," she replied cheerfully.

The blonde winced again, _"Reunite Pyrrha… not meet…" _he thought solemnly.

As the trio walked out of the hospital, it was the dark of night. The sun had long set and all that was left was a cloudless cold night sky, speckled with countless stars.

"Jaune Arc, right?" Cris said turning to the blonde.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"You're in love with my daughter aren't you." It wasn't a question.

Both boys almost choked, "How'd you know?" Jaune asked.

Cris held a sad smile, "Only someone who truly loves someone else would look that broken when they weren't remembered."

Jaune's face had a flash of deep-rooted sadness, but recovered, "I… more than anything… she means the world to me…"

"Then why didn't you tell her?" Cris asked as if knowing the answer but she wanted to hear it herself. Nova sulked as well, for he knew he would do the same if it was Ruby.

Jaune inhaled deeply, "Because…" he started, the ghost of a smile gracing his lips, "… you can't just tell someone they love you."

* * *

Jaune and Nova returned to the house to find it dark and desolate, a feeling of dreariness hanging around the air like a thick invisible veil. The Cotta-Arcs weren't home, a note was left on the table stating that Tera was at work and wouldn't be home until late, and Saphron was out getting some extra groceries with Adrien and Elain.

Nova sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "If it was any cheerier there'd be streamers and balloons… where the hell is everyone?"

"Hey?! Anyone home?!" Jaune yelled loudly.

"We're here..." sounded a rather, despondent response. Nora and Ren came down from upstairs, their faces weren't anywhere near happiness but they at least looked somewhat better than before. Luna came out from the kitchen looking worried.

"Jaune, fill them in on the… semi-good news. I wanna go check on Ruby in the back," Nova said patting the blonde on the back before exiting through the back door. He wanted to stay but this was something Jaune needed to tell them himself, it was only right.

They all looked at Jaune curiously. "What's good about this shitty situation…" Nora said uncharacteristically.

Jaune inhaled deeply, "Guys…" he said with a sad smile on his face, "Pyrrha's here, and she's awake."  
All their faces lit up with bright smiles, "REALLY?!" Nora squealed jumping up, the light returning to her eyes.

Jaune hung his head, a sad expression playing on his face, "It's not that simple…"

"What's the problem…?" Ren asked.

"She… has amnesia."

The collective gasp and looks of horror that simultaneously flashed across all their faces spoke volumes. Luna tugged on the blonde's shirt, "Are... you okay?" she asked, quick to determine the extent of the damage.

Jaune gave her a sad smile and ruffled the shorter girl's hair, "I'll live, it's just nice to know she's alright..."

Suddenly there was a loud scream and a flash of silver light that came from the backyard.

* * *

Hours before in the backyard, Ruby sat with her knees folded under her, patiently listening to the instructions of the Calavera sisters. The silence of the house was worrying but also gratifying as it gave her room to properly concentrate.

"Tell me, Ruby, what do you know about your silver eyes, besides being able to turn Grimm to stone?" Raisa asked studying the girl.

Ruby took a moment to ponder, "Um… well Ozpin did say they were a rare trait…"

Maria shook her head, "It's hopeless, the kid knows nothing… well not that we know that much anyway…"

"Not that _you _know that much," Raisa scoffed earning a grunt from her sister. "Look kid, the Silver Eyes never used to be a rare trait. A century ago, people like us were more common than you'd think. It's what I'd call, the Silver Age." Raisa explained. "It was a period in time where Humanity and Faunus alike were booming, we didn't fear the Grimm because we had warriors like us."

"If there were so many… about what happened?" Ruby asked looking anxious.

The sisters glanced at each other, "Well kid… we were hunted."

"Hunted?! By whom?! Wait… just how old are you…?"

"That's… not important. What I can tell you is that someone or something out there orchestrated a mass manhunt for every single Silver-Eyed warrior on the face of Remnant, and, as powerful as we were… there are things that even we can't do." Raisa continued on.

"What do you mean…?"

"Kid, people like us tend to have a certain… disposition towards people. To put it simply, we care too much to wish harm upon them. I don't know if it's the eyes that make us this way, or if it's because we're like this, that the eyes wield their power. It was hard for many of our kind to wield a blade, even in self defence, against another Human or Faunus, to kill. In a life or death situation, where incapacitation isn't an option, our kindness proved to be our weakness…" this time it was Maria who sad it sadly.

"I _tried _to give up that mentality… that weakness… but the further I strayed, the less powerful my eyes became, so I tried to find balance. In the end, it was my own weakness that _blinded _me. I won a battle that took my eyes at the hands of my own incapability. If I was stronger back then, I would've never had to pay such a heavy price for victory..." The mechanical eyed Calavera sister said, clutching her staff as she recalled her painful memory.

Ruby was silent for a moment before piping up again, "Why would they hunt you down? Weren't you guys the best thing that ever happened to the world?"

"Why does anyone do anything kid?" Raisa asked darkly. Ruby was unable to answer so Raisa continued, "Money for sure was a big promoter. It certainly lured in the bounty hunters… but the real kicker was jealousy. Many thought we were too powerful, that such abilities don't belong to mere humans. Our very existence began to instill in humanity a deep-seated inferiority complex as if normal people were just not as good as the Silver Eyed warriors, and there wasn't even a point to being a Huntsman."

"Slowly but surely, these dark desires wormed their ways into the hearts of people, firmly taking hold of their desires. This brought on Grimm, Grimm made us exhausted, and someone began feeding their jealousy. All it took was a little spark to ignite the flames that eventually burned us all… well almost all." Maria finished for her.

Ruby grimaced. She knew exactly what they were talking about. Humans and Faunus were susceptible to all forms of darkness, and no one was an exception… not even the great Ozpin.

"What can you teach me about my eyes? How do I use them?" Ruby asked, with hope burning in them.

The older women were impressed by her ability to recover from that darkness as if the girl refused to be tainted.

"We know very little… our father taught us, he had Silver Eyes as well but… he never got to finish his tutelage. There's not much I can teach you… not without demonstration, but I can offer you some guidance, and from there, maybe we can work something out…" Raisa said.

Ruby smiled, excited to learn, but then frowned, "Wait… what happened to your eyes…?" she looked at Raisa.

The woman chuckled, "I never said anything happened to them," she then opened her lids to reveal a pair of silver eyes, though they were faded and not as shimmering as Ruby's.

"Old age caught up to me, I can't make them work like I used to, so you'll have to settle with just my word of mouth."

Ruby nodded and sat down, quietly.

"Alright now, the eyes hold more than just the power to turn Grimm to stone." Maria started walking back and forth with her stick, "The Grimm are creatures of pure darkness, your eyes, are the opposite. They are weapons of pure light. True, light."

"There isn't a set trigger for them, it's not as simple as going 'Vwoosh' and shooting a beam out of your eyes like lasers. It's more complex than that," Raisa followed up.

"Remember what I told you back at the village?" Maria asked.

Ruby nodded, her eyes closed, "My emotions right? My desire to protect is what triggers it?"

"Only in times of desperation do you draw on your emotions in such a raw form. What you need to do is visualize it."

"Huh?" Ruby was confused.

"Your desire to protect. Find the one thing, or multiple if that exists, that illicit a strong desire to care and protect within your mind. Something that you're so passionate about that it would literally kill you to not be able to do."

Ruby sat in silence, thinking about her experiences. There were so many things that she wanted to protect. Her team, her dog Zwei, Crescent Rose, the world.

"You seem to be having a hard time… I guess it's because of your experiences…" Raisa hummed. In truth, it took people months just to form a visual, but they didn't have months, and she wasn't sure they even had days, so she needed to speed things along. "I hate using this method but… think about everyone you love, everything you hold dear, each instance individually, being destroyed in the most brutal way possible…"

Ruby was shocked, the worried and hurt expression began forming on her face.

Maria realized what her sister was doing and shot her a dirty glare, "This could scar her… the mind of a person with Silver eyes is far more powerful than any normal person… if she visualizes too strongly, it could have long-lasting trauma!" she whispers harshly.

"I know… but we don't have the option of going slowly."

Maria cursed but eventually relented. She turned to Ruby and began following up on her sister, "That blonde girl, Yang, your sister. Her weapons backfire and blow off both of her arms. She's surrounded by Grimm, her girlfriend, the purple one, she's badly injured and on death's door. How do you feel?"

Ruby shook as she sat, visibly in discomfort, "Scared… worried, but… I can protect them…"

"Hmm… not good enough. What about that Schnee girl and the little one you're so fond of? A gun to their heads, no aura, no escape. They're bloody and bruised, how do you feel."

Ruby's body began to shake violently, she was scared, beads of sweat began to form on her face and a single tear was leaking down her left eye, "No… no!"

They were getting closer, but not enough.

"What about your boyfriend? He's pinned down, practically lifeless before his worst enemy and you're powerless to stop him… your father's there too, your mother! All at the mercy of the Grimm and you can't do anything! You're weak! Powerless!" Maria said waving her stick.

Ruby's lip began to quiver, as tears flowed from both of her eyes. In her mind she saw Nova, his body cold and dying, Taiyang was being crushed to the floor by Onyx and Salem held her mother in her clutches, a sick grin playing on her lips. Summer Rose turned to Ruby with a fading smile.

Ruby envisions every single event with resentful detail, Summer opens her mouth to speak but Salem just squeezes harder, still the words, barely a whisper echo out of her mouth, "Stay…strong… my little one…" she says before her windpipe is crushed, her lifeless body flung next to Nova's. Suddenly the bodies begin to pile up, Yang, Weiss, Luna, Elain, Hex, Nitro, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren… even Zwei…

"No… no! NO PLEASE YOU CAN'T! DON'T HURT THEM ANYMORE!" Ruby cried out in pain, sobbing uncontrollably. "If only… I was stronger I could… protect you…"

Raisa and Maria began to regret their methods, the sheer pain on the girl's face was horrifying.

"That's it, Ruby! That feeling! That desire to protect! HOLD ON TO IT AND DON'T LET IT GO!" Raisa egged her on.

Ruby was stock still for a moment, the crying died down and her body was unmoving. They were afraid they'd broken her, panic washing over the two older women.

Suddenly Ruby's eyes shot open and a blaze of silver light beamed out like the sun, wrapping the whole area in blinding brightness. It was much more powerful than when she'd vaporized the Apathy, as the light physically stung and felt tangible, like white beams of white flames that saught out every bit of darkness, erasing it from existence. When the light died, Raisa and Maria were caught in awe.

"This girl… is… incredible…" Maria said with amazement, "In all my years I've never seen anyone this powerful… with so much potential…"

Ruby was quietly sobbing now, her palms over her face.

"Well done kid! You did impressively for your first try…" Maria started hesitantly, but Ruby continued to cry.

"Hey… it's all in your head, it's not real…" Raisa tried to appease her but Ruby flinched as she drew near.

At that moment Nova burst through the door looking worried and panicked, "WHAT'S GOING ON?! RUBY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" his eyes landed on the crying form of the girl, the two older women looking exasperated.

"What happened?" he asked darkly, ready to erase anyone that would harm the love of his life.

"Visual training. We tried to get her to establish a mental trigger for her powers… but it seems her mind was too vivid for her own good…"

Nova softened and approached Ruby carefully, "Ruby…? Love… are you…" he was cut off when the moment he was within arm's length she launched herself at him, clutching his shirt for dear life, burying her face in the fabric and breathing in his scent.

Slowly she peeled open hear teary eyes to see his worried face.

He tenderly placed a hand around her cheek and wiped away the tears, "It's okay, Ruby… I'm here… I'm okay…"

Ruby sniffed, "I… saw you dead… and Yang and Zwei… and Weiss and the others… Mom… oh god… Mom…" she shook violently and Nova hugged her tightly, rubbing her back and using his other hand to pet her hair.

"Shhh, it's alright… none of it was real… I'm alive, I'm okay. Tai is doing just fine back home and Zwei is healthy as always. The others are fine… even Pyrrha. She's here in town by the way, awake and looking as good as new," Nova said with a smile.

Ruby's sniffling began to subside, "Pyrrha? Really?"

"Yup! We can go see her tomorrow if you like… though right now I think you need to relax."

Ruby turned slowly to the Calavera sisters, "I… I'm sorry for that outburst… I…."

Raisa softened, "No worries dear… it's our fault for driving you so hard… but you exceeded expectations…"

"I-Is it alright if we pick back up tomorrow? I'm… a little…"

Raisa was about to object but Maria held her back, "Perfectly fine, that must've been quite the mental toll on you. Just go rest up."

Nova took Ruby back inside leaving the two older women outside.

"We don't have time to take breaks!" Raisa hissed.

"She's not a robot hermana! She's just a sixteen-year-old girl with a lot of weight on her shoulders and a lot of trauma. She will break if we force her too hard!" Maria pinched her older sister by the ear.

"OW! Okay yeesh…" Raisa swatted away her sister, "She's a special brat, even among those chosen by the Silver Heart."

Maria's face heard the words and slowly morphed into wonder, "No... you... you're kidding right?"

Raisa shook her head, "Not in the slightest... she wears it with her at all times... or have you not noticed the necklace beneath her cloak."

Maria hummed, thinking deeply, "This might turn out greater than I previously expected... she might be able to succeed where we failed..."

* * *

Nova took a firm hold of Ruby's hand, she was strong, he knew that, but seeing her shaken like that had sent his protective instincts into overdrive, and at the current moment, he didn't want to be separated from her, and from the look she gave him, he could safely assume she reciprocated the sentiment.

The living room was more populated now, Yang and Hex had come back from their walk, their spirits weren't down but they still needed a few moments away from the imminent source of distress.

"You guys okay? What was that loud scream?" the blonde brawler asked concerned.

Ruby had an embarrassed smile, "Visual training... don't worry about it..."

Yang wanted to protest against whatever training would cause such pain when the door handle turned with the distinctive sound of keys jingling.

"Woah... what happened while we were gone?" Saphron asked as she walked through the door with Adrien in her arms, Elain followed closely behind. The Arc sister could feel the negative energy they were giving off and it made her worried... particularly for her little brother. The blonde boy had a regular expression but her sisterly instincts told her he was hurting in ways words could never describe.

They all regarded her with embarrassed smiles, "Oh it's nothing... just a few minor setbacks..." Nora said politely.

"Doesn't seem very minor to me..." she hummed as she set down the bags of groceries, "I won't pry because I feel like it's Huntsman business, but you know what always makes me feel better?"

Jaune lifted his head curiously, "What...?"

"Macaroons!" she chirped as she began rummaging for ingredients. "Nothing beats the Jaune Arc family recipe! A favourite of a certain someone I know..."

A light smile played on Jaune's lips, some vigour returning to his body, "I haven't had those since we were kids..."

"We used to gouge on these whenever mom made them. With the amount of us in one house, it was chaos for every single one, even the burnt ones. Of course, Mom always did sneak a few extra for her only son..." Saphron teased causing Jaune to groan and hide his head in shame.

"Come on, where are my kitchen helpers? I'm going to need a few extra hands," she gestured at Ren and Nora who shook themselves out of their sulking and joined her and Elain in the kitchen.

In the meantime, everyone else was relaxing on the couches, Yang opted to tidy up the place and Hex desperately tried to fix the crack in the wall made by Jaune earlier. The boy noticed it and felt the gnawing sense of guilt, eating away at his soul. He was emotionally damaged, but he could recover... still it didn't mean he needed to have acted that way. Just the mere thought that Pyrrha was hurt for no reason made him want to strange Ozpin... but he didn't need to vent that anger onto young Oscar.

Luna was nervous, and anxiously glancing at the door. She began toying with the hem of her jacket, a nervous tick influenced by her older brother.

The older dragon noticed his sister's anxiety, "Luna... what's wrong? You look... out of it."

"I-It's Oscar he..." she started.

At the mention of the name, Jaune shot up, "Yeah, Oscar! Where is he? I need to apologize for earlier..."

"That's just it... he's... not here," Luna said with worry in her voice.

"What happened? Where is he?!" Nova asked, now very alert. Someone with an emotional state such as his should never be left alone...

"We talked about what happened and... Jaune, he doesn't blame you, but he said he needed to figure himself out, so he went for a walk. I wanted to go after him but... that look in his eyes said he needed to be alone..." she explained, glancing at the floor.

Nova folded his hands over his mouth in a thinking position, "He's a good kid... strong... and a lot more mature than he should be for his age, so I'm not worried that he'd do something stupid... he's probably just out cooling his head." he tried to rationalize Oscar's thought process but the more he thought on the vulnerabilities of the young adolescent mind, the more he began to worry.

"About that... he left... just after you guys... and he hasn't been back yet..."

"Now that's cause for concern..." Nova muttered under his breath.

"What should we do?" Jaune turned to the dragon for guidance.

"Don't tell Saphron or Tera if she comes back. They don't need this worry over their heads. You can tell the others but try not to make a scene. I'll go out looking for him," he replied getting up from the couch and picking up Helios from its resting place at the side of the furniture.

Ruby, who was practically falling asleep on herself shot up, "I'm coming with you. Oscar is our friend and you might need some backup."

"I think you need a mental breather love. I'm fine on my own."

"Nuh-uh. I don't need you worrying about me. I can handle myself," she said glaring at him, "And besides, if I was stuck here I'd be worried about him. I'd get no rest either way."

Nova suppressed the urge to chuckle, even when she was being stubborn she was cute, "I know you can, Red, and if you think you're up for it then I can't stop you... but..."

Ruby could see the worry in his eyes that would not leave, so she leaned up and pecked him on the lips with a smile, "I'm fine. Now move your ass before I move it for you."

"I want to join you as well..." Yang said looking worried. Hex joined her in her stance.

Nova shook his head, "No... if too many of us leave then Jaune's sister might suspect something. If it's just me and Ruby we can play it off as couple stuff."

"Let me come with you... please..." it was Jaune who insisted this time. "This is my fault... I need to help fix this."

Nova glared at him in the eyes but Jaune refused to back down. After a moment of intense staring, the dragon sighed heavily, "FINE! Luna!" he called to his sister.

She glanced at him, "Hm?"

"Tell Jaune's sister that the three of us went to meet Oscar at the park, the rest of you were too tired to join us. Under no circumstances are they to know what's going on!" he semi-yelled back as the trio left through the door.

* * *

**-Several Hours Earlier-**

Oscar was wandering the streets lost in his own mind. His thoughts distracting him as he aimlessly walked through the streets of Argus, anger, and self-loathing disconnected him from the world. Dragged through and far beyond the reaches of reality, the festering words of vile malcontent ravaged his head like diseased rats.

Ozpin or Oscar, who was he really? The eternal paradox that was his thought process continued to echo the repeated questions. Who was he really? Caught in a curious case of a confusing conundrum, the boy was a victim of the worst identity crisis the face of Remnant had ever seen. It was one thing to not know yourself, but it was another to mistrust your own thoughts' source. Had the line between Ozpin and Oscar so thoroughly greyed itself during his connection with the older spirit that even his own head wasn't safe.

Oscar began laughing aloud, it was laughable, to think that man who'd long since died, who'd chosen cowardice and lies over his own mission, was the cause of more problems. He often wondered what boys his age worried about. He never had any friends so he wasn't sure, but he assumed their worries were on school grades, or fleeting crushes on popular girls, maybe what food they'd eat the next day, as the television would have him believe. His problems seemed leagues beyond anything he'd dream about a month ago.

He didn't have time to worry about food, he only worried about whether he'd live to see the next morning. With all the problems ruling his mind, he found one similarity, he did have his own problems concerning his crush on a popular girl, and while it may not be a school hierarchy, he was definitely staring up at the mountain of social standing. He just didn't feel worthy to stand on the same ground as her some days. She was warm and caring, silly, and shy but she was a semblance of clarity to him.

If there was one thing he knew for a fact was his own thoughts, were that his attraction to the dragon princess was his own feelings. There was no denying in his mind or his heart that it was influenced by Ozpin, for that man only held feelings for Salem.

He observed the passing people, in their seemingly blissful ignorance, carrying about their lives in peace. It seemed like no one in this town was unhappy... except for a woman looking frantic and worried. She kept approaching various people but they all shook their heads and moved on. He dreaded the moment she neared him as she turned to him with a wild look on her eyes, "My son... you seen my son?!" she asked desperately, he could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Ma'am, I don't know what he looks like," Oscar replied awkwardly.

"He's short, eight years old, black hair and green eyes, please... if you see him... tell him I'm right here okay?" she pointed at a bench on the pavement. It was then he realized he was at the main street junction, quite a ways from the Cotta-Arc household. It wasn't far enough for his liking.

"A-Alright... sure thing ma'am," he responded shakily.

The woman bowed before proceeding to the next person. Oscar felt bad for her, he would help but he had his own problems to deal with. He didn't even know where to begin looking for the kid so he just kept walking, and hoped he'd come across him. It was interesting to see a little chaos in the seemingly unblemished town, in all its transparency, and that was all it took to drag his mind back into the spiral of depression.

Oscar didn't notice when the sky became darker when the sun set and the chill of the night flowed in. He never noticed that the bricks that lined the path, so clean they were before, were now dirty and mossy as if they'd been neglected for some time. It wasn't until the smell of rotting food permeated his nostrils did he finally wring his mind out of the labyrinth of thoughts and gauged his surroundings.

He'd accidentally walked into a back alley. Judging by the buildings, and the faint smell of salt in the air, he was near the port. What really stood out was the contrast between where he stood and the rest of the town. It was like looking at the comparison between a clean white cloth and a brown dirty one, such was the state of the area.

"Guess even Argus has its bad side... a part of the city they wanted to hide," he muttered under his breath. It was a strange feeling, seeing himself in the ghetto of the city, it felt like a reflection of his mental state, muddled, damaged, and shunned.

He knew he shouldn't linger, the uneasiness of this part of town was as clear as day, but the lack of any forms of life seemed to distract his danger sense. *CLANG* came the sound of a heavy, hollow metal object as it slammed into the back of Oscar's head. He wasn't able to fully register what was happening until his vision began to blur, the dull throbbing behind his head as he faded to black.

"He's a bit bigger than what I'm used to... but he's a mighty pretty one..." a hoarse voice said as the last things Oscar heard before he passed out on the cold stone.

* * *

Oscar was awakened to the smell of rot and a distinct metallic scent lingering in the air. There was a dreadful throbbing and intense pain coming from the back of his head. Slowly Oscar lifted himself into a sitting position and peeled open his eyelids that felt practically glued together. The room was dark, shadows cascaded around nearly every corner, with the only source of light being a dull white light hanging from the ceiling, a singular door stood facing him on the far north of the room. The floor was cold and smooth with little bumps of sharp steel in various places. Surrounding him was a series of iron bars that encircled him on all sides. He tried to stand but was met with a harsh tap on his head where he hit a metal ceiling. Oscar was trapped in a cage, unlikely built for someone his size.

A cold chill drifted in and froze him to his bones, it was then he realized he was only clothed in his undershirt and boxers. His... or rather Ozpin's cane, along with his clothes were gone. As his mind finally drew itself out of the haze it was in, he could finally assess his situation.

"Shit..." he cursed under his breath as he attempted to push at what he assumed was the front of the cage, only to have it move slightly but remain locked. The distinct rattle of a chain was heard to his left suggesting it was bolted there. He began searching the floor of his cage for any hint at weakness that he could force open. As his hands roamed the small area, they brushed up against something smooth and dry. At first thinking it was a key or some sort of leverage, he grasped hold of it and brought it into the light only to find out... it was a bone. Too large to be a chicken he dropped it and scrambled around to see the scattered bones of various shapes and sizes...

"AH!" he gasped loudly, startled by the array.

"I-Is someone there?" a small voice asked from the darkness. "H-Hello?"

Oscar calmed himself down and hesitantly replied, "Who's there?"

There was the sound of rattling chains from his right, and Oscar turned to see another cage, with only the part facing him cast in light.

"A-Are you trapped here too?" the voice asked.

"Yeah... my name is Oscar. Do you know where we are?"

There was more shuffling before Oscar saw a hand in the light of the adjacent cage. The person was now in full view and Oscar could see it was a little boy with short black hair. The light was too dim to determine the colour of his eyes but he looked about eight or nine years old. He was wearing nothing but a light white undershirt and shorts. Oscar could clearly see that the boy's fingers were stiff and the skin looked damaged suggesting he'd been in the cold for a while. The boy looked tired, with bruise marks on his cheeks suggesting he was hit there.

"M-My name is Nicholas... I don't know where we are," he said shakily. The quivering of his lips suggested he was very cold.

"How did you get here Nicholas?"

"I... was with my mommy when we got separated... a man offered to help me find her but instead he beat me and brought me here... I... don't know how long I've been here..." the boy replied.

Oscar inhaled sharply as he studied the bruising on the boy. Extreme violence was clearly used, the dark splotches on his skin definitely insinuated it. To think that someone out there would kidnap a young boy like this and use such harsh methods... it made his blood boil.

"Don't worry Nicholas, I'll get us out of here..." Oscar vowed with resolve in his eyes. "Are there any more of you here?"

The boy nodded, "Mhm... w-when I came in there was a girl, she was here... in my cage. The man took her out and threw me in here... and I think there's another boy in the cage over there..." he pointed to the far left of the room. Oscar could barely make out in the dim lighting, the outline of a cage.

There was the loud sound of footsteps and heavy chains dragging that alerted Oscar.

"Shhh! He's coming!" the boy hissed.

Oscar whipped his head to the door as it creaked open to reveal a grotesquely shapen man. He was wide at the lower half and it sloped him with thin shoulders but beefy arms, a thin long neck, and a head that seemed too large for it. He wore a dirty blue jumper and an apron over it, covered in a dark red substance that Oscar assumed was blood. Various tools and chains hung from a tool belt around his waist, clanging as he waddled toward them.

Upon seeing the awakened Oscar, he spread his lips in a grin that displayed two rows of rotten teeth and approached the cage.

"Oh good you're awake," he said in a hoarse voice, "I was afraid I'd hit you too hard... can't have another valuable piece expiring on me before I get to use them kekekeke..." he laughed throatily.

Oscar shuddered at the eyes he was staring into, they were yellow and warped. The smell this man gave off was even worse, like rotten meat. "Let me out of this cage you vile piece of..."

"Oh no no no..." he shoved a greasy finger into Oscar's face silencing him. The boy almost heaved his stomach from the contact. "Such words are not welcome in front of children."

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Oscar spat out, gagging in the process.

The man looked offended, "What do I want? I simply want to fill the world with colour!" he said gesturing to the red stains on his apron. He then strut over to the cage on the far left and tapped on the top, "Hello~ little one... awake in there?"

He only received silence in response, causing his face to morph into anger, "Fuck... another one expired..."

Oscar's eyes widened, "YOU MURDERER!" he thrashed in anger, rattling the cage.

"Murderer? My boy... I'm not a murderer... I'm an artist~"

"What kind of art involves that much blood?!" he seethed.

"Only the best kind~" he began toying with a knife in his hands, "If you're curious... oh no it's not ready for you... soon, however... very soon." the man then looked around the room before heaving a sigh, "This simply won't do... I need more!"

Oscar sat back and grit his teeth. Before him stood a man that was a blatant kidnapper and murderer and all he could do was sit in the cage, helpless. If it was Ozpin he could just magic his way out, or break the lock or something, but he didn't have that power. A thought that both brought him grievance and reassurance.

It was a bitter-sweet feeling, having your own identity assured through your own incapability, but at this point, his own mind complexities were the least of his worries.

"You just sit tight and wait, I'll be back with the right colours soon..." the man said with a sinister smile, before exiting through the door.

The moment he was gone, soft sobbing was heard from the cage to his right.

"He... talked to me... just a while ago... the boy in the cage... he sounded soft but he said that he was okay... he... he..." Nicholas sniffled uncontrollably. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" he cried loudly.

Oscar cursed under his breath, "Listen... it's going to be okay. I know it's sad but I'm going to get us out of here. If I can get to my clothes I have a scroll that I can contact my friends. They're Huntsmen and Huntresses, they'll come to save us for sure!"

The boy's sniffling slowed, "How are we going to get out of these cages...?"

Oscar inhaled deeply and placed his hands on the bars of the cage door. His earlier thrashings weren't just out of frustration, he was hoping to weaken the chainlinks that bound the lock. He pulled as hard as he could but the chains still wouldn't budge.

Instead of giving up, Oscar tugged and tugged, begging his aura to give him strength, but it was disobeying him. For some reason, he couldn't muster aura to aid him, and it would explain how he was incapacitated so easily. It was as if his aura just refused to listen to him. When his strength began to wain he sighed and slumped back into the cage, cursing his own weakness.

Who was he kidding? Oscar Pine, breaking metal bars? The idea was laughable. If it was Nova stuck in this cage he would have melted the bars or ripped it apart with his bare strength, even Luna could distort and break the chains. He knew it was unfair to compare himself to the dragon siblings but the fact of the matter remained, Oscar was nothing without Ozpin, he was nothing without the experience or knowledge in his head. He was just a weak, helpless teenager with nothing to contribute, nothing but a burden.

The thought hit him like Nora's hammer. He wasn't constantly afraid of being overtaken by Ozpin, sure the concept made his skin crawl and it did contribute to a great deal of his worry and pain, but the reality was that he was afraid of being a burden. Compared to the others he was nothing, he had no special power or formal training. He was afraid that his only identity was being a shell for Ozpin, and the world, no his friends, didn't need Oscar.

He would've begun to spiral into his mind again had it not been for the quiet crying of Nicholas next to him. Right now, at this moment in time, there was only Oscar Pine. The only thing standing between that little boy and bloody murder was himself. There was no Nova Flareheart to save the day, no Ruby Rose to guide him, no Luna to be his support.

Nicholas was an innocent little boy with his whole life ahead of him and he'd be damned if he couldn't protect even a single child.

Oscar placed his hands on the bars and gripped tightly, "Oz... I don't give a fuck about what your problems are, I don't care about me... just don't let this kid pay the price for it. Please... I need to save him..." as the words left his mouth, Oscar felt a surge of power flowing through him. He felt his strength regaining as a bright green aura surrounded him.

At first, he thought it was Ozpin's help... but this power didn't feel like magic, and this colour wasn't his usual shade of green. It was brilliantly shining like luminescent forest green, near neon. Compared to his aura before, this was a shining upgrade from the dull shade that he emanated before.

The power felt... comfortable, like a second skin. His previous aura didn't feel like anything, whether he used it or not, it didn't feel like him. Oscar recalled something Nova said while training, "Aura is the projection of the soul..."

Power surged through him as he willed his strength, the aura brightly glowing as Oscar screamed out, tearing the bars apart, shattering the chain, and creating an opening wide enough for him to fit through.

Nicholas watched in awe as the older boy shattered the iron cage like it was made of glass.

"You're a Huntsman?! That was so cool!" he chirped through a tear-stained face.

Oscar smiled, "Alright stand back..."

The boy did as he was told and once again, Oscar glowed bright green before shattering the lock.

"Alright, now let's find our clothes and get out of here, before that man gets back," Oscar instructed.

As they made for the door, the passed by the cage on the left, the one where the other boy was supposed to be. Oscar saw inside the cage, the body of a skinny and malnourished boy. Skin tapered to his bones making him almost skeletal, his limbs blue and falling apart from frostbite. The sight made Oscar want to throw up as he hid Nicholas' eyes from the horrid display.

* * *

They were now in a corridor that split off in two directions. To their left seemed to be another door, it looked to be a fire escape of sorts, with a push lever to open it, and to their right was a long hall that cornered again. Sitting just outside the door was a small wardrobe, and upon opening it, Oscar found his clothes hung neatly on a rack. It seemed the man fancied them if they were kept so clean, but there were no signs of the boy's clothes or Ozpin's cane.

After donning his pants, gloves, and boots, he wrapped his jacket around the boy. It was rather large but it would at least keep the boy somewhat warm.

"Nicholas, before he gets back I think you should make a break for it, through that fire escape." Oscar gestured to the exit.

"But what about you Mister?"

"Don't worry about me, I still need to..."

"And where do you think you're going?" the distinct voice of the man echoed down the corridor from the opposite end. They both turned around to see the fat murderer waddling toward them at inhuman speeds.

"You can't leave now! NOT WHEN I HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE CHANCE TO USE YOU YET!" he roared and broke out into a sprint. Thankfully the corridor was too narrow for him to maneuver and forced him to stick to a single charge route. Oscar pushed Nicholas out of the way and toward the fire escape.

"KID RUN! I'LL DISTRACT HIM! YOU GET OUT OF HERE!" Oscar yelled as he clashed with the fat man directly, holding him back physically. It felt like he was pushing against a giant wall of meat.

"But..."

"NOW NICHOLAS!"

The boy sniffled before turning and running, barging through the door and scrambling out of sight.

"Oh... that prize escaped... HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH MY ART!" the man roared, spit flying in wads toward Oscar who had to duck to avoid it.

The man swiped at Oscar with a punch that, if it had connected, would've probably broken a bone or two, Aura or not. Instead, the fist hit the concrete wall, cracking it in the process.

Oscar was too nimble for the large man, ducking out of his punches and throwing a few of his own. Even with aura empowered fists, the man's fat seemed to absorb the majority of the impact. Oscar needed something to take him down... an edge...

The man tried to lunge at Oscar but the boy, having sparred with Nova and Yang, was accustomed to much faster speeds, so to him, it seemed the man was moving in slow motion. It was a simple task to vault over the chubby body and scramble toward the other side of the room. Due to the width of the room, the man struggled to properly turn, this gave Oscar time to disengage the fight and run.

* * *

Once Oscar rounded the corner he was faced with another door. He threw it open and scrambled inside, desperate to put as much distance between him and the man before coming up with a plan to take him down.

When he turned around, however... Oscar was met with the most atrocious sight he'd ever seen. He'd managed to hold in his lunch for the bones and the starved kid, but what he saw in the room was the final straw that made him heave everything onto the floor, clutching his nose from the vile stench of rot and blood.

The room was medium-sized, with a single hospital bed in the center, bloodstained and dirty, various tools lay on the table at the far end of the room, rusty and stained from constant use. The tools ranged from saws and scissors to butcher knives, cattle prods, and blowtorches. What made him throw up, however, was the sheer number of bodies.

Various bodies, in the most warped and grotesque forms. Hung from meat hooks that extended from the ceiling where even a few children's corpses, flayed open to reveal their insides, seemingly preserved in a plastic that sealed them up preventing spillage. Adult bodies had their bones broken and reattached in odd shapes, spidery limbs, and even a man with multiple heads sewn to one neck. It was like someone was playing patchwork with human bodies. The worst of the mall was a singular body in the corner of the room, a white lamp shining over the gruesome figure. It was seemingly a man, with the face and head skin peeled like a banana around his neck, one eye was removed and the jaw was broken, unhinged and stretched open, the lungs were dragged through the throat and hung out of the mouth like a dangling attachment.

Oscar spotted Ozpin's cane on the tool table, and he carefully walked around the various 'artworks' to retrieve it. The cane felt at home in his hands, and he hated it.

"Oh! You've found my workshop~" the murderer said as he opened the door, sweating heavily. "Do you like my work~ I think my artistic talent far surpasses anything you've seen before~"

Oscar couldn't bring himself to open his mouth for fear of puking again, still, he couldn't keep his anger in, "YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" he choked out, "THIS ISN'T ART! THIS IS HORRIFYING!"

The man didn't seem to take the criticism lightly, "How dare you insult my work... you... BLIND FOOL! NO ONE UNDERSTANDS MY GENIUS! NO ONE!" he screeched before rushing toward Oscar, barreling through the trays and colliding with the bed.

Oscar sidestepped and thrust the cane forward, knocking the man off balance into the table of tools. Knives and saws scattered across the floor.

The man recovered and lunged at Oscar again, this time Oscar didn't have room to react as he was no forced into a grappling contest with a man who was clearly physically superior. The man's strength crunched Oscar's fist as the two collided and he pulled Oscar into a restrain, crushing him with his arms.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Oscar screamed out in pain as his bones and joints cracked under the pressure.

"DIE! DIE AND BECOME PART OF MY MASTERPIECES!" the man roared.

The pain of his bones being compressed was too much for the young boy to handle, but the sheer anger and adrenaline that coursed through his veins overpowered the state. He wanted nothing more than to bash this man's head in, but he was trapped in the meaty clutches of a deformed goblin of a man. If only he could break free... if only his arm was... an idea struck him like a chord, he didn't like it but what choice did he have?

"No... thanks..." Oscar choked out. He then did something he didn't think he'd ever have the resolve to do, and let the man's force dislocate his shoulder allowing him to slip his arm out. Then with the dislocated arm free, he as able to slip out from under the man's grasp and roll away.

Oscar grit his teeth and bit down on the cane as he realigned the shoulder and slammed it hard into the nearby wall, popping it back into place. How he knew to do that, he didn't care, even if it was Ozpin's aid, it didn't matter so long as he stood true to himself in the end.

The man charged at Oscar again, but Oscar was ready, ducked down, and swept the man off his already poor balance, knocking him against the far table again, hitting the man's head harshly, disorienting him.

"Why'd you do it? Why all these people? These were living, breathing people, with families and lives... why?" Oscar asked, wincing in pain as he approached the man and pinned him to the floor.

The man began to throatily laugh, "FOR THE GLORY OF ART!"

"That's it?!" Oscar was furious, "To just satisfy your own selfishness, you killed all these people?!"

The man continued to laugh, "You will never understand, no one appreciates my genius!"

"You're right... I'll never understand, and I hope I never do..." he addressed him. Oscar reached onto the ground and picked up a long knife, "I think I get it now... what Nova meant when he said that some people are beyond redemption... that not all lives are meant to be spared.."

Oscar took the knife and plunged it down into the man's leg, stabbing right through the bone and snapping it to the floor. The man screamed out in anguish and pain as the knife embedded itself in his leg.

"Not so fun now that you're the one being, is it?" Oscar muttered darkly, picking up another knife and stabbing it through his other leg.

Oscar was done with this, all of it. Originally he'd hoped the police would get here in time so the man could be caught and brought to justice... but seeing this room, it triggered something within him, and Oscar knew what he had to do. Lying in the corner of the room was a container of gasoline, most likely used to burn the unused... materials... from the man's 'art'. He took up the canister and began layering the room with the fuel, covering the bleeding, screaming murderer with it as well. He picked up a blow torch and as he left the room the man came to the realization of what was about to happen.

"Please... don't! I... I regret everything, please! DON'T KILL ME!"

"Did you listen to them when they begged for their lives?" Oscar grimly gestured to the hanging bodies.

The man's lip began to quiver, but Oscar was unperturbed, he stared him dead in the eye before flicking the blowtorch on and setting the trail of gasoline on fire. The only thing that filled the air after that was the smoke, ash, and desperate screams of a man being burned alive. In the end, he was just a coward, and cowards always got what they deserved.

Oscar had killed before, in a way. While he had delivered the final blow to Hazel Rainhart, he had a hand in the man's death, but to the man screaming behind him as he limped through the corridor, he wanted to feel nothing, he desperately wanted to... but in him was still a shred of remorse, regret for taking a life. Now Oscar truly understood how Nova felt that day, the true weight of his actions, and while he didn't regret what he did, he wasn't proud of it either. Perhaps that's what Luna meant when she said he had a heart... that he would feel even a sliver of sympathy for a murderous psychopath...

* * *

Nova, Ruby, and Jaune wandered the streets of Argus, desperately trying to find their friend. They'd scoured every inch of the nearby area and came up empty. The night was dragging on and it was only a matter of time before the Cotta-Arc's got suspicious.

"UGH! OSCAR WHERE ARE YOU!" Nova yelled, exasperatedly into the night.

"I hope nothing's happened to him..." Ruby said worriedly as they made their way further into town, passing by the docks.

Jaune shuddered, "I hope he didn't get lost in this part of town... this place is awful..." he said gesturing to the grimy surroundings.

Just then they heard the pitter-patter of rapidly approaching footsteps. They turned to see, out of an alleyway came a little boy, running toward them with a desperate look on his face. The most notable thing was the jacket around his shoulders.

"HEY KID!" Nova called out as he ran up to meet the little boy. "That jacket, where'd you get that jacket?!"

The boy shivered violently, "I-I got it f-from a mister w-who r-rescued me. O-Oscar..."

"You know Oscar?!" Jaune said alarmed.

"P-Please! Y-You have to h-help him! H-He's in trouble!" the boy cried out pointing in the direction he came.

Nova nodded, "Lead the way kid," he said picking up the boy in his arms. He glanced at the boy's feet, they were bleeding and slightly blue, suggesting he'd been running non-stop in the freezing snow. This worried him to no end.

The boy guided them through the network of alleys until the came across a large two-story house, oddly shaped with a fire escape on the second floor, the door wide open. The windows were all barred shut and it looked dilapidated and abandoned.

"He's in there?" Nova asked pointing to the house.

The boy nodded slowly in confirmation.

Nova handed the boy to Ruby, "Alright I'm going in..." as he was about to rush in to the second floor of the house exploded in a fiery blaze, smoke billowing out of every window and the sound of a man screaming, echoing through the night.

"OSCAR!" Jaune cried out in horror, thinking that something happened to the boy.

"What's going on guys?" a voice said causing them to whip around.

Standing beside them, jacketless and covered in ashes, blood and bruises, was Oscar Pine. His face lip was cut and there were several lacerations on his upper body, but otherwise, he seemed fine. There was, however, something different about him.

"Oscar, oh thank Oum you're alive! We were so worried!" Ruby cried, placing Nicholas down. The small child also ran up and hugged Oscar around the waist tightly, the older boy returned the hug.

"Hey, you found my friends. Good job Nicholas," he smiled and tussled his hair.

Nicholas sniffled, "What about the bad man?"

Oscar's face turned grim, a look Nova knew all too well, "I... dealt with him..." he looked at Nova who observed him carefully.

"You're going to tell me everything," Nova said with a stern tone.

Oscar's face broke into a smile, "Sure... but first I think this one needs to find his mom."

* * *

The quartet found their way back to the main street junction where sitting on the bench in the freezing cold, was the anxious mother of Nicholas, desperately searching around and crying.

"MOMMY!" Nicholas yelled out as he scampered from Oscar's side to his mother. The moment her eyes fell on him she launched herself out of her bench and wrapped her arms around him.

"OH, MY BABY BOY! WHERE'VE YOU BEEN?!"

Oscar and the others approached the woman as Nicholas said, "I got... taken by a bad man, but this mister saved me!" he pointed at Oscar.

The woman turned and acknowledged Oscar with tears flowing from her face, recognizing the boy she'd spoken to earlier in the day, "OH THANK YOU! Thank you so much! You saved my son... I..."

"No thanks needed ma'am. I told you I'd find him, so there I did."

"There has to be something I can do... my son's life is not worth nothing!" she said, smiling through the tears.

Nova shook his head, "It's not customary of our team to accept payment for kindness, we're not..."

"Team? Are you Huntsmen?" the woman asked.

"Well... yeah... we are, why do you ask?" Ruby said nervously.

"My name is Amethyst Marianne, I run the local dust shop. Stop by anytime and you get free dust, on the house," she said adamantly, walking up and hugging Oscar.

"I..."

"I will not accept no. Do you hear me? I am forever in your debt."

As they left Jaune stopped Oscar, "Hey... listen. I'm sorry about what I said earlier, how I treated you. You don't deserve to be held accountable for Ozpin's actions, and if you're mad at me, I understand..."

"Jaune," Oscar addressed him, "Relax. I'm okay now... in fact... I feel better than ever. I realized something while I was out."

"Hmm? And What's that?" Nova asked curiously.

"I learned that it doesn't matter whether or not Ozpin influenced my earlier thoughts, all that matters now is that I strive to be as unique to myself as I possibly can, and if I believe in myself, I can do anything. I learned that I'm not just a shell for Ozpin. I'm my own person, with my own power, and I can be better than he ever was." Oscar said proudly.

Nova wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in for a hug, "I'm just glad you're okay..." it was the first sign of affection Nova had really shown the boy, and to say it caught him off guard, was an understatement. All Oscar could do was accept the hug and let his emotions flow through, the dam of pent-up feelings burst and Oscar cried into Nova's shoulder.

* * *

Once they got back to the house, they were met with the angry faces of Saphron and Tera, and the embarrassed faces of the rest of the team.

"You told them didn't you?" Nova sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well... it kinda... sorta... slipped out?" Hex opted with a head tilt.

"Slipped out? Or more like you guys suck at lying?"

"A bit of both?"

Saphron walked up and pinched Jaune and Nova by their ears, "You two better explain why you were out so late and where..." her face fell upon seeing the battered and bruised Oscar.

"H-Hey... guys..." he awkwardly waved to them.

Instantly Luna rushed forward and tackled him in a tight hug, "You're okay..." she sniffed, burying her face into his shirt.

Again, Oscar was caught off guard, "I... well... Okay is a relative term, I've been better but... for the most part, I should be fine..." he returned the embrace hesitantly. Had this been yesterday, Oscar would've recoiled and felt bad about hugging her with his ash-covered body, but, now he felt different, more confident, and sure of himself. He knew who he was now, and what he would become. "Thanks for worrying about me..."

She smacked him over his head, "Of course I worry you dumbass! It's what f-friends do..." she said the word quite shakily, knowing very that 'friends' didn't quite cut it anymore.

Elain walked up and placed a hand over Oscar's head, "Sit still... I swear you kids are so fucking reckless... what would you ever do without me..." she muttered as her aura enveloped Oscar, and his wounds began to heal themselves.

"Thanks, Mrs. Flareheart, I feel a lot better now," Oscar said gratefully.

Elain choked up, "Oh he's too cute, why can't my kids be so polite?" she glared at Nova and Luna who refused to meet her gaze, instead choosing to stare at opposite walls.

"Speaking of which," the doctor said to Nova, "Are you finally going to tell me why your body temperature isn't back to normal yet?"

Nova flinched and then sighed. He extended his left arm to show the dull Agniseki, "I think... something's seriously wrong with my powers..."

* * *

**AND THERE WE GO!**

**Seriously, I had to toss out SO MANY different ideas for this chapter because either, I couldn't mesh it very well or I wanted to save it for later. Next chapter will be discussing Nova's powers and more development on Ruby before progressing the main storyline.**

**'Til next time ^-^**


	60. Chapter 60: Arguess It's a Day Off?

**So uni is starting back tomorrow. Kinda had to deal with a lot of personal stuff this time, mostly going through a few days of seriously depressive episodes. I don't have depression or anything but it was just one of those weeks.**

**On a brighter note, your morally questionable author is going to be an uncle ^-^  
Don't worry if my older sister lets me, this kid is going to become a glorious weeb.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 60: Berry Good Times All-Around**

* * *

"I think something's wrong with my powers..." Nova said with a grim expression.

The dragon leader sighed; he knew this was coming. He'd been trying to avoid the discussion and with all the drama he'd managed to succeed, at least until now. He rolled up his sleeved left arm and removed his gloves to display his dragon-skin arm with a dull Agniseki resting atop it.

"Since almost drowning in that freezing lake, I… haven't really been able to use my powers." He said nervously.

"Almost drowned?! I swear to Oum… you kids will be the death of me…" she muttered after. "So… what happened?"

The others looked toward Nova suspiciously. They'd had an instinctive feeling that something was wrong, but knowing him they weren't that worried… until now.

"Powers?" Saphron asked looking confused.

It was then that everyone in the room returned to the reality that they were in the presence of persons not associated with their quest.

"It's a dragon thing. Members of the royal family are sometimes born with powers, aside from our Semblances. Regarding this stone on my arm, and rather… what my arm is… I can tell you that I lost my arm at the Fall of Beacon and this is a replacement. Anything further and it is strictly Huntsman and Huntress business," Nova lied as easily as he breathed.

Saphron eyed them suspiciously but chose not to press into it immediately.

"Please… sis… for the sake of you and your family, you must not be aware of the information we are about to divulge… so if you'd kindly leave the room," Jaune said with concern in his eyes.

"Ugh fine. I understand…" she said almost dejectedly before escorting herself and Tera out of the room.

Nova waited until he was sure they were out of earshot.

"So… by now you've all noticed that… I've been colder… literally," he began, rubbing his forearms. "When I woke up from the ice-lake, I stopped feeling my power."

"What do you mean? How could you just stop?" Weiss asked, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"It's not something I can explain. For as long as I can remember, I've always had this power. It's been by my side like an energy, and right now… I can't truly feel it…"

"Okay, now you're just being vaguer. Is it gone or not?" Nora folded her arms crossly.

"It's complicated. I can… tell it's there. It's not gone but… if my powers were a steady burning inferno before, this feels like a dying matchstick."

"I can probably shed some light on that," Raisa said as she and Maria entered the room from the backdoor.

Everyone was taken aback, "You know about the Aspects of Remnant's powers?" Luna asked. She had decided to sit next to Oscar on the couch, the latter of whom seemed rather flustered but not unwelcoming of the presence.

"Well not much, maybe not as much as your family, but from my encounters, I did know a Faunus or two that were connected to your kind. Through them, I was able to learn a few things." She explained.

"Friend? Did you know another Aspect?" Ruby asked.

Raisa's brow furrowed, "Well… more like an acquaintance, but she's long since passed away. A Hawk girl by the name of Aeros… but enough about my past. What _is_ concerning is you!" she pointed at Nova. "You're saying you can't tap into your powers right now correct? It's like they're weakened?"

Nova nodded slowly.

"Well that could mean several things, but it would help me narrow things down if you were to tell me, who or where is the Fall Maiden?"

Everyone shared a simultaneous glance and Nova groaned aloud, "She's right here…"

"Really? Which one of you?" she asked looking among the girls.

They all just shook their heads and pointed at Nova.

"What…?"

"Ugh, it's easier if I show you…" Nova said before pushing the button on his armlet and his body transforming into that of a girl. Her eyes then began to glow with the Fall Maiden's power. "Does this explain it?"

Raisa began coughing and choking in surprise, "Well, in all my years… this actually explains everything!"

Everyone was on the edge of their seat, "Really? What's the problem? Am I going to be okay?" Nova asked.

"Kid, right now in your body houses the powers of the natural world, your Aspect, and the powers of magic, the Fall Maiden. Magic and Nature are like Orange Juice and Chery Juice. Incidentally, they're both juices but right now your body is confused."

"I think Nova's pretty comfortable with his choice of sexuality ma'am. Ruby's already decided she's half-gay." Nora says blanky while everyone falls over comically.

The woman choked, "NO! No… what I mean is, you said you almost drowned right?"

Nova nodded, "Yeah, and I fought before that draining all my aura and my stamina, and I guess my power as well."

"Exactly. Right now your body is confused because it's trying to refill your juice, but it doesn't know which one to fill. Does it fill your orange or the cherry? The magic or the natural element? It can't figure out where to draw in energy from and it's just at a stagnant pace until you can regulate it," she finalizes.

Nova listened intently and pondered on her words, "So… what you're saying is… I need to figure out which one I want to focus on?"

Raisa held up her index and smiled, "Precisely. You catch on quick boy…err girl…. Anyway, you need to either release the magic in you and let it go, or find some way to harmonize between the two forces in your body. Right now you're kinda stuck in a loop of back and forth. I can see your aura just bouncing back and forth unable to figure out what to do with itself."

"That still doesn't explain why it's stunted it to this extent," Weiss said thoughtfully.

"Aspects are born to balance the power of the world... so when Nova became the Fall Maiden, the balance got thrown for a loop, because I guess even fate wasn't prepared for the turn of events that transpired... still the fact that Nova's Aspect mark still exists means that there is a remaining power imbalance. Perhaps our enemies are getting stronger... and the world feels threatened..." Elain said, voicing her theories.

Nova was silent for a moment, before responding, "T-This is all just too bloody complicated… I'll figure this out somehow…" she had a concerned look on her face before instantly morphing it to her leader face. "Alright, we'll figure this out at some other point. Right now our main focus should be finding a way to convince the Atlas base to grant us passage." She folded her arms and stood tall.

They all nodded simultaneously, "And if we can't convince them?" Yang asked with an undertone of ulterior motives.

Nova smirked at her expression, "Then we use… alternative methods~"

"I like where your head's at!" Hex finger gunned at her.

"Should we be trying anything like that? I mean, our local one-man army has lost most of his power…" Weiss said thoughtfully, she was trying to come up with ways they could do things that didn't involve stealing or fighting.

The dragon leader looked genuinely offended, "Hey! Just because I can't use my powers doesn't mean I'm useless. I can still fight." She pouted in frustration.

"Uh… quick question…" Nitro raised his finger drawing everyone's attention. "How many rooms are there?"

Everyone fell silent. In all their ponderings about what they should do with their mission, they'd forgotten about living arrangements, and while the Cotta-Arc's house was big, it wasn't nearly as big as the one in Mistral. They certainly didn't have six bedrooms to fit the fourteen of them.

"Oh don't worry too much, I'm sure you guys can fit in the three rooms that we do have," Tera said popping back into the room. Nova was pretty sure she'd heard everything previously, but he wouldn't bring it up.

"Tera! I thought we were discussing sensitive information here?" Jaune chastised.

"Yeah, I got tired of waiting for you to finish up. I know nothing," she said with a wink.

Everyone sighed, the Arc family were seriously too curious for their own good

"I'd trust you guys won't be 'active' during the night, right?" Saphron said with air quotes.

They all turned pink, "Ma'am the only couples in this group are Me and Yang and Nova and Ruby. It's just one big family really!" Hex said almost choking on air.

She looked around, "Where is Nova?"

"Right here!" Nova's hand shot up with a goofy grin.

"Um… who…?"

"Mrs. Cotta-Arc, I'm a girl, and also a boy. My sex changes like this," she flicked the button on her armlet and transformed back into a guy.

The Cotta Arcs had to do triple takes, "In a world where monsters roam and people have powers you'd think something like this wouldn't surprise you…" Tera said holding her head in her hands.

"I'd try not to think about it. A medical accident caused my semblance to morph my body, I've learned to live with it. Besides, I kinda like being this way."

"C-Can you transform back for a second?" Saphron asked nervously.

Nova tilted his head in confusion, "Sure…?" the light enveloped the room for the third time, and there stood female Nova.

Saphron giddily ran up and began taking measurements with a tape she seemingly pulled from thin air.

"YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" she squealed.

"Wait wha?!" suddenly she was pulled by the arm and dragged upstairs by the hyper Arc girl. "HELP ME!"

"Uh… what just happened?" Luna asked her sweat bead dropping.

Tera giggled, "Saphron has had this one dress in her closet for five years. She couldn't fit in it and I think she found someone who could."

Moments later Saphron was seen dragging a very shy Nova down the stairs. Everyone's jaw dropped.

Nova was wearing a beautiful white Victorian style dress that went to her ankles. It was adorned with pink swirling blossoms around the lacy top. The shoulders were puffy and over her head was a frilled bonnet. All in all, she looked like a doll.

Nitro, Yang, and Hex desperately tried to hold in their laughter while Ruby was rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

"No… way… you're kidding me…" Oscar mouthed in astonishment.

Nova was pouting furiously, "How did this happen?!"

"Honey, you look adorable," Ruby squealed latching onto her and rubbing their cheeks together.

"SHE'S SO CUTE! I JUST WANNA SQUISH HER!" Nora joined Ruby in the squeezing of Nova.

Luna snapped a picture on her scroll, leaving Nova with a horrified expression, "Sis! YOU DID NOT!"

"Oh… it's for the… memories…pfft HAHAHHA!" Luna began cackling madly on the floor.

* * *

Once everyone was nestled in their rooms, Nova was out of the dress and in his original body form, resting on the couch. He'd given up a spot in the rooms for Oscar. He figured the kid needed a good night's rest after whatever it is he went through. Ruby insisted she stay with him so it was just the two of them bunking in the living room.

He was reclining against the corner of the long couch with Ruby curled up next to him, her head resting on his lap while he played with her hair. They'd swapped out their combat outfits for casual clothing since their traditional garb was in dire need of washing. Nova was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with white sweatpants. He hated sleeping in long pants but Argus was quite cold, and without his inner fire, he was susceptible to the frigid air. Ruby, on the other hand, couldn't wear her normal pajamas so she was wearing black shorts with woolen thigh highs and Nova's favourite orange and black hoodie.

"You know what's something that I really like," he said airily.

"Hmm?" she rolled over so her eyes were staring up at him and he was looking down at her.

"Your hair colour. At first, I thought you dyed it that way, but now that I see that it's naturally black with red streaks, I can't help but be amazed."

"Really? My hair of all things?" She teased.

"Well yeah, I mean… what other weirdo would have multicoloured hair like you?"

"The same weirdo that has multicolored eyes, dumbass." She took his right arm and nuzzled into the palm. Had it not been for the incredibly adorable action, he'd have facepalmed for forgetting his own hair was also in a similar situation.

Nova's heart melted, "God… you're… so… ugh how do I say these words without sounding like a dork?"

Ruby giggled and sat up facing him, "You're a dork either way so it doesn't matter does it?"

"Hey, you're one too!" he said with fake annoyance.

"Yeah but we're each other's dorks aren't we?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said entwining his fingers with hers.

"We've come a long way, haven't we? Nearly two years ago, we were in Professor Port's class learning about cabbages. Back then you were just a mysterious person that was so curious to me. I wanted to be your friend… and I never knew just how much more that would become…" she said leaning in closer.

"For me, it was like a crush at first glance. You're so… perfect to me. I mean I know perfection is subjective but to me, there's not a single thing about you that I dislike. From the way, you talk with your mouth full, to your nose-picking habits down to your gorgeous smile and beautiful personality. You opened up so much to me… I'm just glad that I was the one you chose to be with," he said with genuine love, leaning in closer as well.

Ruby's lips were barely a fraction from his own, "In my heart when it came down to it… there wasn't a choice because I had eyes for you… and only you…" she closed the distance and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

She encircled her arms around his neck and he pulled her close. Kissing furiously as their lips meshed in perfect harmony. They hadn't been able to share a moment like this since Mistral and they were desperate for each other. Nova's lips roamed, kissing along her jawline before returning to their spot on her lips.

Ruby mewled in pleasure as he gently sucked on her lower lip. She broke for air but not before instantly going back down to devour his mouth, their tongues dancing around each other as they tried to absorb as much of the other as possible. Hands began roaming and before they knew it, she was ontop of him and he was laying back down on the couch, staring up at the hazy passion-filled eyes of Ruby Rose.

She leaned back down, her nose touching his, "We should probably stop there…" he said with a hint of disappointment, whispering against her breath.

"But I don't want to…" she pouted.

Nova almost choked as to what she was implying, "We… don't want to ruin the upholstery… Jaune's sister might be mad. Plus This house isn't exactly soundproof."

Ruby growled, "Ugh, you're right… the morning would be super embarrassing…" she groaned thinking about it.

Nova chuckled, "Hey, didn't say you could stop kissing me now did I?"

She giggled and playfully slapped his chest, "You're such a dork!" she said before diving back down onto his mouth.

The next morning the gang woke up to see a rather disheveled looking Ruby atop Nova, both their hair's looking worse than bedhead, their clothes, while rumpled and disorderly, were still on. Much to Yang and Hex's disappointment.

"Aw, guess they're still too young," Hex said chuckling.

Yang flicked her girlfriend, "I might trust Nova with Ruby more than I trust anyone else, but these two are most definitely not ready. Give them another year then maybe... maybe I'll let it slide..." she eyed them.

Hex snorted, "Ease up mama bear. Just let 'em enjoy this."

Yang reached down and shook Ruby, "Wake up love birds, it's morning," the blonde brawler said, earning a loud groan from the two of them.

"Yang leave us alone..." Nova grumbled. Ruby waved her hand and Yang dismissively before burying her head back into Nova's shirt.

"Cute as this is, everyone's already up so, unless you want to train the innocent eyes of young Adrien and the other two, I'd suggest you make yourselves not look like you were active last night, please?" Hex said with a teasing tone.

Nova and Ruby turned pink, sitting up abruptly, "W-We didn't!"

Yang had a smug look, "I know, you both still have that 'virgin' look."

"And how would you know?" Nova folded his arms looking annoyed.

Yang and Hex shared a silent glance and giggled, "Do you want us to tell you?"

Ruby turned the colour of her name, "NO! I'm going to bleach my brain, Nova, love, can you make me some coffee?"

The dragon pecked her on the lips, "Sure, three sugars and heavy cream right?"

As she disappeared upstairs she saluted down in confirmation.

* * *

They all sat around the table for breakfast, with Nova and Ruby relaxing in the backyard while the others were either watching tv or just enjoying their peace. It was rare for them to wake up to a slow morning, and there was a silent agreement to just let things go.

"Oh kids, we got some homemade raspberry jam. Red berries are a specialty of Argus and Saphron's favourite hobby is making jam when the season comes around," Tera said waving a bottle of red gelatinous substance out of the fridge before placing it not he table.

"OH, I LOVE RASPBERRY! Well, it's not blueberry, it's still good," Luna chirped, taking a spoonful and placing it on her toast.

Oscar hummed in interest, "So... you're favourite flavour is blueberry? Ironic," he said chuckling and picking up the jar.

She pouted and puffed out her cheeks, "Goddamn you... figuring me out!"

"If you like blueberry, I'll take a guess and say... Nova likes citrus?" he asked. He was basing his guesses on colour scheme, it was typical people's food tastes tended to veer toward their favourite colours.

Luna giggled, "Close but no cigar. He does like oranges and tangerines, but it's not his favourite. He might be orange but he has a certain thing for... red snacks if you catch my meaning," she said winking and nudging toward the bit of red hood that was poking out of the doorway. The way Ruby and Nova were sitting they could somewhat see them from the kitchen.

Oscar mouthed, "Oh... so strawberry?"

"Almost. He's chronically addicted to cherries. I remember this one time we were living in the alleys, Nova managed to score a box of the stuff from an overloaded supply shipment. We tried to share but he ended up eating almost all by himself," she recalled while eating her food.

Tera listened in to their conversation with interest, shock, and worry. Kids their age? Living on the streets? Weren't they royalty?

"I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds but... alley?" she asked the blue dragon with concern marring her features.

Luna waved her hand dismissively, "It's fine ma'am. Royalty isn't all it's cracked up to be. I mean with all the political drama, getting separated from our parents at a young age and our house burning down, Nova and I grew up on the streets. It's honestly nothing."

Ter almost choked at the way she was treating it. It was almost like homelessness didn't phase the young dragon, and she didn't know whether to admire her mental fortitude or feel sympathy for her having to go through such horrible circumstances.

"Did you know about that?" Tera asked turning to Elain who was making coffee.

The wolf Faunus' ears perked up, "Nope, not until they told me. I was kidnapped and forced to work for the White Fang for eight years. I didn't even know if they were alive," she said pointing to Luna who just beamed a smile.

Tera held her head in her hands, "You know what? I'm honestly sorry I asked... what have you all been through?! You're barely what fourteen?" she looked to Luna.

"Fifteen and we've... been through a lot... but it's all in the past now. Oh, this jam is absolutely amazing!" she chirped as she licked her fingers.

"THANK YOU!" Saphron called back from the other room where she was feeding Adrien on the couch.

The bespectacled woman just sighed and picked up the newspaper and blinked in surprise, "Woah!"

"Hm, what's up?" Jaune asked walking into the room looking freshly showered.

"Midnight Fire and mysterious hero. Late last night a house caught on fire, when authorities rushed to the scene they found what seemed to be the remains of dozens of human bodies. According to the autopsies, most of the corpses had been dead for days but the fresh one was identified as Burgess Redwood, a.k.a, 'The Artist', a serial killer that had escaped the grasp of the law for years. Eye Witnesses include a young boy whose name was left out, who says that he was kidnapped by Burgess and rescued by a teenager Huntsman. Description of the unknown hero is an average height tan boy with dark hair." she finished reading it out.

"Hmm..." all eyes in the room turned to Oscar who matched that exact description.

"Who me? It could be anyone..." he tried to laugh it off as he picked up the jam. Upon gazing at the bottle of red goo he had flashbacks to the coagulated blood and festering wounds of the hanging bodies, almost making him puke on the table.

They all as the reaction, "Mhm... and judging by the smokey smell and burn marks you had, I'd say I know exactly who that mysterious person is," Nova said standing in the doorway.

"Can we not do this right now? I don't want to remember what I saw... or what I had to do..." Oscar said now not feeling hungry.

"We don't need to. I just want to say that you did a good thing, Oscar. The world is in a better place for it." Nova said folding his arms.

"Then why do I feel so... awful..." he said almost tearing up.

Luna moved closer and placed her hand over his from across the table, "Because you have a heart. If you didn't feel anything I'd be worried..." she said smiling sweetly at him, making him turn pink in embarrassment.

"WAH! Um... ahem..." he composed himself. Tera and Elain just looked on with knowing smiles. "Anyway... uh... what are we going to do about Atlas?"

"Nothing right now. Ruby is still training and I think we are all in desperate need of a short rest. Atlas isn't running away and we can trust James to at least keep the city safe for a day or two. What we need right now is to evaluate our situation, come up with a proper plan, and then move forward." Nova said entering leader mode.

"Safe? Is Atlas in danger?" Tera asked worriedly.

"Maybe, or maybe it's fine. We have reason to believe it's under terrorist attack, whether it be a week from now or later. It all depends on when the enemy decides to move." he said eyeing her. He trusted Tera, at least she didn't come across as a shady person. He was a good judge of character and there were no warning signs over her head, so she was safe to trust with this information.

"Are you alright telling me this?"

"Well you asked, didn't you? I'm not one to keep secrets... at least not when the information won't do any harm," he said, and everyone's mind waved back to Ozpin and his lies.

"What's our agenda for the day oh brother of mine?" Luna asked with blinking eyes.

Nova didn't understand the gesture so he went on anyway, "We're going to see Pyrrha."

* * *

-**Vacuo, The Last White Fang Base-**

Onyx sat in his throne room, gripping the armrests in anger, his miasma encompassing the polished marble floors and tall white pillars with White Fang flags draped over them. He was brooding over his most recent loss against the group of rats that kept following him around and that cockroach Nova who refused to die. Everything was going according to plan until that wretched lizard reared his ugly head and spat on his work. Now he was down on his army, and lacking political influence.

"Sir, the new models are ready," Stein said walking into the throne room.

Onyx smiled, "Oh~? Take me to them..."

He followed the scientist out of the room and through the highly advanced facility, to the development lab. There standing in rows were a series of automaton soldiers, clad in thick black plated armour, White Fang symbols painted on their chests.

"The new Obsidian models sir." Stein gestured.

Onyx studied them carefully, "What can they do exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked." Stein pressed a button on his remote control and all of the soldiers simultaneously took up a combat stance, their left arms raised and morphed into blasters while their right arms transformed into energy blades, "High powered armour piercing hand cannons and high density vibrating Dust infused energy blades. The guns can pierce any hide short of dust shield and their blades can cut through almost anything," he then pressed another button and a thick metal beam was lowered into the room fro the ceiling. One soldier walked up to it and cut it down in an instant.

Onyx whistled, "Impressive... but how sturdy are they?"

"Their Dust infused alloy plating is of Incindium plate steel. Blast resistant, flame retardant and bulletproof," he continued, this time a minigun, flamethrower, and grenade were dropped from the ceiling, each going off one after the other. Once the smoke cleared the robots were completely unharmed.

The bear Faunus roared with laughter, "WELL DONE STEIN! Out of all my loyal henchmen... you are by far the most useful. I'll see to it that you are... handsomely rewarded..."

"I'm not usually one to ask where our funds are coming from, but to supply this research... our benefactor must be quite wealthy..."

Onyx eyed him, "Yes... well his business is quite... lucrative. If there's nothing else I'd prefer to be done with this conversation..."

"Sir there's one more thing." the scientist said with a nervous smile.

"Hm?"

"Our little pet project... Black Diamond... is complete..."

Onyx's smile changed to a big grin, "So, you've succeeded in hardwiring _his _brain... how is the performance."

"Optimized for maximum performance and ready to serve, Master Onyx," A voice echoed from the speaker system above them, making the two men look around for the source. The voice was very familiar.

"Is that...?" Onyx started.

"Yes sir. It seems he's already figured out how to adapt to our systems." Stein said proudly.

"I have made several security upgrades to our systems and already mapped out the most successful routes for our next operation, Master Onyx." The voice of the A.I said.

Onyx smiled, "I'm really starting to like this new you... Flint."

"I'm happy to serve you, my master!" it said again, as the computer-generated facial image of Bortz Flint Flareheart appeared on the large screen in the lab.

* * *

Not all of the group could go see Pyrrha so Oscar, Luna, Blake, and Nitro stayed behind. They figured it was best to explore the town a bit, see what Argus had to offer. Oscar wanted to see her, he really did, but he chose otherwise. A few days ago he would've relished in the chance to meet his hero in person, but now he knew, that it was much better to let those she's close to see her first. He could visit her at any time.

The quartet strolled along the streets in quiet content, admiring the fresh snow on the trees and the liveliness of the town.

"Blake, I have a question," Nitro said nodding to the cat Faunus.

This caught her by surprise. In all their time knowing each other, she'd not really interacted with Nitro that much outside that one sparring session they had at Beacon. "What is it?"

"What kind of books are you into?"

Now Blake was super confused, "Um... what brought this on?"

"Oh nothing, just, recently I've found myself looking for things to occupy my time. Like... Nova and Ruby spend a lot of time together, so do Yang and Hex. Not that it's a bad thing, and they never neglect us, but... I don't know... I guess I get bored when there's nothing left to do." he said plainly, staring up at the sky.

"What about Jaune? Aren't you two like good friends?" she asked tilting her head.

"Yeah, Jaune's great and all... but it's like... sometimes I need personal time, but I don't know what to do to occupy my 'me' time," he explained folding his arms at the back of his head and leaning on them. "I figured, you're a primarily solitary creature of the night, what better to do than take a page from your book..."

The two younger teens behind them groaned at the pun.

"Boo! You stink!" Luna joked while giggling.

Blake hummed, "Well... the stories I like are... not suitable for newcomers..."

Nitro spotted a bookstore up ahead, "Blake how about you help me pick something out in that store?" he pointed at the shop. Before Blake could agree he took her by the hand and dragged her into the shop, leaving Luna and Oscar by themselves.

Once they were inside, Nitro pulled her aside, out of vision.

"What was that about?!" She yelled in protest, her hair was a frizzy mess from the wind.

"Exactly what I said, I need help picking out a book, but I also wanted to give those two some privacy," he said with a glint in his eye.

Blake narrowed her own and studied him, "What are you...?"

"Oscar and Luna are crushing on each other super hard! How have you not noticed this?!"

Blake blinked, "Ohhh... so that's why she's so clingy of him..."

"Yes, now... remember that little stealth and observe mission we did for Nova and Ruby way back then?"

She nodded in understanding, "You want to secretly tail them?"

"Yeap! We can relay to the others when they're done, for now, I just wanna see how things go between them."

* * *

Luna and Oscar were left, disoriented, and perplexed as they watched the other two bolt off in a random direction, too fast to follow with their eyes.

"Uh... what just happened?" the blue dragon asked tilting her head in confusion.

"I think we just got ditched..." Oscar pointed out dryly, then it occurred to him, that he and Luna were now alone. A huge part of him was flustered beyond belief, it wanted to make him crawl and hide so he didn't have to deal with this situation, but at the same time, there was a part of him that was enjoying this.

'_Alright, Oscar... you're a new boy... er man? You're not going to let petty things like fear and embarrassment get a hold of you. You are confident and fluid, trust yourself,' _he chanted in his mind like a mantra. "I can do this..." he muttered under his breath before taking a deep inhale and slow exhale.

"Luna!" he said a little too loudly. This slightly startled her.

"Yeah?"

"Um... since it's just us... wanna go do something fun?"

She turned slightly pink at the realization they were alone, "U-Um... sure... I'd like that... what did you have in mind?"

"Well neither of us know Argus very well... we could-" he was interrupted when a gust of wind suddenly blew through, a paper flyer smacking him in the face.

Luna giggled and took it off of him, "Ooo lookie! It says here that Argus is holding it's annual berry festival today! It's just downtown, near the pier." she pointed on the paper. It showed in big bold letters 'Argus Annual Bery Festival! You're in for a berry delicious treat!'

Oscar noticed the pun and groaned, "Don't we get enough of these with Nova and Yang around?" he pointed to the catchphrase.

Luna shrugged, "I'm starting to enjoy it."

Oscar paled, "I really hope I don't get like that..." this made her smack him lightly.

* * *

Downtown Argus was abuzz with life. Along the pier street were rows of stalls, lined with goods, trinkets, souvenirs, and of course various berry related items. Oscar relished in the cool, refreshing breeze that blew through the air, it was that time just before the oncoming deep winter that Argus's life was truly at its peak. It was cold, but not freezing, and the chilling temperatures made for warm and cozy clothing. It seemed that same warmth echoed off the people, their faces smiling brightly, making Oscar question whether the dark slums he saw last night were even real.

Luna walked alongside him, a small space in between them as neither were brave enough to close it. She didn't know when, but Oscar seemed, different... in a good way. He felt taller, more mature, and emotionally stable, compared to the Oscar of a few days ago. She had a rough idea of what happened thanks to this morning's conversation, but she could never know what was going through his head at the time, she was just glad that he'd solved his identity crisis.

The smell of baked dough wafted through the air followed by the sweet scent of something sticky and delightful, making Luna's stomach growl. "Ehehe..." she laughed in embarrassment. Oscar was about to make a statement when his own stomach gurgled.

They both burst out in a fit of laughter, "I guess we're both hungry huh?" he pointed out with a cheeky grin.

Luna stuck her tongue on making a 'tee-hee' sound, "I was too shy to ask Jaune's sister for more food, Nova and Nitro definitely felt bad. They usually eat a truck-ton, something to do with metabolism. I guess I ended up following the same pattern."

"Ah so you're small but a big glutton. Seems... fitting," Oscar tested.

Luna thumped him earning an 'Owie', "Don't point out a girl's appetite. It's bad manners."

"Yikes, okay, your highness," he said, which earned a small pout from her. This made him feel like he said something wrong, "Sorry, I know you don't like being called that..."

She shook her head, "No, not that. I mean, yeah I don't like people calling me a princess or whatever but... Oscar... does me being a princess bother you?"

Oscar blinked in surprise, "No! NO! I mean, of course not! It's a great thing that you're a princess..." then he realized how that sounded, "Not that I only see you as a princess or base your value on that fact, but I think it's neat... and this is coming out all wrong..."

Luna smiled almost sadly, "I know what you mean Oscar. I didn't once think that you value me as a princess. It's just that... I think that we could be a lot closer, but... maybe my status is getting in the way... when people know you're royalty... they tend to treat you differently. It happened back at Beacon when our identities were revealed. All of a sudden, it wasn't 'Luna Sapphire the ax-wielding cool girl' it was 'Luna Sapphire Flareheart, the esteemed princess'." she explained almost dejectedly. "Sometimes, I wish family names didn't mean anything, and I could talk to people normally. That there wasn't a barrier of status between us. It's the main reason why Mom and Nova share the same hatred for being referred to by Queen or Prince."

Oscar listened intently, and his thoughts began to race in a swirl of emotion. She hated being called a princess, and he knew that but he still let that cloud his judgment, and somewhere along the line he'd ingrained into his mind that he was below her, when the truth was... that she just wanted to be treated like a normal girl.

"Luna... I..." he wasn't sure what to say. There were so many things he wanted to say but he didn't trust his tongue to not spill his whole heart in an instant. He wanted to say that he valued her for so much more than she realized, tell her that she was beautiful and sweet and a ray of moonlight in his dark stormy night but how corny would he sound? Then there was the reality that maybe she only saw him as a friend.

"I think that you're very kind, you have a beautiful soul and you are worth so much more than just a princess. There is so much more to you than you think, and it's ironic I'm saying this when you told me the same things not too long ago, but it's the truth," he said firmly, meeting her eyes and not wavering for a second.

Luna locked gazes and instantly turned beet red, steam was practically coming out of her ears, "I... I... I... I..." was all her fried brain could stutter out before they were both interrupted by a simultaneous stomach growl, reminding them that they were hungry.

"Come on, let's go check out that pie stall over there," he said pointing to the source of the nice smells.

* * *

Behind another stall, Nitro and Blake stood in the cover of clothing racks, "Did you hear that?" Nitro said with glee, turning to his partner in crime.

Blake nodded firmly, "That was some smooth words... he's good." she said rubbing her chin.

Nitro planted his fist in his palm, "If he keeps up like this, think they might end up together by the end of the day?"

Blake squinted her eyes at the awkward body language they were both giving up, "Hmm... maybe... it's too soon to say."

"Oh, they're getting away! We need to follow them! ONWARD, SPEEDY AND CAT GIRL ON THE HUNT!" he announced raising his finger in a triumphant manner, which was comical since they were basically poking their heads out of a mass of clothes.

"Please don't call me that or I'll scratch your eyes out..." Blake said dryly.

"Meowch!"

"That's it gingerbread, you're gonna..."

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING IN THERE?!" The stall owner yelled coming around and noticing the two.

"SHIT! COME ON KITTY WE'RE NOPING THE FUCK AWAY!" he yelled grabbing Blake by the hand and pulling her off. Not a second later Nitro zipped back and roped an arm around the store owner, "Say mister you wouldn't happen to have a Huntsman discount on that absolutely gorgeous jacket over there would you?" he pointed to a student leather jacket with red stripes.

The man looked very irritated, "Leave or I call the police..." he threatened.

"WAH!" Nitro exclaimed before running back off.

* * *

At the hospital, Nova, Ruby, Yang, Hex, Weiss, Nora, Ren, Jaune, and Elain were crowding in Pyrrha's hospital room. The moment Nora's eyes saw her friend, she instantly began to tear up.

"It's you..." Nora sniffed, looking toward Pyrrha with a tear-filled gaze, "It's really you... you're okay..." she wiped the tears away and walked up to the hospital bed, taking her by the hand.

The redhead girl looked flustered, "Um... sorry miss, I don't remember you, but from your reaction, were we good friends?" she asked with a sad smile. She felt bad asking these things to people who shed genuine tears for her, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to know.

Nora's breath seized up, but she swallowed it down and hugged Pyrrha, "Yes, yes we were. I'm so happy to see you... I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable," Nora continued.

Pyrrha awkwardly returned the hug, and pat the orange-haired girl on the back, "I-It's alright..."

"Is she normally like this?" Pyrrha asked awkwardly.

Ren smiled warmly, "No, she's usually a lot crazier. It's strange to see her show genuine care and concern, but I guess it's understandable when..." he trailed off.

Yang folded her arms, "So, what Jaune said was true, you really don't remember anything," she looked to Jaune with worry, but he just shot her back a sad smile and a nod.

Hex pinched the bridge of her nose, "Nikos, we weren't close but my leader was, and well as far as I'm concerned that made you my friend too. A fellow strong, one-woman army." she shot Pyrrha a pair of thumbs up.

"Thank you? I don't remember how to fight..." she explained sadly.

"You were the best fighter at Beacon. I looked up to you a lot," Weiss said with a resolved smile.

"Nuh-uh, second best," Nova pointed out smugly.

"Oh shut up you, that fight was a draw," Ruby said pinching her boyfriend. "Don't mind him Pyrrha, we're all just so happy to see you again. We were worried that you would never wake up again... or worse..."

The idea of her death made everyone in the room fall silent.

"Yeesh kids, get any gloomier and I'll have to call the funeral home. Hello Miss Nikos," Elain said walking into the room.

Pyrrha acknowledged her, "Do I know you as well?"

"No, but I'm this one's mother," she thumbed at Nova, "I'm also a doctor. May I?" she walked up and gestured to Pyrrha's head as if she was going to put her hand on it.

Pyrrha nodded, "Uh... sure? What are you...?"

Elain placed her hand atop the girl's head and soon her aura was covering Pyrrha. At first, Elain's face was stoic, but after a few seconds, it was a mix of confusion and bewilderment.

She released her head and turned to the others humming to herself with folded arms, instinctively reaching into her pocket to find her cigarettes only to come up empty. She hadn't smoked since the Fall of Beacon, primarily due to the depression of her lost son and the chaos of trying to retake Menagerie. She wasn't an addict but it helped her think sometimes.

"What's wrong with her mom?" Nova asked the wolf Faunus.

"That's the confusing part. Nothing..."

"WHAT?!" they all asked simultaneously. They'd been hoping Elain's semblance would restore Pyrrha's memory, but it seemed just a shot in the dark.

"Aside from minor body weakness from lack of proper nutrients, fuck hospital food, she's completely fine. There is one thing that's bothering me, but it's not medical." Elain explained.

"What is it?" Jaune asked worriedly.

Elain inhaled, "When I heal someone with Aura, I can sometimes get a read on it. Pyrrha's a Huntress, so she's had her Aura unlocked, but right now, it's... hiding from her?"

"I have Aura?!" Pyrrha asked in surprise.

"My dear, you don't just have Aura. Your Aura is like a soda bottle that's been shaken up and sealed tight. It wants to burst forth, but something's blocking it. It might be your lack of memory on the use of Aura, or it could be something else but, I think the fact that you can't use or sense it, might be the reason your memories are missing." Elain explained with a serious expression.

Everyone took a moment to drink in the information, "So... what you're saying is that if someone were to jumpstart her Aura, she'd go back to being normal?" Hex asked.

Elain shrugged, "That's the gist of it, but you'd need someone with her Aura type or Aura that is compatible with hers."

"Where the hell are we supposed to find that then?" Yang asked almost dejectedly.

Nova ran his hands through his hair, "Well...actually..."

* * *

Back in town, Luna and Oscar were selecting from a series of pies. Luna spied a blueberry one and instantly pointed to it, "I want that one ma'am," she said to the stall keeper.

The lady smiled warmly, "That'll be ten Lien a slice." she said kindly.

Oscar fished into his pocket but Luna stopped him, "Nuh-uh. My treat." she then took out a hundred Lien, "I'll take the whole pie ma'am."

The lady almost choked, "W-Well excuse me, miss! Would you like me to bag it or wrap it? I can cut it for you and your boyfriend..."

"Oh, w-we're not..." Luna stuttered.

"She's not... w-we're just friends..." Oscar stared at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

The woman laughed heartily, "Oh my, forgive me dears. I'll just wrap this in a little basket, and..." she wrapped it in a cloth and placed it in a small basket, "There! Now off you go you two! Enjoy!" she waved as they awkwardly thanked her.

The two continued to peruse the bazaar, looking for a quiet place to sit and eat. It was becoming later in the day now as they passed by several stalls, having thoroughly lost their sense of direction in the crowd.

"We're not going to find a spot are we?" Oscar asked rhetorically as they passed by a seating area that was completely occupied with people.

Luna felt her sweat drop, "Yeah... I guess not..."

They stood out like sore thumbs in the crowd, and Luna felt her cheeks burning the more she realized that people were staring at them. She was sure they looked like a couple now that the lady had pointed it out, and the looks people gave them confirmed it since this city seemed to be a sucker for young romance. She was fussing over the embarrassment in her mind when a shiny object caught the corner of her eye.

It was a stall with shiny jewelry and what looked to be Dust.

Oscar caught her staring, "You wanna go over there?" he asked pointing to the stall.

Luna rubbed the back of her head awkwardly but didn't give confirmation, so Oscar took her by the hand and pulled her over to the stall she so clearly wanted to see.

It was a small stall, not much larger than the pie stall from earlier. Three tables lined the roofed structure on all sides with a curtained back panel. On the tables was red table cloth, upon which jewelry of different shapes, sizes, and types were laid out on display.

Oscar inspected them, "Are these... cut Dust crystals?" he asked with wide eyes. It wasn't gemstones or precious metal, but Dust, as in the thing they used as ammunition and fuel.

"Yes, indeed they are sir! Amethyst's specialized Dust Jewelry, available once a year..." a woman's voice said as the stall owner came from the curtains in the back. Upon seeing Oscar the woman's eyes widened, "YOU!"

Oscar took a moment to register who she was, "AH! You're Nicholas' mom!"

"Mister!" a young voice said from the back of the tent, followed by a series of ruffling before out came a sprinting young Nicholas. The young boy sped over to Oscar and hugged him tightly, Oscar smiled warmly and ruffled his hair.

"Hey Nick, you're looking much better now. How are your feet doing?" he asked kneeling down to the boy's eye level.

Nicholas puffed out his chest, "I'm a big boy. I can handle it! You look good too mister!" he gave Oscar a toothy grin, to which the teen melted.

Luna watched the interaction with awe, seeing Oscar look genuinely happy filled her with a warm fuzzy feeling as if she wanted to watch it all day.

"Oh right! Sorry, Luna, this is Nicholas and Amethyst, they're the ones..."

"Young Oscar here saved my boy's life. He's a real hero," Amethyst finished for him, smiling with pride.

Luna nodded, "He's really something isn't he?"

Amethyst facepalmed, "Oh hear me ramble, you wanted something right? Would you like some help picking something out?"

Oscar had a question, "You said this was Dust right? I hope this doesn't sound rude but, is it safe to use this stuff as jewelry?" he asked earnestly.

The woman nodded, "Believe it or not, these actually won't spontaneously explode on you. See, when I receive Dust shipments from Mantle, in every batch there are always a few faulty crystals. Dust is supposed to be reactive but for the past couple years, I've gotten one or two unreactive powerless Dust crystals out of the batches."

"So... instead of complaining about a few duds out of a shipment, you began cutting them into jewelry?" Luna asked, piecing together the information.

"EXACTLY! She's a smart one," Amethyst winked at Oscar making him blush, "Amethyst's one of a kind Dust cut jewelry! Available once a year during the Berry Festival. It rakes in the tourists like you would not believe," she said giddily.

Luna hummed, "You know, I think you and my brother would get along really well in that department," she said.

The lady tilted her head, "Huh?"

Luna reached under her top and pulled out the necklace Nova had given her on her birthday. Upon seeing it Amethyst almost fell over in amazement, "Is that... a custom cut sapphire infused with dust?!"

The blue dragon nodded, "Yeah, my brother made this for me..."

"I must meet the maker of this masterpiece! I can learn so much!" Amethyst began to gawk while Nicholas looked embarrassed for his mother.

Oscar chuckled, he was about to say that she already did but his eyes scanned over the assortment of jewelry and something caught his eye, a bracelet that was a bright silver band with ice Dust crystals in a branched vine pattern along it. They looked exactly like sapphires, and they matched Luna's eyes. He reached down and picked up the piece, "I'd like this one. How much is it?"

"That's one of my finer work. Definitely a good choice, that one's price is eight-hundred Lien, sounds pricey but the effort it took to make those cuts was ridiculous," she said proudly.

Luna almost choked, "Oscar no way! I am not letting you spend so much money on me!"

"No, I need to do something nice for you. You're always there for me so think of it as my way of saying thanks, for... being my friend, and for the pie," he pointed to the basket.

"AHEM!" Amethyst made a loud noise alerting them, "I was going to say, that it's usually that price, but for you and your girlfriend, it's free."

Oscar almost choked on air, "A-Are you sure?!" he sputtered, completely ignoring the girlfriend comment, while Luna looked ready to hide in a bush and die from embarrassment.

"Honey, you saved my son's life. This doesn't even scratch the surface of my debt to you," she said taking the bracelet and handing it to Oscar.

The tan boy gingerly held it in his hands and reached to Luna, "Um... may I?" he asked.

Luna slowly nodded and extended her right hand, her face was beet red.

Oscar tenderly clasped the piece around her, "There... done," he said while stepping back to admire her. She looked beautiful, radiant, and he wished that at that moment, he could capture her image and frame it in his mind forever.

"Oh look at you two adorable munchkins! I'm not going to keep you guys back anymore so go on and have fun!" Amethyst said running them off with a shooing motion.

* * *

The two eventually found themselves sitting on the pier, the sun was setting now, and the festival was kicking into night mode, with banners and lights glowing up in a glorious spectacle. In the end, Oscar and Luna never found a seating spot so they just took up the next best thing, sitting on the edge of the pier with their legs swinging off the edge, hanging just above the calm ocean, with a basket of pie in between them.

"This pie is so fucking good!" Luna said munching into the blueberry confection, the filling messing up her face.

Oscar watched her in amusement, enjoying his own slice. It was nice that the pie was still warm even after they'd spent so much time after buying it.

"Are you taking vocabulary lessons from Nova now?" Oscar asked raising his eyebrow.

Luna puffed out her cheeks, "I'm allowed to swear, I don't give a flying fuck if it's un-lady-like." She said proudly making Oscar almost fall over in laughter.

"Hey Oscar?" she asked, wiping away the filling from her cheeks. "How are you holding up?"

That question made Oscar choke, "What do you *cough* mean? *cough cough*" he pounded his chest to settle it.

"Well, I guess I've been worried about you. Yesterday you were all gloomy and losing your marbles over Ozpin and well... today you seem different. In a good way," she explained looking at him with concerned eyes.

Oscar finished off his slice and sighed, "When I was... kidnapped yesterday... I was locked in a cage so small you couldn't even stand in. That kid Nicholas was with me, and there were so many bodies... my Aura wasn't working and I was in a panic," he started telling the story to her, she silently listened.

"That man... that monster came in... and he was just so... vile... the things he'd done... I felt it in my soul back then... I felt real fear. I was alone, and the only thing standing between Nicholas and death was me, but I wasn't in any position to help. I was stuck, powerless, in a cage with no one to help me. It's then after struggling for Oum knows how long that I realized... it didn't matter what Ozpin did to my mind, or what he was eventually going to try. I would stay true to myself, and rely on my own power to pull through whatever trials I may face in the future."

"So... you're no longer torn by what Ozpin was doing to you?" Luna asked scooting closer.

Oscar flinched, "I'd be lying if I said it still didn't bother me, but I've realized that I don't need to worry about losing myself. I'd fight him down to the last minute, from now on Oscar Pine fights with his own strength, I'm slowly discovering what makes me unique." he genuinely smiled to her, and she felt her heart stop at that moment. The only thing she wanted to do was close that distance between them and kiss him because she was so proud of him at that moment.

Suddenly the air was flooded with the sound of vibrant music, startling them out of their conversation. They turned to see that the people were gathering at the center of the festival, where a band was on stage.

"Woah! I wasn't expecting a performance," Oscar said with genuine surprise.

Luna was slightly dejected from being interrupted but Oscar couldn't see her face. '_Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Stupid Luna! Stupid stupid!' _she said in her mind, cursing her fate. She almost didn't notice Oscar holding out a hand to her, he was standing up now, saying something she didn't quite hear.

"What?" she said tilting her head.

"I asked if you wanted to go check out the band!" he said louder, over the music.

Luna blinked a few times before nodding vigorously and taking his hand with a smile, "Sure!"

* * *

Nitro and Blake were exhausted running around, being chased by various stall owners for loitering. It was definitely night time now and they were pretty worn out.

"Okay *pant* I *pant* think we've lost them," Nitro said wheezing. For a bunch of shopkeeps and bakers, those people had insane stamina.

Blake was also tired, "Yeah, but I think we also lost Oscar and Luna," she pointed out, her ears flattened against her head.

Nitro looked wildly around, seeing the gathering at the center, "Oh wait, there they are!" he said pointing to them. "Come on let's finally..."

Blake hissed and pulled him back, "NO! Not yet! Look!" she said forcing him to properly look at them.

Nitro was confused at first but then realized what she was talking about.

The crowd had broken itself into pairs and were dancing to the beat, Luna and Oscar were gleefully moving to the beat alongside the other couples, brilliant smiles plastered on both their faces and in that moment the two had never looked happier.

"Awww! It's so... adorable... my heart...!" Nitro feigned heart attack.

Blake rolled her eyes, "Ease up drama queen, come on. They'll find their way back, we should just let them enjoy the rest of the time they have. It'll be chaos once we start acting on our plans."

"Look who's being a drama queen now," Nitro said dryly.

* * *

**I know I said I'd continue Ruby's training but I want to do a chapter on the Calavera sister's backstories, and before you ask, yes it will be different from the original story in RWBY.**

**Hope you liked what I did with Oscar and Luna, thinking their ship name would be Moonlit Garden or something.**


	61. Chapter 61: Qrow's Redemption

**You're probably wondering where I've been. Well... I did post it on twitter but for the sake of those not there I'll say it. For the past few weeks I've been going through some stupid problems with my university. It's been mentally exhausting and enormously time consuming. I got super depressed because my life tends to live by the rule of "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". I felt like I was getting shafted.**

**Literally everything was falling apart around me and I was scrambling to try and get control over it all. I'm hoping things are settled now but being a bad luck charm, I can only dream.**

**It took me idk how long before I got inspiration to write this chapter and I hope I don't get interferance with the next one. **

**Again sorry for being so late, but I guess y'all are used to my inconsistencies by now.**

* * *

**Chapter 61: Drinking Does Not Heal**

* * *

**-Argus Hospital, Pyrrha's Room-**

Elain folded her arms, pondering over the situation, "To jumpstart Pyrrha's Aura, we'd need someone whose own is compatible or at least the same type... but where would we get that..."

"Well about that…" Nova said nervously, brushing his hand against the back of his head.

They all turned to him with questioning stares, "You don't mean…" Weiss started.

"Yup," Nova made a popping sound when he said the 'p'.

"But how…?"

"You guys don't know this but, Ozpin offered Pyrrha the choice to become the next Fall Maiden, not just because she was the most trustworthy, but because Amber's Aura was extremely compatible with Pyrrha's. They were almost cut from the same cloth." Nova explained.

"And when you inherited the Fall Maiden's power… you also inherited Amber's Aura?" Yang asked as if trying to piece it together.

"Sorta… I haven't had a chance to… attune to the Maiden's power, and as such, I can't tap into it as freely as I'd like but, I think my Aura is more than a little compatible with Pyrrha."

Elain slapped her forehead in realization, "THE SERUM! I made the serum with Amber's blood! Her DNA code runs through your veins! You two are practically related!"

Nova shrugged, "When you put it like that… I guess we are… but more importantly, how do I jumpstart her aura?" he pointed to the very bewildered Pyrrha.

"Um… excuse me, you're saying stuff about Maidens and powers… what are you talking about?" she asked tilting her head.

They all facepalmed, forgetting that the redhead didn't remember any of that information, and no one wanted to explain it so Nova opted for the easiest route, "Don't worry about it too much, just know that we might be able to bring you back to your old self."

Pyrrha tried to protest it but all her cries went ignored.

"We need to transfer Nova's aura to her, the question is how…" Elain said thinking.

"Can't he just I don't know, use his aura on her?" Yang asked.

Hex deadpanned, "Honey, how exactly do you propose he does that?"

"Well, aren't they compatible?"

"It's not that simple. Even when they were transferring Amber's aura, Ozpin had to use a machine to do it. Even if we are compatible, Aura doesn't just move from one person to another…" Nova said with his hand on his chin.

Jaune struck an idea, "I GOT IT!"

"Huh?!"

"My semblance! I can transfer Aura, so why not use me as a medium? Nova sends his power to me and I direct the flow to Pyrrha!" Jaune explained.

"Jaune that's a genius idea!" Ruby said proudly, "But… can you actually do that?"

The blonde knight shrugged, "It's worth a shot right?" he looked to Nova's mom.

Elain shook her head, "Jaune this isn't just Aura, it's also Maiden power. There's no telling how much strain your body might go under if we do that. You could get seriously hurt… or worse…"

At the idea of Jaune getting hurt, Pyrrha instantly became worried, and she wasn't sure why her fears were this bad, "I-If it means he might get hurt… I don't want to… you shouldn't have to get hurt because of me!"

Jaune's heart broke a little, "Pyrrha, if it's for you? I'd do anything, no matter the cost…" he turned to Elain, "I'm going to do it. Besides, what better place to get hurt than a hospital am I right?"

Yang smiled, "I applaud you, good sir…"

He turned to the red-head, "Pyrrha, tell me, how do you feel about this… and be honest."

"Do we need to do this now? Can I think about this first?" she asked nervously. She was afraid, terrified that Jaune could get hurt, scared to know what her real memories were, and worried that she would cease to be herself.

Jaune shook his head, "I'm sorry Pyrrha, as much as we want to, we can't stay forever in Argus, and I'm afraid that prolonging this decision isn't an option..."

She bit her lip, hesitating for a moment before answering, "I… I don't want you to get hurt… all my instincts are telling me to protect you… but I don't know why and that bothers me! I want to know… so badly that it's eating me alive. I want to know who you are and why my heart hurts so much when I see you…" she says with tears streaming down her face.

"That's all I needed to hear. Nova? Let's do this."

There was a scrambling around the room as all those not directly involved were huddled to one end of the small hospital room, with nervous looks on their faces.

"Wait, this could hurt right?" Nora said raising the point. "Pain means screaming and noise? Won't the hospital get suspicious? What about camera feeds?" she pointed to the security camera at the corner of the room next to the door.

They all mouthed an 'O'. It was strange seeing Nora act reasonable and level headed for once, probably because it was her friend in this situation or maybe the emotions were overloading her brain.

"I think I can take care of the noise," Ren said, "My semblance can mask the room."

Weiss nodded, "Okay and Hex?"

"Already on the cameras..." she said pulling out her scroll and beginning tapping so furiously they swore her fingers were boneless. "Done. Hacked the feed so they just see a loop of us talking."

Yang pecked Hex on the cheek, "I love it when you go all super hacker mode."

The purplette just blushed in response, "Save it for when we're back home, this is serious!"

"Now you two" Elain said pointing to Nova and Jaune.

The dragon nodded and transformed into a girl, startling Pyrrha. "HUH?"

They disregarded her confusion, as Nova placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. Jaune wrapped his left arm around Nova's arm so they were linked, then he placed his right arm on Pyrrha's head.

"Ready to do this?" Jaune asked both of them. Nova was already confirmed, but the question was Pyrrha, after all, this was about her.

Pyrrha looked apprehensive but still, she also nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be," she said.

"Okay… on three. One, two…" Jaune counted, "THREE!"

Nova instantly began summoning the Maiden's power, pouring the Aura into Jaune, while Ren used his own semblance to mask the emotions in the room, drowning the screaming into dull noise.

* * *

Aura began to swell in Nova's body as she tapped into the reservoir that was locked within the Maiden's powers. The moment she did so however, the Maiden's powers began to surge, building up and suddenly coming forth like a pump out of a well. The power that was thought to be inactive was now flowing without stopping.

The blonde was not prepared for the surge of power and began sweating, his face contorting in pain but he didn't scream. In his mind he could feel the stream of power from Nova, it was like a dam bursting forth uncontrollably. Desperately he struggled against the pressure until he was finally able to control the flow, and direct it to Pyrrha.

The others watched as a bright orange glow enveloped the trio as a stream of Aura flowed onto Pyrrha, covering her.

At first, the red-head seemed calm, but after about five seconds, she screamed in pain but made no move to let go or fight it as if she was glued to Jaune.

Jaune could feel the emotions flooding through Nova's Aura. It was like the Maiden's aura carried with it the emotions and memories of all its past wielders, and the three of them sat there, witnessing it all like a movie in their minds.

The various lives of the Maidens, Amber being struck down by Cinder, the visions of pain, of Cinder fighting Pyrrha atop Beacon tower, of Nova fighting Cinder in the Spring Vault. After about a minute of constant pain and anguish, Nova was out of Aura.

She collapsed on the floor in a sweaty mess while Pyrrha fell back on the bed, Jaune stood exhausted but still conscious.

"Are you all alright?!" Ruby asked rushing over to her girlfriend and helping her up.

"I'm… a little tired… how's… Pyrrha?" Nova asked with one eye open, barely able to stand.

Pyrrha had fallen unconscious on the bed, her face matted with sweat.

Elain checked her with her semblance, "She's… okay. No damage, no physical change. Her aura seems to be slowly but steadily stabilizing. I think she might need a day or two of rest before she's feeling better. Whether this worked or not… only time will tell…"

"What do you mean? I thought this would surely restore her memories…" Ruby pointed out worriedly.

Elain shook her head, "I said it was a possibility. This might only restart her ability to use Aura and her semblance. She may not actually recover her memories…"

Jaune gripped his arm in a death grip as if he needed something to hold on to, "I-It's fine… what matters is that we tried."

"You are one positive son of a bitch you know that?" Nova said with a half-smile.

"Don't talk about my mama like that," Jaune joked.

"Come on, let's leave before the rest of the hospital accuses us of tampering with the patient," Elain said as she hustled them out of the door. As they were leaving Ruby glanced at her scroll, still no word from Qrow. He'd gone for what she only assumed was to get drunk, and he'd not been home since. This wasn't something new, the other honorary nieces and nephews of the Hunstman would attest to that, but still, she couldn't help but worry.

"Any word from Uncle Qrow yet?" she whispered to Yang as they exited the hospital.

The blonde shook her head, "Nothing... but it's Uncle Qrow, so I'm not too worried. He'll turn up when he's done getting wasted."

"I hope you're right..."

* * *

**-One Day earlier-**

Qrow Branwen knew drama would unfold in the Arc household long before they had a chance to settle in. While they were all about to discuss the information Jinn had given them, he'd slipped out of the house. While he knew he had a responsibility to be there and take the role of the adult in the situation, he had his own problems to deal with.

A gnawing feeling, eating at his soul like a rat nibbling on trash when no one was looking. It wasn't anger he was feeling, nor was it despair. What he was feeling was more akin to frustration and hopelessness. Some argue that despair and hopelessness were the same, but to him, there was a fine line that separated the two, and he was the only one that knew what it was.

In all his years as a Huntsman, Qrow Branwen stood by one thing and one thing only, the flask of liquid that nestled itself so close to his heart, and now it was practically empty. It usually took him a few days to drain it, but since their encounter in the snow, he'd somehow drained what usually took a week, in a day.

Qrow had seen it all, death, destruction, betrayal, and sadness. He'd seen once joyful people become torn apart emotionally, and somehow, he'd distanced himself from it all, or at least he let himself believe he did.

For Qrow, the difference between despair and hopelessness was that in the former, it was a temporary feeling, that would linger for a bit before courage and hope would run in and shed light. Hopelessness to Qrow, true hopelessness, was a dark pit of shadow where no light would shine, and no one would be able to pull him out of… well except for two people.

Two people in his life that was able to make him see the light again, to believe that there would be an end to it all, when peace would reign and he would get the rest he needed. Summer Rose… and Ozpin.

Qrow could still remember, in the days of his youth. Team STRQ was an elite force that seemed infallible, all because of the bright star that was Summer Rose. She held her team together like glue, a group of rascals that seemed so different that they would never get along had it not been for her.

As a boy, Qrow never knew the feeling of love or friendship. His own sister who stood by him felt nothing more than a stranger, someone he could rely on in battle, but would never share a moment of emotion with. He was isolated in his mind, a solitary bird with no need for anyone else. That's who he was, and who he was determined to be. His semblance made sure of that, but Summer was different.

Summer Rose was the emotional bond he needed, the sisterly and motherly figure that he'd so desperately craved in his life. She was one of the two people that gave him purpose, a reason to become a better person.

The other influence was Ozpin. When Qrow had nowhere to go, when he and Raven were nothing but bloodthirsty bandits, stealing and killing because it's what their tribe needed them to do, Ozpin had extended a hand. He offered them a place of belonging, where they wouldn't have to commit to such a life, where they could bring a positive change to the world with their unique skills.

Ozpin took care of them, rewarded them when they did good, scolded them when they did bad, provided a place to anchor their drifting souls. There was no sense of emotional fatherly love between Ozpin and the Branwen twins, but Qrow had come to see the older man as just that, a father of sorts.

He looked up to the headmaster with respect and reverence, for he saw Ozpin as a shining beacon of hope and light, a reason to live every day. And, just like that, he'd unconsciously begun seeking acknowledgment from Ozpin, he thought that if he devoted everything to him, that the man would see Qrow as not just a student, or a Huntsman, but as a friend, a son even.

For a time… Qrow believed he'd achieved it all when Ozpin had made him part of his personal counsel, the group of people responsible for protecting Remnant. He'd figured that since Ozpin trusted him with the secret, that he was finally where he'd always dreamed of being.

How foolish he was to believe that for even a second.

* * *

Qrow found himself where he'd always called home, a hardwood stool at the counter of a bar, his scroll on silent, and the only thing on his mind was the bottle and numbness that would soon follow.

"Ain't seen you around before," A grizzly barkeep said as he approached Qrow from behind the counter. He was a tall, thick man with a heavy brown beard and a bald head.

Qrow looked up at the man with disregard, "New in town, just figured I needed a drink…"

The man eyed him, "With a look like that, I'd say you need more than just a drink mate."

The Branwen glared at him, he disliked these types of barkeeps. They tended to strike up a conversation when business was slow. On a different day, Qrow wouldn't have minded, but tonight he was trying to swallow down his pain, not deal with it upfront.

"My business is my own," he growled.

The man shrugged, "Suit yourself, I just thought a Huntsman of your caliber would have a story or two to share."

Qrow blinked, "How'd you know?"

The man quirked an eyebrow and pointed at Harbinger that was strapped to Qrow's back.

This made Qrow pinch the bridge of his nose for his denseness.

"So what'll it be?"

"Whiskey, on the rocks," he said sliding some Lien to the man.

The bartender thumbed through the money, humming to himself, then reached up for a top-shelf bottle and plopped a glass with a large ice sphere in it, before handing him the bottle.

Qrow poured a glass and downed it in a single go, not bothering to enjoy it for a second. It was a slow night for the bar, and there wasn't anyone else there besides Qrow. A lonely man in a lonely bar seemed fitting.

Glass after glass, he sat in silence, drinking away his pain until only numbness followed, yet no matter what he did, he could only think of his worries.

It wasn't that Ozpin had been keeping secrets from him that hurt Qrow… it was the look in his eyes when he said that he didn't trust anyone with it.

It was the constant denial and malcontent that Ozpin oozed when he said the words, "The only person I can trust in the world is myself." They hurt Qrow worse than any weapon or Grimm he'd ever fought against. It was the feeling of being betrayed by someone you saw as a father, a mentor.

Being told that you weren't trusted by someone you worked your entire life for, devoted everything toward, just for the sake of that trust, was akin to having his heart stabbed out and left to bleed before his own eyes.

It made him question whether the near thirty years he'd spent in service of the man was even worth it. He would think back to Raven's words when she abandoned team STRQ.

"You're a fool Qrow. That man is nothing but a liar and a manipulative snake. You're wasting your life following him around like some lost puppy. He's not your father Qrow, he's just using you for his own gain." They were stains in his mind that he could never forget. At the time she said them, he'd called them bullshit. He'd said that she was a selfish woman who'd abandon her friends and family for the sake of her own feelings.

Now… he knew what she meant back then. He understood it all. Raven made the right call to leave when she did. She'd hoped to spare Yang and Tai any further involvement with Ozpin, but it seemed fate had other decisions.

Fate… such a funny term. Qrow believed that his actions and choices were his own, but all the talk of the universe manipulating people to become its champions, a self-sustaining Remnant with its version if sentience. Was any of it his choice? Was the road he was on even a product of his own decisions.

If so, then why would the world put him through so many horrible experiences and hardships? Was it just his luck? Was he meant to always be the fall guy? The one to be thrown under the bus so everyone else could move on?

What was his real purpose then? To be an experienced Hunstman and guide the others to saving the world?

He couldn't kill Salem, he couldn't fight against Onyx or whatever dark forces that followed. He was strong but he wasn't that strong. He was just a normal human, he didn't have Silver Eyes or magic powers. The only thing he had going for him, was bad luck and an alcohol problem.

"Do they even need me anymore?" Qrow said aloud, thinking about Ruby and the others. Two years ago, sure he would've taken care of them all easily. Now? He wasn't sure he was fit to even stand on the same battlefield as them. If his purpose was to serve Ozpin, and now he'd been abandoned, then his purpose was to protect the others, guide them, but he couldn't even do that right.

"Just look at me," he muttered, "I'm supposed to be with them, but I can't get past my own vices… I'm a pathetic excuse for a man…"

"Why are you beating yourself up mate?" the grizzly man asked with genuine concern. In all his time in Argus, this was his first genuinely self-loathing drunk.

Qrow was too hammered to even care, "Because I deserve it. I can't do my job, I've got no place anymore."

The barkeep listened in with a lidded gaze, "Maybe you should just do what you can?"

Qrow laughed dryly, "What _can_ I do? Pretty sure I'm just a worthless piece of shit that wasted his life chasing after a father figure that didn't even care in the first place…" his head began to nod off.

The man shook his head, when someone was in this deep, words would never reach them, the only thing left would be to cut off their supply.

"Bar's closing mate," the bartender said as he roused Qrow from his partial sleep.

"Come on… let me stay for a few more…"

"No can do, I already let you overstay your welcome. It's nearly three in the morning. Go. Home." He then picked up Qrow and began to carry him outside.

"HEY WHAT ARE YOU?!" Qrow protested but was too drunk to fight back, as he was forcefully thrown out of the door.

The man shot him a pitiful gaze and threw Qrow's flask onto him, it was now refilled. "I can't help you, but I hope you find what you're lookin' for," he said before closing up the shop.

Qrow despised that look, the pity that filled his eyes. He didn't want pitty, he just wanted to be needed again. Now without a bar, he was left to sulk in his drunken drear, so he did the only thing he could do, and that was to walk home.

* * *

As he approached the Arc house, most of the lights were off except the living room. He moved to knock on the door, but then he heard the talking going on between Ruby and Nova. He saw them through the parted curtains of the front window.

Qrow watched in silence as he could barely make out Ruby and Nova happily chatting away, perfectly fine without him. The older huntsman always felt a sense of responsibility for Ruby, after all, he blamed himself for what happened to Summer. He couldn't protect her, and his own semblance, his own bad luck was the root of the cause. Call it redemption or guilt, it was that feeling that drove him to help Tai raise Ruby, making him favour her over his own blood-related niece, though he'd never tell her that. He tried to treat them both equally, but Ruby was always special.

Perhaps it was because she looked like Summer, there was barely a shred of Tai in her, that Qrow was so drawn to protect her, but seeing her now, made Qrow realize something. Ruby wasn't the helpless little girl that she was eleven years ago, she was older, wiser, and stronger than he could ever have dreamed about.

Then the reality struck him like a blow to the head. He'd been with them, under the pretense that she needed his protection, and while that might've been true before, Nova was here now, and he would protect her in his stead, and unlike him, Nova wasn't a bad luck charm.

"They don't need me…" he said under his breath, a sad smile gracing his features as he stepped away from the door, and back out into the night.

The day went by with Qrow walking around in a drunken stupor, getting lost in places he knew he shouldn't be in, spending hours with women he never got the name for, until he found himself back again, at the foot of the Arc house. No matter where he went or how he distracted himself, he somehow always returned.

Groaning, he walked to the dumpster at the side of the house and slumped down, eventually falling asleep in the cold night air, hoping the frigid temperatures would take him.

* * *

Nova awoke the next morning feeling hungover and hazy, her dreams filled with visions of Amber being struck down by Cinder, flashes of people she didn't know but for some reason felt a sense of familiarity toward. The effects of the aura transfer had drained her more than she thought, and the aftermath still lingered. It might've been because she was now properly attuning her body to the Fall Maiden's powers but, her body refused to revert to its male form.

Breakfast was unusually chirpy, with Oscar and Luna looking very close. If she were to hazard a guess, she'd say that their night out was a lot more interesting than expected.

"I'll have to talk with him about that later..." Nova said to herself as went upstairs to get dressed. Donning a red long-sleeved turtleneck sweater, a white skirt, and black leggings, she returned to Ruby, who was making them coffee. "Any word from Uncle Qrow?"

Ruby's stirring slowed, "I... haven't been able to get through... it just goes to voicemail every time..." she said solemnly.

Nova saw the worry on her face and sighed, "Chin up Red, I'm sure he's fine. Probably found one of his old friends and got so drunk he passed out for a whole day." she moved in closer and hugged her from behind.

The reaper leaned back and smiled, "I hope so..."

"Oi one of you love birds, can you go take out the trash? The bag's getting kinda full and Saphron and I got our hands tied with Adrien." Tera said coming from the kitchen carrying baby food.

"Sure thing Mrs. Arc," Nova said with a wink before kissing Ruby on the cheek and chugging down the hot coffee. At least she was still immune to being burnt...

She grabbed the rather full bag and began tugging it outside, pathing through the front door while avoiding the stench that was emanating from the bag. It was only after she threw the trash into the dumpster did she spy a gloomy and dark-eyed Qrow Branwen, slumped against the wall, drinking from his flask.

He looked like a rat that had been through heavy sewage, the gray clothes he normally wore were brown and blackened from grime, his smell reeked of alcohol and unwashed body.

"SHIT! Uncle Qrow is that you?!" She asked with alarm.

Qrow looked up blearily, "Huh...? Oh... it's you..." he said with a depressed tone before taking another swig from his flask.

"What happened to you? Where've you been?! DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE?!"

"Worried? Didn't look that way to me... if I really mattered to you, you'd have come looking for me..."

"What in the living hell are you talking about? Haven't you checked your scroll?" Nova was fuming.

The older huntsman spat on the floor and checked his scroll to see forty-eight missed calls from Ruby, twelve from Yang, thirteen from Luna, and nine text messages from Nova.

"Huh... so you do care..." he grumbled tucking the scroll away.

"YEAH, WE CARE! What's wrong with you?! Why are you like this?"

"Because, you don't need me, Ozpin doesn't need me. No one needs me. All I do is bring bad luck and fuck everything up... you're better off without me..." he said despairingly.

Nova was taken aback. This wasn't the uncle she knew and loved. In her eyes, Qrow Branwen was a sarcastic, volatile powerhouse with the skill to back up his sharp tongue. The Qrow she was seeing before her, was nothing but an empty husk of a man with nothing but sadness in his heart.

"Come on... let's get you inside..." Nova said sighing, trying to pull him up.

Qrow just brushed her off, "Leave me alone..."

"No, I'm not leaving you alone. You're going to get yourself cleaned up and help me plan our next move on the Atlas base."

"Do it without me. You're better off with me not being there. I'll just ruin it all."

Nova was losing his patience, if words of positivity wouldn't reach him, then maybe...

"Bullshit," she said with spite. "You don't get to beat yourself up."

"Don't you get it, kid? This is all my fault... it's all because of me..."

"And I'm saying that you don't have the right to feel sorry for yourself."

"So what?" Qrow was beginning to lose his patience, be it due to the alcohol or his own emotional state.

"Prove it. Prove to me that you're a worthless piece of shit that caused all this." she extended a fist toward the man's face, hovering inches from it.

Qrow eyed her, "You want me to fight you?"

"I'm saying that if you think you're so worthless to this team, then I want you to prove it. If fighting me is what it takes, then fight me."

Qrow knew Nova was trying to egg him on, and it was working.

"Listen, kid... It is all my fault, that's why I've been..."

Nova was beginning to feel her blood pressure rising, if Qrow was refusing to fight her then she needed to say something so horrible it would anger the older huntsman. What Qrow needed was self-realization that he was worthy, that he had a purpose, and words alone would never push through, so she steeled her resolve and said words she would regret for the rest of her life.

"The reason why Ozpin left you isn't that he didn't trust you, it's because of your shitty attitude. Who would want an old man that just gives up after getting his heartbroken anyway." Nova then put her hands by her eyes in fake crying, "Wahhh look at me, I'm Qrow Branwen and I'm sad because my sister left me, my daddy left me and I can't stand for myself."

Qrow was becoming enraged, "Alright you're going too far... don't make me..."

"See that? That right there. So rash and impulsive. Maybe it's not your bad luck that caused it all... you insult Summer's memory by becoming like this..."

Qrow was on him like a tiger on its prey, Harbinger's blade mere fraction of a hair's distance from Nova's throat. "How would _you _know what it means to honor her memory huh? You don't know a goddamn thing!"

Nova narrowed her eyes, but an evil smile played on her lips, "Oh so you do have fight in you... why don't you prove me wrong huh? Outside of town, in the forest, ten minutes."

Qrow glared daggers at Nova, before lowering the blade, "We settle this... now..."

Nova smirked and walked back to the house. She made her way to Helios that was resting against the bookshelf in the living room, next to Crescent Rose.

Ruby spotted her picking up the weapon, "Hey... what's going on?"

Nova shot her a smile. "Just going to teach our dear old uncle a lesson..."

Ruby's eyes widened, "You found Uncle Qrow?!"

The dragon nodded, "Yeah actually... come with me. Don't tell anyone else, I don't want them to see what's going to happen..."

The reaper gulped and followed the dragon outside to find the disheveled Qrow standing impatiently.

"You brought her with you? Low blow kid..." Qrow growled.

"Uncle Qrow?! What's going on?!" Ruby asked in worry and panic.

Her uncle didn't acknowledge the statement and continued off with Nova. Ruby could only follow in silence and worry.

* * *

**-Outskirts of Argus-**

Ruby observed Qrow and Nova glaring at each other with nervous anticipation. The tension between them was so thick she could cut it with a knife.

They finally stopped a few miles away from the city, in the dense forest that surrounded the safe haven. Getting outside wasn't a problem, all Qrow had to do was flash his Huntsman license and the guards relented almost immediately. No words had been said prior to their arrival, just death glares, and bitter emotions.

"Are we far enough away now?" Nova asked dryly. They were in a wide-open snowy clearing, only dead tree trunks and snow-covered logs decorated the space.

"I'm going to make you retract that statement... you can blame me all you want but don't you _dare _bring her into this..." Qrow said referring to Nova's earlier statement about Summer.

"Bring who into this? What's he talking about?" Ruby asked looking to Nova.

The dragon leader didn't look at her, and instead began spacing herself from Qrow, "Don't worry about that Rubes, just sit there and watch... this'll be over in a second..."

Qrow spat on the floor, gripping Harbinger in a drawing stance, "I didn't teach you to be arrogant kid..."

"You didn't teach me to be irresponsible either, but I tend to learn by example..."

Qrow didn't have a moment to ponder on what that meant, as Nova was on him instantly. The gap of a few meters was closed in an instant, the vibrant blade of Helios in sword form slashing across his vision. He barely had a moment to react, pulling up his own sword to block just in time.

Sparks flew into the air as the heated blade clashed with Qrow's cold steel. The force of the impact sent both blades ricocheting into the air, the combatants forced back.

Qrow spun Harbinger into a scythe and threw it at Nova who blocked the rotating blade and deflected it upward. Qrow used that moment to jump in, swipe at Nova's legs forcing her to jump, before catching Harbinger and cleaving at her head. This caught the dragon off guard and sent her sprawling into the snow, gripping at the white powder with her left arm to stabilize.

That one blow did heavy aura damage, and Nova felt the clear difference between when Qrow was sparring, and when he had intent to harm, but there was a hesitation in his swing.

"No flames today? Holding back are we?" Qrow raised his eyebrow, not looking amused.

"Yeah, you're not worth it..." Nova lied through her teeth. The words hurt to say but if she was going to have any hope of reaching Qrow, she needed to change his emotional state completely.

Qrow held a death glare, "You'll regret treating me lightly..."

There it was, the spark of the old Qrow returning. Nova was breaking through.

The dragon didn't respond, deciding to resheath Helios and enter a drawing stance. Qrow saw the stance and decided to stop him before he could fully prepare for the move, but it was too late. The moment Qrow had crossed half the distance between them, the blade shot out of the mechanical sheathe with extreme velocity, the wave of heated wind from the blade's force crashed into Qrow, knocking him up before Nova was on him, unleashing a flurry of two-handed swings. There was a distinct rising in temperature as her blade swung as if the battle was igniting Nova's power.

Qrow kicked Nova in the chest to disengage before using Harbinger to catch himself on the ground and find his balance again. Nova recoiled from the blow and began to assess herself. There was a bubbling feeling in her stomach, a familiar fleeting sensation of rising fire, but just as she noticed it, it was gone.

Meanwhile, there were scratches all over Qrow's face and his clothes looked slightly torn, he was exhausted. Still, he pressed on, diving back into Nova's range, and together they began exchanging blows, steel against Incindium, sparks flying into the air as the snow around them slowly melted. Qrow knew how to fight Nova, using alternating attack patterns to throw off his semblance, not giving it a chance to adapt to his attacks.

Nova tried to disengage with a cartwheel kick, taking advantage of her flexibility, but upon attempting to shift balance in combat, she slipped on a patch of wet ice and almost fell flat on her face. She barely steadied herself in time to block an uppercut from Qrow and counter with a slash from Helios.

The blades clashed, Qrow threw a punch but Nova dodged it, caught Harbinger by the hilt, and held Qrow down while she sent a solid punch to Qrow's face. The blow that would've normally taken out a concrete pillar, Qrow just took it with no effort, fighting against the impact and landing his own kick, sending them both flying backward, both their aura's broken. Nova had a busted lip while Qrow's cheek looked purple.

Ruby couldn't take it anymore "STOP THIS PLEASE!" she yelled, "BOTH OF YOU!"

Nova spat blood onto the floor, "Not until I teach this old man a lesson," she smiled with vigour.

Qrow grimaced and struggled to his feet, "Not until this one apologizes for what she said..."

"I won't apologize for shit! Hating yourself and acting the way you've been brings nothing but disgrace to Summer's memory!" Nova yelled in anger.

At the mention of her mother's name, Ruby's eyes went wide, "What...?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED?! DID RAVEN TELL YOU?!" Qrow snarled with fury.

Nova shook her head, "No one did, I don't know what happened but judging by your reaction I guess I'm right in my assumption that you blame yourself for her death, you blame yourself for not being good enough, for bringing misfortune to the people around you... but guess what? You can't change the past, you can't go back and fix things, but you can help the future!"

"That's just it!" Qrow yelled back, "I'm trying to fix things by leaving!"

"THEN WHY WERE YOU THERE AT THE HOUSE?! IF YOU REALLY WANTED TO LEAVE YOU WOULD'VE BEEN LONG GONE!"

Qrow stopped dead in his tracks. Why did he stay? Why didn't he just leave while everyone was busy? He could've slipped out quietly while no one was looking and...

'_No that's not right,_" he thought bitterly, _'They were looking... and they wouldn't have stopped looking...I needed to say goodbye...'_

"You can't leave Qrow. No matter what you tell yourself, you still worry about us. All that shit you said about us not needing your protection, but look at me Qrow. LOOK AT ME!" Nova yelled with tears flowing down. "MY POWERS DON'T WORK RIGHT NOW! BETWEEN THE TWO OF US WHO'S MORE BEATEN? YOU OR ME?"

Qrow looked down at himself, sure his clothes were beaten and he had a few bruises, but Nova was actually bleeding, she looked much more exhausted than he was. This realization shocked him... this whole time he thought that powers or not, Nova was strong enough to fight him, and she was, physically at least, but not tactically. Qrow was an experienced Huntsman, he was used to different styles of fighting, and for someone like Nova who had a very direct approach, countering her was easy, still, the physical damage spoke for itself.

"Then why am I..." Qrow looked at his own bruised knuckles and fell to the floor on his knees.

"Qrow the reason why I said you dishonor Summer's memory is because, she trusted you with Ruby. She trusted you to look after and protect her daughters, both of them, just like Uncle Randolf trusted you to look after me and Luna." Nova began to explain, sheathing Helios. "Just because Ozpin abandoned you doesn't mean you get to abandon your responsibilities."

"I... thought I didn't have a purpose anymore... I mean you're all so strong now..." Qrow looked at Ruby with sad eyes that were both forlorn and filled with pride. "I figured... you could take care of yourselves..."

"Take care of ourselves?! Uncle Qrow... I'm barely seventeen!" Nova vented.

That statement threw Qrow for a loop. It was so easy to forget that the kids he was with were exactly that, kids. No matter how mature or smart or how much life experience they have, they were just teenagers.

"But your mom..."

"My mom's a doctor! She doesn't know anything about Huntsman business! When it comes to this work, all that we've been doing is going on plans that I've been throwing out, decisions that I've been making. Yeah, we can say it was a group decision, but when it comes down to it, they look to me, you, and Ruby for the final call, and guess what Uncle Qrow? Ruby and I don't know what we're doing. Every day, every night we go to bed plagued by the questions of whether or not we made the right decisions thus far, that we're leading the people we love down the right road."

Qrow was at a loss for words.

"And at the end of the day Uncle Qrow, we're tired! I'm tired! For just once in my life I'd like some help from someone who has the experience and knowledge to tell me whether I'm right or wrong. QROW I'M TIRED OF PRETENDING TO BE THE ADULT!" Nova vented fully, pouring out the pent up frustration inside her.

Ruby was done being silent, "She's right Uncle Qrow. You can't just up and leave us, leave me, with this burden. I don't know what to do, going forward I'm not sure I can ever make the right call. Together Nova and I can work something out but at the end of the day you have more experience than either of us."

"But you seemed to be doing just fine without..." he tried to argue, but Ruby was having none of it. She walked up and slapped him hard across the cheek, her face red with fury.

"Don't you dare say we're fine without you! Who was it that saved me and the others in Mistral forest when we got attacked by Tyrian? Who was it that was constantly watching over our backs to ensure nothing bad happened to us? WHO WAS IT THAT PROTECTED YANG AND I WHEN WE WERE LOST IN THE FOREST LOOKING FOR OUR MOM?!" Ruby was crying now, balling up her fists into Qrow's shirt. "You're always looking out for us, and just because we're getting stronger doesn't mean we don't need you around anymore. We will always need you... because there's only one Qrow Branwen." she was smiling now, hugging Qrow with tear-filled eyes and looking up at him.

"I don't know what happened to my mom, and I may not have known her as much as you have, but I do know that she put her faith in you, she trusted you. I trust you, and we both never wanted to see you like this..." she finished, the teardrops falling softly onto her red hood, reminding Qrow of the teary-eyed helpless Ruby from all those years ago. It made him remember that feeling, that urge to protect the girl he'd worked so hard to help raise, the one who was the closest thing to a daughter he ever had.

He'd be damned if he ever let anything happen to her... to any of them, while he still drew breath.

Qrow stood stock still, drinking it all in. He was silent, staring up at the sky, shadows hiding his eyes as a single teardrop rolled down his right cheek, and hearty laughter filled his chest. He was raw, his soul was damaged, but for the sake of those he loved, he would live with it, that was his resolve.

"I feel like such an idiot..." he muttered under his breath, slowly returning Ruby's hug.

"Yeah you are, the biggest fucking idiot..." Nova said approaching him with a smile and warping her arms around him. It was then that the two girls got a good whiff of him and recoiled with a simultaneous "EWWWW!"

"Uncle Qrow you smell like a dead rat..." Ruby said holding her nose.

Nova was making gagging noise as moving further away, "No he smells like something that ate a dead rat then died while defecating itself..." the imagery made Ruby turn slightly green.

"Come on it's not that bad..." he tried to defend himself.

"GO HOME AND TAKE A SHOWER NOW!" they both said simultaneously.

* * *

**Okay so a couple things to note. The next chapter will be about Ruby and Nova training to get their abilities under control for sure, I will also do the Calavera sisters backstory as well. Hopefully, I finish all that in one chapter so I can start on the actual plot, and begin advancing to Atlas and volume 7.**

**So you've noticed I gave Qrow some much needed character development and I resolved his depression early. That job was supposed to be done by Clover who would go on to become his source of depression. That won't change dw. My plans for volume 7 are massive, these episodes of character development now are precursors for the absolute nukes I will be dropping in volume 7, at least... I HOPE they turn out that good. **

**Anyway, hopefully, one day I will return to being a consistent writer, but for until then you'll have to put up with me. Stay awesome ^-^**


	62. Chapter 62: The Calavera History

**Sorry everyone, I disappeared and didn't say anything. Honest to god I was supposed to be done with this since the last Friday but when I was writing this I encountered several problems. The first was assignments and work for school. The second was more drama with regards to courses I'm doing and administration trying to shaft me again. The third was Genshin Impact and the fourth was more directly toward the fic.**

**See RWBY left me with a very big problem, and that was the timeline. There were never any clear indications as to how the timeline of events worked in RWBY. Major historical events such as the War of the Four Kingdoms and Faunus War were never properly addressed as to when they occurred, only small indications as to that.**

**From Salem and Ozma's backstory, we can tell that the War of the Four Kingdoms occurred when Ozma and Salem tried to unify them by force to create a perfect world. That is assumed to be within the first two centuries of developed humanity. **

**The Faunus were already enslaved by then but judging by the state of RWBY in current times, it can be assumed that the Faunus rebellion didn't occur until roughly 60-70 years prior to the events of volume 1. This would indicate why there is still inherent racism in society with so many people still strongly of those beliefs, as well as rebel groups still fighting for equality. Decades don't heal wounds like that and it would explain why tensions are still seemingly so high even if society has grown to accept both races equally. It's almost as if the war is still fresh in the minds of some people. I mean things could be said for our current society but the way RWBY treated the Faunus, it felt like their rebellion was something that happened within the last 100-200 years.**

**So I was faced with the question: How do I properly explain my timeline?  
And the answer I came up with is: Original Word Destruction Restoration Humans return Faunus are created Humans evolve War of Gaia Faunus escape to the four continents Enslavement War of The Four Kingdoms Reprieve Faunus Rebellion Peace RWBY Volume 1  
**

**This isn't new information but I figured for anyone wondering how all the events are mixed in that I have mentioned or explained thus far, that is it. Also, I had to scrap my original idea for this backstory so some things have changed, including how Maria lost her eyes, I also changed the name Garuda to Aeros because it sounded cuter in my head. I'll go back and edit those chapters where I mentioned them.**

**Also if anyone wants to add me on Genshin Impact this is my ID ****601315608**

* * *

**Chapter 62: How Maria Lost Her Eyes And Raisa Lost Her Mind, and Cordovin Somwhere Along the Way**

* * *

It had been three full days since the team arrived in Argus, and time was running low for them. According to Hex's interception of an Atlas transmission, several ships loaded with Atlasian soldiers were scheduled to fly out in two days. This didn't leave them with much preparation time.

"So… what's the plan to get into the base?" Yang asked planting her hands down onto the coffee table. The small piece of furniture acting as a make-shift war table was comical, to say the least since most everyone had to bend way too far down to touch it.

"We can try talking to Cordovin again, maybe she'll be convinced…" Blake started but Weiss instantly shot her down.

"No! That woman is unreasonable, you saw the way she looked at you. She has a clear distrust for the Faunus and honestly, I don't want to negotiate with someone like that…" the ex-heiress said with a stern gaze.

"Cordovin wasn't always like that… but then again, given what she's seen, we can't exactly blame her…." Maria said with downcast eyes.

"Well I have a plan, but it's pretty iffy…" Hex said prompting them.

They all looked at her with anticipation so she just sighed, "Well from my readings on their systems, yes I know hacking official military systems is a criminal offense…" she looked at the door where Tera and Saphron were eavesdropping.

"We didn't hear anything!" Tera said aloud and began whistling.

Jaune sighed exasperatedly, "Sis! I told you guys not to come in here! We don't want you involved… it could put you in danger!"

"And any business of my little brother is my own. If I can help, I will help!" Saphron insists sternly.

"...And, wherever she goes, I go. Right, Adrien?" Tera said looking toward the toddler in her arms. The baby just giggled and raised his arms triumphantly.

Jaune groaned, "We can't stop you can we?"

"Nope!" Saphron said walking into the room and roping an arm around her brother. "So what's the situation?"

Hex looked to Ruby and Nova, who both shrugged simultaneously, "Fine by us…" they said together.

"Okay… so here's what we're gonna do…" she pulled out her holographic map layout of the base. "There's a shuttle dock over here," she pointed to the open pad. "It's got clear sight from both the tower and the ground forces so sneaking onto one is gonna be hard but…"

"With the right distraction, we can?" Nora said excitedly. Distractions were her strong suit.

Hex nodded confirmingly, "The next issue is take off without getting noticed. We'll have to fly at the exact moment the other ships are departing…"

"What about passcodes? Atlas ships need special codes to access their consoles…" Weiss prompted. When they all looked at her questioningly as to how she knew this she shrugged, "I had to fly one out of Atlas when the pilot got… you know what? That's not important."

"Right… anyway it should be fine. Atlas tech isn't so advanced I can't crack it. Just get me two minutes and I'll have those codes." The purplette continued.

"Assuming all of that goes well… what's stopping us from being found out when we need to sound off for flight?"

"That's… we'll just...wing it?" Hex shrugged unsurely. They all deadpanned.

"Winging it has always been our strong suit…" Blake said eyeing Nova who was rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

Elain who was sitting quietly in the corner let out a loud exhale, "Reckless plan with little chance of success, great that's what we're used to… but what happens if it all goes sideways? What's the contingency plan? Nine out of ten times this might just blow up in not just our faces but theirs as well…" she pointed to Tera and Saphron.

"What if we get attacked? We don't have the firepower to deal with the entire Atlasian military base… or have we forgotten that charcoal over there is burnt out?" Qrow said throwing a thumb toward Nova.

Maria and Raisa shared a glance, "We have some time… including today we might be able to help…"

"How? You aren't Maidens or Faunus, don't get me wrong, your knowledge and wisdom are paramount but…" Yang started but Raisa knocked her walking stick against the ground.

"Nova's in a state of attuning. As we've established before, the powers are conflicting until her body can properly integrate the magic into her system. The fact that she's stuck as a girl right now just proves that she's on the right track. All that's left now is to complete the process." Raisa said with commanding tones.

"Complete the process? What?" it was Nova who was confused.

"That's for you to figure out. You have two days. And as for you," she pointed the skull toward Ruby who leaned back startled. "You need to move to the next stage of the training! There's not a whole lot we can do in two days but you'll have to adapt and learn whatever you can before you leave. There's no telling when you'll get another chance!"

"What do you mean? You're not coming with us to Atlas?" Ruby asked.

Raisa shook her head, "Heavens no! I'm not fit for combat, and any more time I'm forced to spend around this gremlin is punishment enough!" she pointed to Maria who just bonked her on the head with her stick.

"Alright then, we all have our agendas, Hex you sort out the rest of the plan with them. Iron out the details, Ruby and I have some training to attend to." Nova said glancing at her girlfriend.

With that, the team separated with Nova and Ruby following the Calavera sisters into the backyard.

"So how am I supposed to do this?" Nova asked, plopping down onto the soft lawn, cross-legged.

"As I said, that's for you to figure out. If you're looking for a place to start, try calling on your Maiden's aura?" Raisa suggested.

Nova hummed in pondering before beginning to concentrate, closing her eyes and feeling the power of the Maiden, like when she did the Aura transfer to Pyrrha. The soft orange glow began to cover her as she went into deep meditation.

Maria clapped her stick against the ground, getting Ruby's attention, "No distractions. Now, do you have it on you?"

"Have what?" Ruby asked confused.

"The Silver heart."

"The what now?"

Raisa facepalmed, "She won't know like that! The necklace that one gave you, the gem." She explained.

Ruby's face morphed into realization and pulled out the ruby necklace that Nova had forged for her. The glistening gem, shining with radiance as the silver sliver in the middle seemed more prominent than before.

"What's this got to do with my eyes?" Ruby asked piecing two and two together.

Raisa studied it with interest, "So it has been evolving…"

"What?"

"Nevermind that. The gem in your hands is known as the Silver Heart. Fifty-something odd years ago that once belonged to… our father, and then to me… and now you."

"Okay but that doesn't tell me what it is…" Ruby said dryly.

"It's a mystical piece of divinity, like that stone on the lizard's hand. We don't know where it came from, our father said it was forged by concentrated divine light, but when or where it originated is still a mystery to us… but what we do know is what it's capable of."

"Wait hold on… this isn't just a normal gem?" Ruby tilted her head confused.

The Calavera sisters facepalmed simultaneously, "NO! It's a medium! It makes the Silver Eyes more powerful!"

Ruby flinched at their sharp tone, "Yeesh alright… but how?"

"Well it differs, we only saw our father use it once… and… he…" Maria began rubbing her thumb over her walking stick as if remembering a bitter memory. "He could wield a shield of silver light, manifested by his power through the gem. It could instantly destroy Grimm. When I used it… I…"

"It would be easier if we just told her the full story, maybe she'll understand what we mean…" Raisa said softly.

Her sister sighed, "This is going to be a long day and we don't have the time… alright sit down kid, we're gonna tell you a little tale…"

"It all happened during the Great Faunus War…" Raisa started.

* * *

**-Several Decades Ago–**

It was the era of the Great Faunus War. The Faunus entered the human population seemingly out of nowhere, integrating themselves into society from all corners of the world. Humanity, however, was still in the mid-stages of development. The introduction of a new species, so alike yet so different from their own, brought fear and anxiety across the land.

Many people subjected the Faunus to harsher treatments because they were different, it was human nature to fear what they did not understand, and it was that fear that gave rise to violence.

The humans realized that they outnumbered the Faunus ten to one, that these creatures were the minority in a world that, until just now, had thought humans were the dominant race.

That was the beginning of the enslavement, the mistreatment. Somewhere along the way, world leaders began to see the Faunus as exploitable manpower, resources to be used… after all… they weren't human, and anything that wasn't human as a means to an end.

The Faunus people, caught off guard and unaware by the sudden mass persecution and incarceration, were forced to submit to the humans. It didn't help that they themselves were already in disarray, having fled their homeland. Perhaps they could have won if they were to use the powers granted to them by the gods, The Aspects of Remnant, but they were too spread apart. One person, no matter how powerful, could never combat the forces of a country alone.

They were not a violent race, and came to the humans seeking asylum and aid, but were met with scorn and slavery. It wasn't for many years did a group of Dust Miners stage an escape in the territory of Mantle, this news sparked further rebellions across the continent, spreading fire into the Faunus. Years of mistreatment had festered and manifested into sheer hatred and conviction, and the boiling pot had finally blown its lid.

That was the beginning of the White Fang. The start of a war that would rage for years.

Raisa and Maria Calavera exonerated Huntresses who'd made a name for themselves across the world. Exterminators of Grimm by day, and military black ops by night.

Maria Calavera codenamed The Grim Reaper and Raisa Calavera, The Death Blossom, were sent to Vacuo on a mission, to quell the Faunus rebellion that had been wreaking havoc on merchant trade routes. They were on a plane traveling from Atlas, on route to dropping them over Vacuo territory.

"We arrive at the drop-zone, ETA ten minutes. By regulation, I'm required to mission brief you again before you leave." Caroline Cordovin said. She stood around 5ft 4 with subtle features and jet black hair, clad in standard Atlas military uniform.

"Classic Cordovin, I swear everything that comes outta your mouth is regulation or rules," Maria snickered, her blue skull mask staying still despite her body jerking with her chuckles. She picked up her twin scythes that rest against her dark blue cloak. "We already know what our objective is."

"Come now sister, she's just following protocol, would it kill you to be serious for one minute?" Raisa said from beside her. Like Maria, she wore a similar cloak except instead of dark blue and black, it was white and pink, around her neck rested a silver and pink gem in the shape of a carved sphere.

"At least one of you has their head-on, it's a wonder how you ever survive without her," Cordovin said leering at Maria who just stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.

Caroline just disregarded her, "You're dropping over Vacuo desert, a fight's broken out between local military forces and they've requested backup. Both sides are at a stalemate, situated here and here," she had unfurled a map of the Vacuian desert and pointed at two sites, from the topography they could see both areas were centered around large rock formations that acted as cover.

"Wait… the fight's already broken out? I thought we were heading in to stop it before it started…" Raisa said looking unnerved behind her white skull mask.

"Well, that's what you were briefed initially. The reality of the situation is, that the enemy has taken a group of soldiers hostage. Our site has been receiving threats that if they don't comply with their demands, they execute the hostages." Cordovin said sternly. Maria just rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"So what? They send the two of us as backup? Something smells fishy about all this…" the younger Calavera voices.

"Well this is an infiltration mission, Atlas has specified they want this to be as covert as possible. They don't want a nationwide spectacle… at all costs…"

"Wait what do you mean spectacle? They're trying to hide this battle? What are you not telling us Cordovin?" Maria growled behind her mask.

"I'm telling you what I know. I don't know anything else besides that." She said fighting her down. Maria was about to protest but Raisa held her back with a hand.

"Don't fight the wrong enemy…" she glared.

Maria cursed, "Suit yourself goody two shoes but when this blows up in our faces, I can't wait to say I told you so…"

"ETA five minutes to drop!" The pilot said from the cockpit.

"The leader goes by the name 'Onyx Steelmane'. He's held out with his forces at that location, they have a camp set up. Get in, secure the hostages, and get out."

There was a sudden jerk as they physically felt the plane's velocity slow down, "WE'RE HERE!" The pilot calls out, as the cargo door for the plane begins to open up.

It was the dead of night outside as the rush of air filtered in from the outside. The smell of sea-salt and dry sand.

Maria and Raisa strapped on their parachutes, "Ready?" the older sister asked.

"No… but I don't have that luxury…"

"No, you don't. Come on, let's get going!" Cordovin yelled strapping on her own parachute.

"WAIT YOU'RE COMING WITH US?!" Maria yelled over the roar of the engine.

Cordovin smirked, "SOMEONE HAS TO KEEP YOU FROM FUCKING THINGS UP!"

"FINE, BUT CAN YOU KEEP UP?!" Maria said with her own smirk as she jumped out of the plane with reckless abandon.

"TRY ME!" she yelled jumping out after her.

Raisa clutched her head in her hands, "Dios mio, what am I going to do with you two…" she said before jumping after them.

* * *

On the ground, amidst the vast sands and rocky outcroppings, lay a sizeable encampment. Multiple military-grade tents were pitched to house various stations of operation, medical bays, mess halls, sleeping quarters and more.

At the very center stood a larger tent with a singular entrance, it was more akin to a shack covered in a tarp. Inside it was a war room with a burly man with black hair wearing desert wraps, accompanied by two other men who looked to be soldiers.

"Captain Ignis sir, we have an incoming transmission from the enemy on open channels." One soldier said rushing into the tent carrying a portable field radio.

"Play it." The large captain said, folding his arms. It had been three days since the men were captured, they were good soldiers, and many of them he knew personally. To think that he'd let them get taken like this, under his command, it bothered him to no end.

The soldier pressed a small red button on the side of the radio and what followed was the static, deep voice of a man, "Captain, my patience is wearing thin… you have something I want, we have something you want, it's a simple trade… you give me the artifact, and I give you back your men! It's a simple trade-off."

The captain grit his teeth, "I have no guarantee that if I give you what you ask, that my men are returned to me, unharmed, Steelmane" Ignis countered through the radio's microphone.

"Come now… I am a reasonable man! You have my word they'll be returned safely!" Onyx said Ignis could tell he was smiling even though they could not see each other.

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't trust the word of a scoundrel who'd sacrifice his own men to achieve his goals… or have you forgotten what you did at The Battle of Thunder Canyon." The other men in the room could see the good captain seething with fury.

Onyx's tone instantly changed, "Those loyal soldiers knew what they were heading into when they signed up for the operation. If bringing up past tragedies your answer to my negotiations, then I should start executing right now!"

Ignis' eyes shot wide open as a single fire of a gun was heard through the microphone and the collective outroar and screams of men, "NO! STOP!" Ignis began to yell but Onyx interrupted.

"You have three hours or I start executing them, starting with this one…" there was the sound of ruffling clothes as a soldier was pulled to the mic.

"Don't give him a fucking thing! YOU HEAR ME, CAPTAIN? WE'D RATHER DIE THAN HAVE YOU GIVE IN TO THIS MONSTER'S DEMANDS!" a younger male voice said over the radio. "DON'T-" he was cut off.

"Now now, is that how dear old dad taught you to speak? Is that how you raised him? Captain Ignis? The clock is ticking…" the transmission cut off and Ignis almost fell over from mental exhaustion.

"What are we going to do sir? Are we going to give them the artifact?" one of the soldiers in the room asked, a timid looking man with a bald head.

Just then the tent doors burst open, Raisa and Maria stepping into the room, "You aren't giving them a damn thing. We're here to clean up your mess." Maria said taking up a triumphant stance.

Instantly weapons were aimed at them, "Who are you?! How did you get in here?!" the bald guard said with zeal, although his hands were shaking.

"At ease soldiers. They're with me." Cordovin said stepping in from behind the Calaveras.

"Atlas uniform? You're the backup we requested? Just the three of you?" Ignis eyed them with suspicion. "How did you even get in? We were told to look out for you but…"

Maria waltzed up to the shaky bald guard and grabbed the rifle, forcing it down against his will, "Put that thing down pinky or you'll poke someone's eye out."

"We're here to infiltrate and extract, not fight your war. We get in, rescue your people and get out, maybe sabotage a few things. What's this about an artifact?" Raisa said with confidence, asserting her position.

"That's classified information," came the instant response.

"Mhm, listen, buddy, we're all on the same side here, and if you want our help you're going to have to give us all the details." Maria pressured, walking up and sitting down on the war table. "Or would you rather something go wrong while we're escaping and that little bit of information that could've saved us and your son be the death of us all?"

The captain bit his lip before sighing, "Four days ago we came across an artifact from an archaeological site to the far north of Vacuo. It's an ancient heritage site, said to be one of the first Faunus settlements dating back more than a century."

"The Temple of Whispering Death," Raisa finished for him.

This caught them by surprise, "You know of it?"

"It's been a buzz on the Huntsman networks, dangerous place said to attract Grimm like the flies. No one's been able to get close. The place has been abandoned for decades." She explained, though no one could read her expression through the skull mask.

"Our team was tasked with escorting the artifact from the site and delivering it to the research facility in the south when we were ambushed by Faunus soldiers in the dead of night. Two of our men managed to escape with the artifact but the rest were captured and taken as hostages when they realized their objective got away."

"Okay that's the story, but what I want to know is what's so important that the Faunus would risk it all to ambush a heavily armed military transport?" Maria eyed him suspiciously.

"That's…" one of the soldiers was about to answer but Ignis silenced him.

"They wanted this…" Ignis walked to the back of the tent and returned carrying a black lockbox. He opened it to reveal an ornate golden crown adorned with various coloured jewels. At the very center, standing out like stripes on a zebra was a black quartz, unlike the other colourful stones this one was glimmering like the night sky full of stars.

"A crown?" Cordovin asked with a lack of interest.

"We're not sure why they want it. Researchers speculate that its an important piece of their heritage but we can't be sure until it gets back to a proper lab. It's estimated to be worth millions just by the craftsmanship alone."

"Money? Typical animals, always after the shiny objects…" Caroline said bitterly. Maria and Raisa didn't share her feelings toward the Faunus but they also knew not to voice against it lest they be branded as traitors. At the end of the day, a job was a job.

"Alright… we know what they're after, we know what to do. We'll have your men home by sunrise, come on ladies." Maria said getting up from the table and waving her hand in the air, pointing her index outside.

"Sunrise? You're leaving now?!" Ignis asked alarmed.

"Of course! Didn't you hear that man? He'll start executing in a few hours!"

"But… you don't have a plan, a method of infiltration! How do we know that you can do this?"

"You didn't see us get into your camp right? That should explain our skill." She hollered back while strutting outside.

Raisa groaned, "Forgive my sister's childishness. I will deal with her later, but you can rest assured, we are good at what we do."

"I'm also watching over them. Don't worry captain, they might be annoying but Death Blossom and Grim Reaper are the best black ops agents I know… unfortunately…" Cordovin said with a heavy breath before following them out.

Ignis rapidly blinked, "Did she just say who I think she just said?"

"Yeap… we just met the famous ghosts of Atlas sir…" the bald soldier said with awe in his voice.

* * *

In the night, no light shone on the desert sands as the trio crossed the perilous path to the enemy camp. With nothing but moonlight and drifting winds to guide them, Maria, Raisa and Caroline plotted their route meticulously, following along a map and basing it on ground points of interest, like an extra-large dune. Strangely enough, there was no Grimm around the area, most likely cleared out by the respective armies before setting up.

"Weather report from the ground team, winds are about to pick up real soon," Cordovin said placing a hand on her communicator. "Once we're inside, we won't have the luxury of outside communication so enjoy it while we still have it."

"Winds? The fuck did you hear that from..." Maria was about to call the intel bullshit when there was a sudden spike in wind velocity as sand began to be lifted into the air. With their masks, it wasn't hard to weather the wind but Cordovin wasn't so lucky. It made traveling slow to a near crawl. The further they went along the arid, desolate landscape, the faster the winds began to pick up until they arrived at the encampment.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing? This is real right? I'm not high on duty, again..." Maria gaped as they approached what seemed to be a swirling vortex of wind encircling the enemy camp in a wide radius around the rocky outcropping.

"How are we supposed to get in? It seems like the weather just ain't on our side tonight..." Caroline said bitterly, trudging slowly behind them while shielding her eyes.

Raisa pulled up her night vision goggles and began scanning the area for an entry point. From what she could discern, the rock formation was elevated, forming a cage-like structure of pillars surrounding the base. The camp itself couldn't be seen from the outside, and it didn't help that the sandstorm was disrupting their vision. They could only tell the faint beams of light that were emanating from the center of the area, and from the direction, they could surmise that it was a crater-like area.

"Hug the walls, there's no real way in other than bracing ourselves, Marie let me borrow one of your scythes, my sword isn't built for rock climbing," she said without looking at her sister.

Maria grumbled before handing her one of the weapons, "Don't scratch it."

"Follow my lead and we should be fine." They scrambled along the side with sure footing, trying desperately not to be taken by the harsh winds. The moment they reached the rock face they anchored their weapons into its surface.

"WHAT NOW?!" Maria yelled over the roar of the wind.

Raisa pointed upward to where the rocks split and had an opening to the crater, "Over there, it's a narrow walk but it's our best bet!", and so the trio made their way through the perilous, windswept path up the side of the rocky outcropping until they crested the rim. The moment they did, they were met with an unexpected sight.

Within the crater was like the eye of the storm, still and calm. Sitting neatly in the center atop a flat metal foundation was a three-story metal building that looked akin to a research facility. Based on the metal rusting on the outside and the scattered sands on the foundation, they could tell that this 'camp' wasn't recently set up. Raisa also noticed grimly the mounted mortars that lined the platform and outer rim, judging by their design, they didn't use standard shell rounds.

"What the fuck am I looking at here? This is a full-blown base!" Maria whisper-shouted as they took cover along the outer rim as to not be spotted by the various guards located around the base.

Caroline pressed her finger to her chin, "Intel said it was a camp... not a base... but judging by this it's more than just an outpost..."

"Base or camp, doesn't change our objective. Come on we're wasting time," she pulled out her night vision goggles again to see the area. From what she could tell, there was a cargo hold to their right, various boxes were in stacks piled outside a large gateway. Most likely used for deliveries, why it was open they didn't know, but it was their point of entry. "Loading bay to the right, we can... MARIA WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

Maria was already on the move before Raisa could relay the order, upon hearing her name she turned back and shot double peace signs and a wide grin, "Maria Calavera I am going to strangle you!" she yelled waving her fist as she chased after her sister.

Caroline wanted to argue but chose otherwise since it was a risk while behind enemy lines. She followed their footsteps, mimicking everything precisely, and she found it to be a gracious reminder of why the Calavera sisters were called the "Ghosts of Atlas". Every move they made, every action was done with precision and purpose, and it wasn't complex nor convoluted, simple use of blind spots and knowing where to step allowed even someone untrained in stealth to be a specter among the shadows.

Ducking and dodging behind crates and cargo, sticking the shadows they were right under the guards' noses without any of them being aware. It was would have been inspiring had Maria not had the personality she did.

Once they were safely inside, they were greeted by large stacks of more crates, by this time, Maria's curiosity was burning her, and she'd already begun to crack open a crate.

"Maria, what do you think you are doing?" Caroline hissed.

"Just checking what the Faunus are hiding~" she hummed, "A little information gathering isn't against orders is it?"

Caroline ground her teeth in anger but held her voice, if she were to let it out she would probably alert the whole base, so she stewed in anger.

Maria finally popped the lid to find Dust crystals of varying shapes, sizes, and elements all in perfect lines. "Dust... of course it is, why would I ever think it would be anything else," Maria said unimpressed.

"The question is, why would the Faunus in this base need so much? This could fuel a whole army..." Raisa said thoughtfully.

"We can study this later, for now, I think we should stay on track, or have you forgotten there are lives at stake." Cordovin countered bitterly. "We have less than two hours left."

* * *

Aeros Swiftwing stood guard in the main room on the second floor where the hostages were being kept. She was under orders from her commanding officer, Onyx Steelmane to ensure that the prisoners remained where they were, and she was to execute should they try to run.

She was a small-framed, light blue-haired hawk Faunus with a particular genetic trait. Unlike her fellow Faunus, whose traits were usually not overwhelming, hers took the form of wings, feathers branching under her arms, while her legs were taloned bird feet. Her father was just like her, he said it was due to her unique heritage, and she took that word as gospel, not that she ever got the chance to question it further.

When she was ten years old, her parents were abducted by the humans and forced to slave away in their Dust mines. She only got away because her father hid her in a small storage cupboard when the humans invaded. She was taken in by an old woman, a human who raised her until she was sixteen, whereby the humans struck again, this time taking her captive and executing the old woman for treason. As luck would have it, before she could be taken, the local rebellion intercepted the human soldiers who came for her and saved her.

She'd fallen under the Faunus military ever since, training to one day bring an end to the war, to take revenge on the humans who caused her thing but misery. She would kill them all, or at least that's what she told herself every day. In reality, she couldn't bring herself to take a human life, even during her debut missions, she never aimed to kill, maybe disable but never kill. She couldn't do it, because deep down she believed that not all humans were inherently evil. Any time she tried to think of acts of violence, the voice of the human lady who raised her would echo in her mind "Violence only breeds more violence, deep down we are all the same."

She felt pity for the soldiers held captive, tied up at her feet, but for the sake of her job, for the sake of her people, she would do whatever it was that needed to be done. This war was started by them, she needed to remember that.

"Sir, there's been an unauthorized opening of the storage room to the east," a canine Faunus soldier said stumbling into the room, saluting to the large muscular bear Faunus who stood with a large rifle strapped around his neck, Onyx Steelmane.

Onyx rubbed his temples, "I told you not to bother me with things like this. It's probably just one of those idiots going for resupply of Dust, it's the third time this week this shit's happened."

"But sir, protocol states..."

"DON'T REMIND ME WHAT THE PROTOCOL IS! Cadet Swiftwing!" he called.

"YESSIR!" she saluted stiffly.

"Take three men from the barracks and check it out, I doubt it's the humans since they're not smart enough to get through the wind barrier but, just in case..."

"Will do sir!" she nodded, leaving the room stiffly.

One of the soldiers spoke up, "Is it alright sending her sir? She's still pretty green..."

Onyx just shook his head, "As I said, it's probably nothing. Kid's got no guts, no confirmed kills, and mediocre training scores. If it weren't for her powers she wouldn't even be in this facility..."

* * *

Aeros entered into the facility's corridors with a gleeful expression. This was her chance to prove herself to high command.

"It's probably nothing so I'm not going to bother the guys... and if it is... imagine all the praise I would get if I take down all the intruders single-handedly! Aeros the Ace! I can see it now..." she squealed giddily as she absently strolled down the corridor.

It wasn't until she rounded the next few corners was she blindsided by a force, knocked on her back and disarmed, her gun scattered to the side and a hand covering her mouth so she couldn't speak.

"Scream and we gut you where you lie..." A voice threatened. She peered open her eyes and shook off the initial disorientation to see two masked women and what seemed to be an Atlas soldier in uniform pinning her down, their blades trained on her. All three were human.

Aeros realized her position and tried to kick them off but with three bodies on her, it was impossible to move, so she nodded slowly in compliance.

Raisa, who was pinning her down by the chest could see in her eyes that this girl was clearly very surprised and more scared than panicked, so slowly, she released her hand.

"Tell us where the hostages are," Raisa demanded, inching her segmented sword to her throat.

"And why would I do that? You humans should all die!" she spat at her but Raisa just shifted her head and dodged the glob.

"If you value your life you will..." Maria threatened darkly.

Raisa knew she was outnumbered and outgunned, the corridor was too tight to make use of her wings, and the look in the Atlas soldier's eyes said she wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. "Fine... but you gotta do me one favour..."

"Huh?!" The three were confused. It was the first time a prisoner offered compliance so easily and asked for a favour. Usually, it took more threats and actual harm before they complied.

"Can you tell the commander that you beat me and three other soldiers? I kinda was supposed to be here with a group and..."

"You arrogantly chose to go alone because you wanted to prove your mettle? Sounds like someone I know..." Caroline said rolling her eyes toward Maria who stuck her tongue out.

"Fine, now lead the way," Raisa said much to their surprise. This was definitely turning out to be a new hostage experience for all of them.

As they walked down the corridor Aeros was looking for methods of escape but no matter how she ran the scenario in her head, she'd end up dead eleven out of ten times.

* * *

"So what do you people want with the artifact anyway? What's it to you?" Maria asked casually as they moved through the corridors. It was surprisingly empty, most likely all the guards were either asleep or stationed in the hostage room.

"That is our heritage, a piece of our history that once belonged to our king, and you people stole it!" Aeros said bitterly.

"Stole it? We found it on our own, dug it up from the archaeological site!"

"You mean our people's temple?! The one that we were forced to abandon because your kind invaded and tried to enslave us?" Aeros countered with genuine hate.

"Well uh... finders keepers!" Maria said trying to come up with an excuse.

The hawk Faunus laughed dryly, "What are you five?"

Caroline chuckled, "I think that sometimes too! I'm starting to like this one."

"Don't get too chummy because once I'm free I'll kill you all!" Aeros threatened, but despite her tone, they could tell she didn't mean it.

Raisa who was holding her arms behind her back to prevent her from escaping just spoke in an even voice, "No you won't."

"And what makes you think I wouldn't?"

"Your eyes. You have the look of someone who hasn't killed anyone in their lives. You've seen a lot of pain but you've never once acted out in aggression. I think deep down you don't hate the humans, you think this war is a load of bullshit and we should all just move on." Raisa said with pure seriousness.

Aeros' eyes went wide, "How... do you...?"

"Because I think the same way..."

* * *

As they approached the door to the hostage room they held back, selecting to listen in and gauge the contents before barging in blindly.

"Where the hell is she? It's taking too long..." they heard a man's voice utter on the other side.

"Useless as always, she can't do anything right... well, neither could her parents so it's to be expected... still she does have _some _worth," the voice said again, this time Aeros froze up, eyes widening in shock. How did Onyx know her parents? What did he mean by they were useless?

Raisa felt her freeze up but didn't bring attention to it. She felt sorry for the girl even if she was the enemy. "We need a plan, we can't just rush in there. Chances are he starts shooting the hostages as we enter the room," she said while thinking of a plan. Cordovin checked her watch, they were running out of time.

"With my semblance, I can maybe get one or two people out at a time but..."

"Follow my lead this time, I have a plan," Maria said confidently, already reaching for the door handle.

"Marie what are you doing?! What plan?!" Raisa hissed urgently but she was ignored. Before even Cordovin could stop her, Maria already barged open the door, swinging it wide open with a bang, drawing all attention to her in the room. To say the Faunus in the room were surprised was an understatement. Inside the room were four guards at corners of the room looking at the hostages who were all bound and gagged, a large bear-like man standing at the front with his own rifle and six soldiers

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please!" Maria gestured to the open doorway where Raisa and Cordovin stood holding Aeros.

Instantly guns were raised, aimed at the hostages.

"Upupup no-no, you shoot them, we shoot her," Maria said, gesturing to the handgun Cordovin had pressed to the girl's right temple.

Onyx smirked, "I don't know how you two got in but you must be good to make it this far undetected," he then nodded his head toward Aeros, "She means nothing, go ahead and shoot her. Once you're done we shoot them and you, you can't play the game human."

Maria laughed, "Oh see, that's where I think you're wrong. I think that this girl is worth something to you and a rather important thing at that. So, what'll it be, our soldiers or your asset?"

Onyx's smile didn't move, "And how much are you willing to bet on your statement?"

Maria stared him dead in the eye, "My life."

The bear Faunus' smug look dropped instantly, he knew she wasn't bluffing. In all honesty, he didn't care what happened to the girl, combat wise she was nothing more than a liability, but her powers were the ones allowing the wind barrier to remain up. Without it, their base is open to ground and aerial assault leaving them exposed. He could use his semblance, his Miasma here, but it would do more harm than good, and if the enemy's mental fortitude was strong enough, they could resist the Miasma easily. He wasn't about to risk it all for the sake of one play, it was then he hatched a devious, horrendous plan.

"Alright fine, I'm placing down my weapon," Onyx said taking off his rifle and placing it on the floor in a slow, fluid motion. "You throw her to me, and I'll allow you to leave with the hostages."

"Sir you can't be serious!" one of the soldiers said in concern. Onyx flashed him a glare, "Don't question me, private. This is an order, stand down."

Maria eyed them, "You'll have to forgive me if I don't fully trust you..." she said moving into the room and inspecting the hostages. There were supposed to be seven of them but the bloodstains on the floor suggested that the gunshot from earlier wasn't just for show.

There was a young black-haired boy with stern features among the ranks, looking unblemished, unlike the others who had a few cuts and bruises, Captain Ignis' son. He looked too young to be in the army, around sixteen, and judging by his features he wasn't in combat-ready shape, that left the question as to how he ended up with the soldiers. Upon closer inspection she noticed the emblem on his khaki vest, it was a crest with a shovel and pickaxe suggesting he was part of the dig team, the one who probably found the artifact in the first place.

Maria undid his binds first followed by all the others, "Come on we're getting you out of here," she said as they led the group of men out.

"How are you so sure they'll let us walk free? They could shoot us the moment you let go of your hostage," the boy said bitterly, "We should take them right now while they're unguarded!"

"That won't work, we try that and we get swarmed by the rest of the facility in seconds. Play it slow, we'll make it out of here. Trust me." Maria said as she picked him up by the arm. "Alright we're leaving, here's a little parting gift from yours truly!" she held up a blue dust crystal and a red dust crystal and smashed them together on the ground simultaneously. The mixing of a fire and ice dust crystal created white steam that shrouded the room, blocking everyone's vision and disorienting them long enough for the hostages to be escorted out. As they exited the room Cordovin released Aeros and shoved her toward Onyx before hastily shutting the door.

"Sir I am so sorry... I know you said to take a squad but..." Aeros began to stutter but Onyx silenced her.

"I want no excuses private Swiftwing, you'll have your chance to redeem yourself soon," he said darkly. "It's all still within my plan..."

"But sir the hostages are gone, how is this within the plan?" a soldier asked.

"It's in the plan if I say it is..."

* * *

"How did you know that would work?" Cordovin yelled as the group ran through the strangely empty corridors of the facility.

"My semblance, Preflexes, can sometimes be clairvoyant, I can tell a few seconds before something would happen, I can't usually control what I see but this time it was in our favour!" Maria yelled back.

As the team exited the compound they were uncontested, just as Onyx assured them they would be, the sun rising on the horizon, finally illuminating the crater in a dull morning glow. Things were going smoothly until they encountered the reason why they were let off so easily. The storm hadn't subsided. They were trapped behind a wall of swirling wind and sand, on the bright side, according to Cordovin's watch, if they had made it out of the barrier at that moment, they would've been exactly three hours.

"Have you had your fun?" Onyx called out with a megaphone. "I think it's time we get this done!" He stood on the flat platform just outside the base, with a group of soldiers behind him and Aeros at his side, all holding assault rifles.

"Shit we got played!" Maria cursed.

Onyx turned to Aeros, "This is your chance to redeem yourself, private. Kill them all."

Aeros' eyes widened in horror, "Sir?! I thought we needed them as hostages?!"

Onyx let out a throaty chuckle, "We took hostages for negotiation, I was playing it safe, testing to see if the humans had the balls to send an actual army, but all we got were three wenches and bad planning. Do you know what that says to me? It tells me that the humans don't want the world to know what's going on here, it tells me that we could have just raided their base this whole time and no one would've so much as put up a real fight. So... do what I say and kill them all."

Aeros hesitantly raised her rifle and looked down the scope, she could see the fearful face of the various soldiers, the scared young boy, and the three women who had every opportunity to kill her but didn't. There were s many ways Maria and the others could've handled her, but they chose to let her live. Why?

It was then the words of the woman who raised her rang through her mind again, and then the words of Raisa "This war is just bullshit.." she muttered under her breath.

"What was that Swiftwing?" Onyx raised an eyebrow.

"I said this is bullshit!" she yelled and threw down the rifle, knocking down two guards next to her and taking flight into the air, zipping toward them. "FLY YOU FOOLS!" she yelled down as her body began to glow a light mint green, the windstorm subsiding almost instantly.

Onyx was thrown for a loop by the sudden betrayal as he helplessly watched Aeros escape with the hostages.

* * *

Maria thought they were dead, at that moment as Aeros raised the gun, she prayed to the gods that they would get out of this alive, that a miracle would happen. Then she heard it distinctly across the still crater "This is bullshit!" and the sound of thrashing as Aeros took flight with her wings, joining them. Her speed was too much for the enemy's bullets as they harmlessly sailed passed her as she flew in erratic directions to avoid fire.

"Fly you fools!" they heard as the winds dissipated magically allowing them to pass. They didn't stop to question it as they took off running pell-mell back to camp.

As they crossed the expanse of desert, Cordovin received a message on her communicator, "Cordovin? FINALLY, I've gotten through to you!"

"Command? Sorry, we were in a covert mission, no outside communications," Caroline answered back.

"It's about that! Commands had a change of plans! That place is going to turn into a hot zone real fast! YOU NEED TO EVAC BEFORE HELL BREAKS LOOSE!" the man on the other end said with fear.

Caroline's eyes widened, "What are you talking about HQ? What's going to... *BOOM*" she was cut off as the sound of cannon fire was heard, they could see on the horizon, in the direction of their camp tanks and caravans of various sizes, foot soldiers began stomping their way toward them with a steady pace. Suddenly from behind them, bullets began firing off, and instinctively the entire team dropped to the floor prone, just in time as sand began to fly in all directions from the various explosions that were happening around them.

Somewhere, someone gave the order to open fire on the base and raid them, so much for covert operations. It seems they had little faith in the Ghosts of Atlas and decided to level the playing field, literally, at least that's what Maria predicted. Unfortunately for them the Faunus were well prepared for such an assault and while they didn't have mobile tanks, they did have mortars loaded with dust rounds that could be fired from their facility, and enough ammunition for days.

"GET MOVING! NOW! DUCK AND COVER BACK TO BASE!" Cordovin yelled to the hostages as they picked back up the pace. As they neared ally tanks they began waving their arms and shouting, "FRIENDLY! FRIENDLY! DO NOT FIRE!"

Aeros had taken to the ground, running alongside them.

A caravan stopped, filled with foot soldiers, they disembarked the vehicle and allowed the hostages to climb on, "We didn't expect you to make it out of there, HQ called in the strike said the mission had gone sideways."

"Yeah well HQ needs to stop assuming just because we went dark, what's the situation?" Maria asked, helping Ignis' son onto the vehicle. "Take care of Ignis' kid."

"Please don't call me that, I have a name, it's Jacques! Jacques Gelé!" he hissed.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Sounds just like a right name for a pompous little shit like you... but you got serious guts to stomach this chaos," she threw her thumb toward the onward rolling tanks.

As soon as the soldiers saw Aeros they raised their guns to shoot, "WAIT!" Raisa stopped them. "She helped us escape, she's friendly. Even if she is a Faunus she got us out of there. If it weren't for her we wouldn't have made it out."

"But she's the enemy! She can't be trusted..." *BOOM* a shell flew and landed just a few meters from them, splashing up sand everywhere and forcing the soldiers to drop for cover, separating the vehicle and the others.

"GET THEM OUT OF HERE NOW! BEFORE ANOTHER FUCKING SHELL HITS!" Maria yelled at the driver over the explosion. The man didn't need to be told twice as he kicked the vehicle into high gear and gassed it back to camp, leaving Maria, Cordovin, Raisa, and Aeros on the battlefield.

The rain of bullets and fire began to grow in frequency, making them realize they were caught in the crossfire. It was now either fight to survive and hope for another evac or die.

"I never thought I'd see the day where I fight alongside a human... against my own kind no less..." Aeros said with a nervous grin.

Raisa drew her sword whip, Vile Thorn, and Raisa drew her twin scythes, Oath, and Sorrow, while Cordovin just whipped out her pistol as they stared down the army of Faunus approaching. "There's a first time for everything," Raisa said bitterly as they plunged into battle

* * *

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, Maria wasn't sure how long it'd been since the battle had begun, all she knew was that her ears were ringing from the sound of gunshots and explosions, and she was two steps from raising hell out of pure frustration. She was no stranger to death, but never in her life had she been thrust into such a bloody battle.

The Calavera sisters were assassins, black ops, they weren't foot soldiers. One or two dead bodies were fine, but not the tens borderline hundreds that had been dropping on both sides. She felt sick, nauseous all the way to her core, it felt wrong to be cutting them down, but this was a kill or be killed situation. In war there was no time for hesitation, if she didn't cut them down they would take her head.

The main reason she felt sick was that she was working with a Faunus to kill other Faunus. To her, it felt wrong, as if they weren't meant to be fighting, and this may not have been the first time the thought had crossed her mind, but it was certainly the first time it happened with these circumstances. It was one thing to kill the enemy, but it was another to kill the enemy when you had physical proof that the enemy didn't need to be your opponent.

"MARIA WATCH OUT!" Cordovin yelled as she dove toward the girl, knocking her down as a mortar shell narrowly missed her head, landing behind them, sending them flying from their position, sprawling across the battlefield.

"What are you *cough* doing? *cough* You need to focus or else you'll die!" she said helping her up.

Maria groaned and looked around, it just didn't feel real. She saw her sister with a bloodstained mask, slashing her way through a group of Faunus with her sword-whip, breaking Auras, and cutting down three. Maria couldn't see her face but she could tell that Raisa was not alright with the situation.

Across the battlefield, Aeros was nervously flying around like a hummingbird, desperately trying not to injure her ex-comrades while also avoiding gunfire from the humans. She was caught in a desperate situation, unwanted by both sides.

Aeros tried to dodge but was unlucky with her flight patterns as upon dodging, she was struck by a stray bullet on her right-wing and crashed to the ground in a dusty heap the Faunus advanced on her instantly.

"Look at you, a little bird with nowhere to go..." a sinister voice said, drawing the other three's attention to Aeros. She was surrounded by a group of Faunus with their guns aimed at her, leading the band was the all too familiar hulking figure of Onyx. "Such is the fate of a traitor to die an undignified death. To end up among the countless corpses that will undoubtedly pile up here today..." as he said that, an explosion happened several meters from him, the flash illuminating his twisted smile.

"Aeros!" Raisa called out in panic realizing none of them would make it in time.

The bird Faunus spat on the floor at Onyx's feet, "Undignified death? Is that what happened to my parents? You told me they were taken by the humans, but I heard you. You said they were useless, just like me. What'd that mean huh?"

Onyx chuckled, "Exactly as it sounds. See... you think your powers were unique? When I found out they had a daughter I tipped off the humans, figured I'd raise a loyal soldier if the White Fang came, and rescued a little girl from the clutches of the rotten humans. Imagine my surprise when I find out she got adopted by an old lady, a human no less. Of course, at the time I couldn't act on it, too much was going on... but when the time arrived, well..."

Aeros' eyes shot wide, tears brimming her eyes but her face was not sadness or fear, it was pure unbridled rage, "So... it was you who did this to me? YOU BETRAYED MY PARENTS FIRST?! YOU KILLED THAT SWEET OLD WOMAN? AND YOU DARE BRAND ME A TRAITOR?!" her voice trembling with fury.

"Sir is that true?! Did you really?!" one of the soldiers with Onyx began stuttering, unsure of what to make of the situation.

Onyx shot him a bright smile, "Of course! It's all true! Didn't you hear me?" he asked with a false surprise.

"Sir if that's true w-we'd have to t-take you out for t-treason!" he stuttered again, raising his weapon on his superior.

Onyx inhaled sharply as a bullet whizzed bu his head, he simply shifted to the side and avoided it, "You've made your choices and so have I... I hope you can deal with the consequences..."

"Sir w- *SPLAT* *CRUNCH*" the man was instantly killed by Onyx, the smoking barrel of his gun aimed at the others. Before they had a chance to react he unleashed a black aura that grasped hold of the soldiers, suffocating them and shaking them to the core. Aeros wasn't affected but she could see their faces contort in pain before blood began to pour from every orifice on their head before they collapsed onto the floor, a bloody heap.

Aeros watched in horror as he killed his own men without a single shred of hesitation, he looked satisfied by doing it, their blood splattering onto her face.

"Now that, that's taken care of... where were we? Oh yes..."

"You... MONSTER!" She roared, her body glowing mint green with power. "I think I've had enough of you... you say I'm useless? The only thing I was good for was my power? WELL HOW'S THIS FOR POWER!" she let loose a war-cry as a gust of wind crashed into Onyx's torso sending him sprawling backward, skating across the bloody desert sand. The action seemed to exhaust her as she crumpled back onto the floor on her knees.

Maria and the others were finally able to get to her side, Maria helping her to stand again, "What was that? Where'd that freak wind come from?!" Cordovin asked alarmed.

"More importantly are you okay? Can you walk? That fall you took earlier looked pretty nasty..." Raisa said checking her legs and wings only to come up with bloody hands. She was definitely injured in serval places.

Aers coughed, "I'm fine... that... wind was me... it's... hard to explain..."

"Is it your Semblance? Can you control the wind?" Maria was curious.

Aeros shook her head negatively but spoke the opposite, "Something like that... now's not really the time to explain though, we've got other things to worry about..." she shakily pointed to Onyx who was already getting up, and the approaching soldiers of the Faunus.

"Shit... this isn't good, where are our men?" Caroline cursed, looking around for their troops, a small squadron of about twenty men were on foot, marching to their location with weapons at the ready.

Onyx spotted them and began grinning madly, "It seems a buffet has arrived..." he said with fervor as he changed targets from Aeros to the oncoming troops, barehanded and unarmed.

"He's insane... he's running to his death!" Cordovin exclaimed as the watched him take off at break-neck speeds. What followed was something purely out of nightmares.

As Onyx was about twenty feet from the group, before they could even fire their weapons, he leaped off the ground with incredible strength and agility, rocketing into the air and crashing down into the center of the troops, knocking several of them aside. The soldiers were unable to fire in close quarters for fear of hitting their allies, so Onyx used this to his advantage. With his size and strength he grappled one soldier and crushed his skull with his bare hands, a dark aura began emanating from his body again.

The men began to choke and lose themselves, the stronger ones seemed undeterred, trying to fight him hand to hand, but Onyx was just too physically superior. He took the dead body of the man whose face he crushed and began to use it as a club, beating the other soldiers. Bones were cracking, skulls shattering and blood went flying as the black aura began to increase in size. With every kill Onyx seemed to be growing, his muscles pulsating and tearing through his once-white shirt.

"What in the living hell am I looking at..." Caroline said in horror, her face turning slightly green after witnessing the gruesome bloodbath.

Maria just shook her head stiffly, "I-I'm not sure..."

Aeros shuddered, "I heard rumours that the commander's Semblance all-consuming darkness but... I didn't believe it..."

Onyx turned to them with a mad grin and blood dripping down his face, "Now then... I think we can agree it's fair?"

* * *

He was on them before anyone could react, like a juggernaut barreling toward them, raising a dust cloud in his wake. Deciding not to face him head-on, the quartet dispersed, narrowing avoiding his onslaught.

Raisa reacted, sending out Vile Thorn and trying to wrap the bladed whip around his neck but the blades seemed to do very little to him as he instead, grabbed the blades with his bare hands and tugged onto the length, pulling Raisa off the floor and toward him.

Seeing her opportunity, Maria tried to close the distance while he was preoccupied but Onyx was always one step ahead. As soon as she was in range, it was the exact moment Raisa was also flying into her blade path, forcing Maria to falter in her aim. In the split second she hesitated, Onyx brought his massive fist crashing down onto Raisa's stomach, plowing her into her sister, knocking them both into a crater on the floor, both of their Auras breaking instantly and the sound of cracking bones followed suit. Maria was knocked unconscious but her sister suffered a few broken ribs and a concussion.

Cordovin shot a few bullets at him from her pistol, but a handgun didn't so much as phase her as he thundered toward her with heavy steps. She tried to disengage but Onyx unleashed his black Miasma, and unlike before, this time she was affected by it. The air in her lungs felt like it was being torn away, her heart began to hammer against her chest trying to make up for the lack of oxygen, she felt suffocated and helpless. Tears poured fro her face as she realized she was out of her league, she was a soldier, not a Huntress, and even though she had Aura, she was not proficient in agility-based combat like the two Calaveras, but she did know how to read the battlefield.

Even in her oxygen-deprived stupor, she was able to make out the outline of a hand grenade, buried in the sand at Onyx's feet, most likely belonged to a fallen soldier. Keeping her grip on her gun and her mind on the trigger, she shot the grenade in a last-ditch effort to take him out.

The explosion sent sand and dirt flying everywhere, flinging Caroline away from the hulking Onyx and shrouding the area in a cloud of dust.

"Surely that must've got him?" Aeros said weakly, still unable to properly move. "No person can survive a point-blank grenade explosion, even if they are half-monster."

There was a tense moment of silence before, through the darkness they swore they saw the glowing black eyes of a demon, Onyx was still standing, "THINK AGAIN!" he roared, the dust clearing. His torso was torn up and bleeding but he looked unphased. The wound would've surely been causing pain, especially with all the sand and contaminants but he looked more alive than ever.

"This is unreal..." Aeros mouthed.

"RAHAHAHA! This is who you chose to side with? Creatures who cower and shrivel in the face of real power?!" he walked up to Aeros and picked her up by the throat, "Pathetic weaklings stick together I guess... strength in numbers..." he began crushing her throat.

Aeros' mint green Aura began to flicker showing signs of breaking, any more pressure and her only line of defence would be down, so Raisa acted without thinking. In a moment of desperation, she charged at Onyx from behind, tearing off her mask and charging her Silver Eyes.

Onyx didn't realize what was happening until he was blinded by a light so bright it seemed to burn his very skin, as a reaction he tossed Aeros aside, crashing her into Cordovin.

"THAT FUCKING LIGHT!" He roared and began flailing around madly, shielding his eyes. In his wild swinging, he managed to actually hit Raisa who was too exhausted to react quickly enough, as her head was swimming from the previous damage. He turned to see the source of the light lying on the floor, bruised, bleeding from her mouth, and badly beaten. "To think I'd find one of your kind here... I heard you were rare..." he kicked her in the stomach, practically shattering whatever was left of her ribcage.

Blood gushed out of her mouth from the internal injury as her necklace broke off its chain and landed on the sand next to the downed Maria. Onyx spotted the glint of a blade in the sand and pulled out Vile Thorn. "To die by your own sword... there's a sense of irony in this but I'm not one for puns..."

Back at the spot where Onyx throttled the Calavera sisters, Maria was finally waking herself from her unconscious state. Her vision was blurry and her body sorely beaten. She felt like hell but nothing was too badly damaged. She glanced around for her enemy only to see Onyx standing over her sister, blade in hand. Her eyes went wide with fear.

She needed to save her sister, she couldn't let her only family die. They say that when the mind is in a state of fight or flight, time slows down to a crawl, thoughts begin to race in nanoseconds, and for Maria, it was one of those moments. It was then she saw the shining gem of the Silver Heart, the necklace her sister always wore. From her father she knew that the gem was supposed to amplify the power of the Silver Eyes, the proof was in her memory, as her father's last act as a parent was using the power of the Silver Heart to summon a shield to protect his children. An Act which took his life for he chose to protect them over himself.

Raisa saw her sister clutching the Silver Heart out of the corner of her eye, "MARIA NO!"

Onyx whipped around to see the staggering girl, standing shakily, clutching at a shiny red gem, her mask broken and her Silver Eyes glowing with power.

"Two of you? Well, this _is _my lucky day..." Onyx said with malicious intent.

"YOU STEP AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Maria threatened, holding the necklace.

"MARIA DON'T DO IT! THE HEART DID NOT CHOOSE YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN!"

Maria wiped the blood leaking from her mouth, "I don't give a flying fuck what happens, to me... THIS BASTARD IS GOING TO HELL!" she yelled with fury, the power in her eyes skyrocketing as the necklace began to resonate a bright silver light. Her hands began to tremble as it shook violently on its chain.

Her father always said not to use the necklace unless they were chosen by it. He was chosen, and upon his death, the necklace had gone to Raisa. There was no clear indication as to how the necklace chooses, but when a person with Silver Eyes holds it they instinctively know, as if the gem would resonate with their minds. When the necklace was passed to them Maria knew she wasn't the one, and she dared not find out what the repercussions were until now.

Onyx dropped Vile Thorn and began charging toward Raisa, but it was too late, a white light had engulfed the girl and the mask of a skull made of pure Silver Light covered her face. Onyx felt his skin being burned off by the light as it touched his skin much more violent than before. As if it was trying to incinerate him, soul, body, and all. He wasn't sure how much more he could take and instead of trying to stand his ground, began to bolt off into the desert, using all of his strength in his legs to propel him as far away from the light as he possibly could get.

When he was finally able to open his eyes again, when the burning finally stopped, he was in the middle of nowhere, without knowledge of hide nor hair of where he was. Looking down he could see that his skin had bubbled and blistered in several places and the pain was finally catching up to him. The power of his semblance had run out and he was returning to his original state.

"This won't be the last time you've heard of me... mark my words humans..." he cursed under his breath, taking hold of the burnt skin on his arms and forcefully tearing it off, cringing in pain as he did. He was now faced with the task of finding his way back to civilization.

* * *

Back at the battleground, the four girls could finally breathe a sigh of relief... or at least they would have had the sound of bullets not still been echoing through the air, and Maria screaming in agony.

"AAAARGHHHHH!" came the blood-curdling screams of Maria Calavera as she began grasping at her face where the Silver skull mask was. The necklace in her hands was shaking more violently than before and her eyes were forced wide open.

"MARIA CALM DOWN! LET GO OF THE NECKLACE!" Raisa urged, crawling over to her sister.

"I CAN'T LET GO! IT BURNS! MY EYES!" she continued to scream. Caroline tried to pry the gem out of her hands but her fingers were locked together. It wasn't until Aeros and Caroline worked together to pull the necklace out of her grip did they finally manage to free her. The gem landed next to Raisa as its bright glow began to fade. She watched in awe and curiosity as the sand began to gather around it, stick to it forming a ball before hardening into a dull rock, rendering the Silver Heart dead.

Once the gem was gone, the skull mask began to dissipate, but Maria's eyes remained wide open.

"Maria?! Mi hermana are you okay?!" Raisa asked checking over her sister for signs of the after-effects. Everything seemed normal, but she knew something had to have gone wrong. Maria would never scream out in that much pain otherwise.

"Rai? Is that you? Rai?!" Maria called out and began flailing. Raisa caught hold of her sister and brought her eyes to meet hers.

"I'm right here Maria! I'm right here!"

"Where?! I can't see anything! Did you cover my eyes?!"

Everyone's face paled as they realized what happened, "Maria... you're looking right at me..."

* * *

**-Back to the present-**

"And that's the story of how I lost my eyes and how the Silver Heart works," Maria said, looking quite disgruntled about having to remember the experience.

Ruby was caught in awe, mesmerized by the tale, "That's incredible... but I have so many questions!"

"As I'm sure you would..." Raisa said drumming on her cane. "We can't entertain you that much, however..."

Ruby didn't waste a moment, "What happened after? You mentioned Onyx, is it the same one we're after? It can't be right because that would make him super old! And what about Aeros?!"

Raisa felt her head starting to hurt, " After that, the battle was pretty one-sided, the Faunus lost but both sides suffered heavy casualties. People say that the sands of the desert are still stained red with the blood of the fallen. Aeros became the first ambassador for peace toward the Faunus and she headed the negotiations for the treaty. Cordovin became distant afterward, the war had taken a toll on her mental and she decided never to set foot on the actual field again, choosing to become an Atlas pilot. The two of us and Aeros would go on expeditions, later on, hunt down Grimm, explore ancient Faunus heritage sites. It's in those adventures we discovered that Aeros was an Aspect, and we learned about the Fragments of Remnant."

"That captain Ignis was actually accused of treason by the Atlas government, they said that it was him that leaked information about the artifact and got his own team taken. A load of bullshit but the council needed someone to throw under the bus to save their own faces so who better to throw in jail than the man whose job it was to protect the thing in the first place. It didn't help that a couple of weeks after the battle that the crown was stolen while he was in charge of guarding it." Maria continued.

"As for Onyx... yes I believe it to be the same person that abducted Nova's family and tore down Beacon. He's grown in power but his methods are still the same..." Raisa said with a serious tone. "I haven't seen him but... tell me... how does he look?"

Ruby placed a finger on her chin, "Pretty normal? Well as normal as you would get for a big hairy bear man... I'd say he looked maybe in his mid-thirties? maybe forty?"

"Then he hasn't aged... he's not immortal, the gods only made two of those... so what's the cause of his longevity?" Maria folded her arms and began thinking deeply.

Ruby was about to follow suit when Raisa smacked her on the head with the skull of her walking stick, "Enough distractions. That story was to give you an idea of how the Silver Heart works. It chose you, awakened in the presence of the Agniseki for the new champion. You must learn to use it if you want to combat the forces of darkness."

Ruby pouted and rubbed her head, "You said in your story that I'm supposed to just know that I'm chosen, that I can just use it, but I don't feel anything."

"The Silver Heart never makes mistakes, you already know, you just need to find it."

* * *

**AND THAT'S A WRAP! It took WAY TOO LONG to write this. In fact, it was insanely hard to do because I needed to incorporate a lot of world-building. I also made Maria and Raisa aligned to Atlas because it makes sense why they would know Cordovin and Pietro Polendina. Also I know I had Maria phrase her eyes as lost by "someone she was too eager to trust", but it came out wrong. That someone is the personified Silver Heart and she trusted it because it embodied her father, and even if it was a heat of the moment thing, she put her faith too readily in the heart. (That's my cover story because I had to scrap my original idea)**

**Onyx's semblance is called Devouring Miasma. He extends his aura like a force that constricts and kills anyone with a weak mind or in a state far below his power. For example, regular soldier grunts that he fought were free to kill but people with Aura aren't affected. The more he devours the more power he gets and it infinitely builds up. The effect lasts from between 5 seconds to several minutes depending on his kill count. It keeps going the more he kills or devours but if he doesn't do it within the timeframe it dissipates.**

**He uses it nowadays mainly for threats and imposing his authority, like Darth Vader and force choke because he can't overpower people like Team ASHNRWBY or anyone on the level of a Huntsman, it won't do him much good. He didn't use it in the battle of Haven because even if he did he would've still been defeated by the combined powers of Blake, Luna, Sun, Adam and Bell, and the other soldiers. At least that's what he believed.**


	63. Chapter 63: Mechs, Monsters and Mayhem

**This took, an astounding amount of time out of my life. I really do apologize for how long this took but engineering is an absolute bitch. On the other hand, this is two chapter's worth of content and I will for sure be uploading one for Halloween, mark my words.**

**Chapter's not perfect, I still feel like it's rough but honestly, I'm tired of putting this off just to edit it, and if I don't do this now I won't get another chance until next week so, while I still can... plus I'm pretty sure by this point you guys are pissed at me for not uploading for like 2 weeks.**

**So here we go enjoy ^-^**

* * *

**Chapter 63: Who ordered the giant monster movie?**

* * *

Nova sat there in silence, meditating on her aura. The sounds of the Calavera's story droning out to silence as she deepened her connection with the Maiden's power. It reminded her of the time she was unconscious after the fight with Adam. Back then she was on the brink of death, incorporating foreign DNA into her body just to survive.

It wasn't that much different now, incorporating the foreign Aura into her own to find the balance between the heaven and hell of her power.

The mindscape sucked in her consciousness faster than a vacuum on turbo, and as she spiraled down she knew, that she wasn't coming back up until her mental state was settled.

Fantasy books and shows portray the mindscape as an endless segregated world where the different parts of one's personality would create its own landscape, but Nova found it to be the complete opposite.

The mindscape was a vast expense of emptiness, completely void of anything yet filled with everything simultaneously. Just thinking of something, the very fleeting thought, could make it a reality. This made the mindscape convenient… and all the more dangerous. One could easily get lost within it, fall down the rabbit hole with no end.

Suddenly a rabbit popped up next to Nova, staring unblinkingly at her, "Oh… I guess inner monologuing also counts toward the mindscape…"

"All right… we came here for balance. Think… power…" she closed her eyes and for a moment there was nothing until the sound of crackling flames and a roaring fire was heard just before her, the heat radiating onto her face.

She opened her eyes to see two small children standing amidst an empty landscape, only a flat plain of grass existed. One was a boy with brilliant silver-white hair and the other was an orange-haired girl. The boy had red eyes and the girl hand black irises, both staring at each other with irritated gazes. Their faces were similar with the exception of their skin tone, the boy had a light caramel complexion while the girl had a darker more hazel skin tone.

Immediately Nova placed the girl to Amber, the two looked incredibly similar, while the boy looked like her ancestor that he saw through Jinn's vision. They seemed to be arguing about something, a campfire between them.

Nova approached the two children and listened, "Stop it! Leave the fire alone!" the boy yelled, as the fire went from being a standard flame to a brilliant red-orange inferno.

"And I said that I want a turn!" the girl yelled back, the fire then changing colours to a light standard flame that seemed to sparkle and pop.

"But I'm older! I've been here longer than you! I know that he needs this fire!" the boy argued back, the fire changing in colour again.

"And I'm saying no she doesn't! She needs me!" the girl countered, flickering the flame.

"You're not even supposed to be here in the first place! Why don't you just go away and leave us alone?!" the boy fumed.

The girl huffed, "Puhh-leasse, she's so much better off with me here! She's the perfect host for the magic!"

"Hmph Magic shmagic, you and your abracadabra mumbo jumbo could bugger off! He just needs the power of nature!"

Nova had heard enough, she understood what was going on now, exactly who these two were. They were the representations of her power. The boy was the natural power of fire, the Aspect's ability, and the girl was the power of the Fall Maiden.

"Hello?" Nova waved her hand in front of them, this seemed to catch their attention. The boy's face brightened up considerably from the sour expression he held earlier, so did the girl's.

"YOU'RE HERE! Oh, this is fantastic! Can you please tell this witch that we don't need her magic and kick her out so we can go back to being the two of us?" the boy asked with pleading eyes.

"Witch?! Oh hell no! Don't you see how disrespectful he is? Kick him out instead, you know we belong together!" the girl insisted, clutching onto Nova's leg since the two children were about waist height.

Nova knelt down to their level with a perplexed expression, "I'm sorry little ones, I don't understand. Can you explain it to me?"

The boy sighed, "Oh so it's that bad… alright…"

"Let me tell her! See in here is your mindscape, it's connected to your soul!" the girl started.

"Grrr! That fire over there is your soul's power! Before she came here I was controlling it, you were using my fire," he said the red mark of a dragon appearing on his cheek, just like that of the Agniseki.

"And when I got here this place was a mess! I had no control over anything until you called my power! Then I would make the fire! At least… that's how it was until he wanted to be mister all-powerful and take over whenever you weren't using anything," she stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at him.

"That's because she's unstable when you're not a girl! If she recklessly uses her power while you're a boy, it could ruin us! I've had to put out so many wildfires…" he complained with frustration oozing from his pores. "Magic is just reckless!"

"And I'm saying just give me a chance you dummy!" she hissed at him.

Nova was growing exhausted just listening to their constant arguing. She was beginning to see the picture. When she used the power of the Aspect, the Maiden's power would be locked out from interfering with the soul, and vice versa when the Maiden's power is activated.

The barrier between the two was negated when she was countered by the frozen lake, the toll on her body was too much draining both the Aspect and Maiden's abilities. So when it all went to chaos, the Maiden power tried to take over to make things better, but the Aspect power tried to do the same thing. The two ended up butting heads because they can't influence the same soul simultaneously… or could they?

Nova remembered what she'd been taught by Randolf. The Aspects and Maidens exist to balance off each other, nature with magic.

"Hey, you two!" she said shaking them from their bickering, "Why don't you try working together?"

They both deadpanned, "Duhh because we can't!" they said simultaneously.

Nova giggled, "But you were both in sync just now!"

"NO, WE'RE NOT!"

Nova shook her head, for children they needed to find a compromise, "You both have things you're really good at."

"Oh yeah? Name one thing she can do that I can't do," the little boy said with zeal.

Nova placed her finger on her chin, "Well… her fire works underwater for one, and…"

"And I can do more than just manipulate raw energy. Magical Fire can be used for more than just throwing fireballs!" the girl said pointing a finger at the boy before folding her arms smugly, "I'm just you but better in every way!"

The boy suddenly began to deflate and Nova noticed the fire flickering dangerously low, so she took up action, "Not necessarily," she turned to the Aspect of Fire, "While she does have those things, she can't do what you can do either."

"Huh…?" the boy was confused.

"Well, I've been with you longer so I can say for sure, that your raw energy is much higher than hers. She has more use for long periods of time, but you're much more explosive and dangerous! You can even get so hot you melt diamond! Magic could never hope to achieve those temperatures! Hell, I know for a fact you can infuse yourself into objects! Like when I used you to propel my weapon for flight back then!" Nova said, taking the boy's hand in her left, and the girl's in her right.

"Can't you see? You both have things your good at that the other can't do. You have your uniqueness even if you both have the same baseline. That shouldn't drive you apart, it should bring you together!" Nova said with a warm smile.

"But…but how do we know what to do when you're in trouble?" the boy asked looking worried.

Nova smiled, "Leave that to me. You both chose me, remember? I think I'm capable of at least knowing what I need when I need it."

"What if… when you go back to normal… he just never lets me do what I need to?" the girl asked.

Nova shook her head, "You mustn't think so little of him. Believe it or not… he was the one that helped me realize that you weren't happy with Cinder. If it wasn't for his effect, I would've never heard your voice. You should thank him," she ruffled her hair. The boy turned his face, his cheeks dusting of pink.

"Is… that true?" The girl turned to the little boy.

He refused to face her, "So what? You were suffering, I just did the right thing… don't think you're special or anything…"

The girl smiled, "T-Thank you… for helping me…" she said staring at the floor.

Nova found it quite adorable and simultaneously strange when she realized that these were the manifestations, representations of her conflicting powers, and not actual children.

"N-No thanks needed… ugh I'm willing to work with you but I have some conditions…" he said finally turning to the Fall Maiden. "If you agree to not force magic on him without me agreeing to it, then we can work together."

The girl nodded, "I won't force magic on her again, and work with you if you agree to let me help even if I'm not called upon."

The Aspect hummed, his eyes squinting and his brow furrowing before he sighed, "Fine, agreed." He stuck out his hand, to which the girl took it and pulled him in for a hug, making him sputter in embarrassment.

"Aw look at you two, finally getting along!" Nova said cheerfully. "Now can I get a promise that you two won't fight again? It kinda messed me up out there…"

"We promise!" they said simultaneously, with bright smiles.

"We'll send you back now," the girl said walking over to the fire with the Aspect next to her. They took up a spot on opposite sides of the campfire.

* * *

Nova was about to question how when they both ignited the fire at the same time, the inferno was so bright she was forced to shield her eyes. After a dull moment of haziness, she reopened her eyes to find herself back in reality with Ruby standing over her with a curious gaze, the glimmer of moonlight cascading onto her beautiful face.

"Hey love, are you okay?" Ruby asked leaning down and placing a hand on her face.

Nova leaned into her palm, "I think so… maybe even better than ever!" she then pressed the button on her gauntlet and, unlike before, was actually able to transform back into a boy.

"AH, MY BODY'S BACK TO NORMAL! FINALLY!" he cheered, standing up way too quickly, causing him to almost fall back over.

Ruby giggled and hugged him, "Well, I'd say just in time too! You've been sitting on that lawn for two days!"

Nova almost choked, "TWO DAYS?! THEN THAT MEANS…!"

"Yeah, tomorrow is the day we enact the plan. If you didn't wake up tonight we were going to pack you in one of Hex's storage cubes to go." She said teasingly.

Nova gulped, "Oh… god I'm sooo glad I actually woke up…"

Ruby just poked him in the abs, "Oh come on you know I wouldn't let them do that. I can't risk damaging the goods," she said feeling the muscles beneath her hands.

Nova turned red, "Ugh when did you get good at flirting?"

"You're my boyfriend, it comes with the package deal." She kissed his cheek lightly before opening the back door to the kitchen. "Come on there's still leftovers from dinner. Luna made fried tofu and stir fry noodles."

Nova's stomach growled loudly at the mention of food, "Oh fuck yes!"

* * *

As they sat together at the table, Nova noticed that no one else seemed to be around, "Where's everyone?" he asked glancing about the kitchen.

"Well it is three in the morning, no one save uncle Qrow would probably be up by now," she said matter of factly.

Nova almost choked on his noodles, "Wait it's that late? Why aren't you in bed? Wait have you been…"

Ruby shot him an embarrassed smile, "Watching over you the whole time? Yeah kinda, I um… couldn't get much sleep, the blankets just feel so empty without a certain someone with me…"

The dragon instantly melted at her expression, "Oh Rubes, as adorable as that is… are you okay? Sleep deprivation isn't something to scoff at…"

She brushed it off, "Yeah I'm fine, I'm no stranger to going maybe one or two days without sleep."

"But that's not healthy at all…"

"If you're feeling bad, don't be. It's not like I was getting much sleep either way," she said pointing to her eyes that had the hint of dark circles, which stood out against her pale skin.

"Your training? How was that anyway?" he asked, curious to know the fruits of her labour.

She flinched slightly but answered anyway, "It started off normal. Well, as normal as training to use Silver Eyes go anyway… except I kept having to dig into this dark part of my mind, where all my insecurities and fears resided, just to get a hold of the feeling I needed to let the power out." She clutched her right arm in anxiety, "Maria said it would get easier the more I did it, that I would stop needing to draw on those feelings but… it's just so hard…"

He sat in silence, staring at her in worry as she explained the visual mindscape she was forced to see each time. "And the worst part is," she continued, "That no matter how much I see it, It still hurts the same. I can't get used to it!"

Nova inhaled sharply, "Well, I don't think that's something you should ever get used to, the sight of your loved ones dying. That pain is the mark of a pure soul, and that's what you have."

"Maria said I would eventually be able to deal with it, but she won't say how. I have so much more to learn but…"

"But we're out of time." He finished up his food and washed up his dishes before returning to her side, "Ruby listen, you're a strong, talented, beautiful person with the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met, you might not have been able to master what you were taught, but I'm positive, no… absolutely sure, that whatever little knowledge was imparted on you, you'll take it even further beyond."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the visions still hurt so much…"

Nova cupped her face with his right hand, rubbing his thumb across her cheek, "The Calaveras used pain as a trigger, the feeling of wanting to protect out of fear, but look at them. Are they really the shining examples you should be following?"

Ruby was confused, "Huh?" her expression looked perplexed and sad.

"If the trigger for you is your desire to protect, instead of drawing on fear to elicit that feeling, maybe think of something happy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for me, whenever I think about why I'm fighting, I envision my future. There's mom, dad, Luna, and everyone, laughing together on a beach house in Vale. I see Luna's all grown up, being able to walk around without fear, that the only thing we ever have to fight is the Grimm." He leaned down and pulled her up from her seat, holding her at arm's length. "And then there's me, standing on the balcony, staring out onto the ocean accompanied by a certain red hooded reaper, reveling in the peace and quiet."

Ruby felt all the blood in her body rush to her face, "I-I like that future…" she said almost mumbled. In a relationship with someone you genuinely love, being able to see a future with them is the most important part, but for your significant other to outright tell you about a future together, is something truly heartwarming. For her, it felt like all of her fears were being washed away, seeing what he saw in her mind.

"A future worth fighting for huh…" she muttered quietly. "I'll give it a try sometime," she smiled, though Nova could tell she was forcing herself to stay awake. "Well I think I should go make some coffee, we gotta get moving in a few hours anyway. Preparations need to be done and... WAH!" she was caught off guard when Nova swept her off her feet, picking her up bridal style.

"HUH?!"

Nova chuckled, "None of that now," he walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch, leaving her to rest on him as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"What are you doing?" she asked confused. They were supposed to get things prepared for the mission.

"There are, what twelve other people in this house? All fully capable of preparing without you. I think no one would argue if you were to catch a few hours of sleep." Nova said kissing her on the cheek, pulling the blanket over them.

"But…"

"No butts, only sleep. You aren't leaving me until you get a solid eight hours of rest." He insisted.

She struggled against him for a few moments before quickly giving, up. The feeling of his warmth, welcoming her with open arms that she readily accepted, falling into a deep slumber.

* * *

The next morning the team began their plan. It was a simple, get in, grab a jet, and get out while simultaneously disabling Atlas communications so they can't radio ahead and cause an alarm.

Nova, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Nitro, Qrow, and Elain would be waiting at a pick-up point, while Blake, Hex, and Yang would head to the Atlas communications tower and put down a signal jammer, after which they would rendezvous for the pick-up.

Saphron would be accompanying Weiss to act as seeing her off while Tera went to work. The bespectacled woman's job was to relay the bypass codes to Hex at the time of arrival since the codes were changed via automated scrambler every three hours.

"Does everyone understand their roles?" Hex asked as she began packing her instruments into her bag.

Jaune raised his hand, "Um, Question."

"Jaune if this is about needing to use the bathroom I told you not to eat the spicy breakfast burritos," Nova said dryly.

Jaune shook his head, "Well yes but no… what about Oscar, Luna and granny?" he threw a thumb toward Maria and Raisa, the latter of whom slowly backed away from her pissed off sister.

"Oscar will be accompanying Weiss as a plus one under the guise of her porter. Weiss' father hired him to watch over her in secret, here's a fake ID and security badge with the Schnee seal on it, combined with signature of Jacques…" she handed them to Oscar baffled.

Weiss blinked rapidly, "How did you get those? Where…?"

Hex waved her hand, "My semblance is Forgery, remember? I came across a few signed documents while perusing the Argus Atlas Military database. I even added a profile for him so he would show up on their scanners.

"Why didn't you just do that for all of us?" Yang asked confused.

Hex shot her a blank look, "Babe, one person is easy to slip into the systems unnoticed, but fourteen people?"

Yang made a popping sound with her mouth, "Right…"

"And what about me?" Luna asked tilting her head.

Hex grew devious smile and walked up with a tape measure and began gauging her height, "Hmm, yeap you'd fit just right…"

"Fit just right in what exactly?"

Hex pulled out two rather large suitcases, "Luggage."

Maria looked about ready to explode while Raisa was cackling like a mad-woman, "Oh this is great, absolutely rich!"

The younger Calavera jabbed her sister in the ribs earning an 'OOF', "Don't you have somewhere to be by now?"

Raisa nodded calmly, "Indeed, well... I'll be seeing you all, I think." she said as she waved her walking stick before hobbling to the door.

Ruby looked slightly disappointed, "You're leaving? Just like that?" she asked sincerely.

The old woman just smiled, "Don't worry, this ain't the last you heard or saw of me, that I can count on, my little protege." and with that, she was gone, the only thing left in her wake was the fragrant scent of flowers and luminescent petals on the wind.

* * *

The gleaming sun bore down upon the open runway of the Atlasian Military Base. Weiss Schnee casually strutted along the tarmac, lugging behind her was Oscar carrying two large white suitcases, and Saphron carrying Adrien. She made sure to move with the purpose and pompousness of the average Schnee while Caroline Cordovin waddled behind her with the twin security guards.

"Oh, it was such good news to hear you finally sobering up and abandoning the rabble to go home to Atlas. Your father must be so worried," Caroline said with a smile that looked plastered just for high-class people.

Weiss fought down the urge to wince at the mention of Jacques, "Yes well as a Schnee I do have my priorities."

"It simply melts my heart to see you deciding to leave Beacon and go to Atlas. It was soul-wrenching when we found out you'd chosen to go to Vale instead of our own prestigious Atlas Academy." She continued on.

Weiss actively grimaced but hid it just as quickly as it came, "Yes it was time I woke up and realized my true purpose in life."

"But if I may ask, miss Schnee, why do you insist on keeping the likes of 'him' around." Caroline pointed to Oscar who looked offended.

Weiss made an 'ahem' sound, queueing Oscar to start acting. The tan boy straightened his posture and pulled out the security badge given to him by Hex, "Likes of me? I don't know who you think you are, but according to this, I have the official role of Miss Schnee's right hand. You'd do well to remember that, lest you incur the wrath of the SDC."

Luna almost choked in laughter inside the suitcase. Oscar was performing the role of a pompous high-society boy very well.

Cordovin began to sputter, "I… well, my apologies for doubting your credibility Mr…"

Oscar forced himself to narrow his eyes and opened his mouth but Weiss answered for him, "Windshield, Augustus Windshield. You claim to care about my wellbeing but you don't even know the name of the person assigned to me? HMPH!" she turned her nose away from the old woman.

The old woman began to panic, "I sincerely apologize Miss Schnee! It was not my intention to disrespect you or your company. Things have just been so busy…"

"Yes yes, I'm sure they are." She waved her hand indicating to Oscar that he needed to begin wheeling the 'luggage' on board when the two guards walked up.

"Let us help you sir!" they said simultaneously.

Oscar brushed them off, "No, I'm fine really…"

"We insist!" they then picked up the cases to which one remarked, "These are quite heavy, what's in these…?"

Weiss shot a look of panic toward Saphron.

The blonde Arc girl nodded and whispered to Adrien, "Just like we practiced…"

The toddler nodded and let out an ear-piercing wail, "WAAAAAAH!" he fake cried so loudly it halted the entire facility.

Saphron then began to pretend that she was disheartened, "Oh, look at this, he's going to miss you so much!"

"A CRYING CHILD!" one of the twins said.

"WE MUST CONSOLE IT!" the other finished.

Cordovin just facepalmed while Oscar successfully wheeled the two cases inside, letting out Maria and Luna.

"Oh thank Oum I'm out, I was getting cramps," Luna said straightening her clothes out of vision of the outside.

"Hmph! Heavy! It's all muscle I tell you!" Maria waved her stick at no one in particular.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Come on don't blow our cover before we have a chance to leave. We just wait on Hex's signal and we're outta here."

* * *

**-Meanwhile at the communications tower-**

Yang and Hex were riding on Bumblebee with Blake on the side-car. The self-proclaimed alpha-females were riding with just visors while Blake huddled in the sidecar with a cute helmet designed specifically for Faunus since it had ear protectors sticking out. For some reason it just made her look more cat-like than she already was.

The motorcycle came to a steady halt as the tall grey-steel tower reared into view, just beyond the inclined slope of a dirt road lined with snow-covered pine trees.

"This is our stop, come on kitty," Hex said poking her on the cheek before hopping off the bike. Blake feigned to bite her and missed when her finger retracted. They ended in both of them laughing like idiots.

Yang on the other hand was looking less jovial and more on the annoyed side, "I should be going with you…"

Hex leaned over the bike and kissed Yang on the cheek, "Babe, we'll be fine. Besides, you're not exactly stealthy, miss I blow things up when they don't work."

Yang feigned offence, "Hey!"

"My last infrared and sonar scanners say otherwise."

Yang rubbed the back of her head, "Well… I lost my hairbrush!"

Hex shot her a blank stare, "So you thought an inanimate object would have a heat signature or movement blip?"

"… Point taken"

Hex pulled out her scroll and contacted Tera, the Cotta-Arc's face showed up upon her answering, "Are you in position?" she asked.

Hex nodded, "Yeah, the tower's right up that ridge," she pointed behind her.

"Okay I'm issuing the codes now, you have ten minutes to deploy before they change," Tera explained sternly. "And don't forget. This conversation never happened."

Hex nodded, "All data traces are being auto-wiped as we speak don't worry about it. This will never be traced back to you or your family, I made sure of it. Besides it's not the first time I've broken into Atlas security."

Tera sighed, "I hope so, or it's your heads." She then cut off the video feed.

As the two stealth-based fighters approached the tower, they saw the layout of the area. There was a fence around eight feet high surrounding the tower and guards posted at the front gates and on the tower itself.

"Alright kitty, how are we doing this?" Hex asked her friend.

Blake squinted her eyes, her ears flickering, "I can take care of the two on the ground but I need the one up there not be looking at me."

"Understood."

The two sprung into action. Blake slipped into the shadows using her powers, blending in disappearing faster than Hex had a chance to realize what was happening.

"Goddamnit girl, a little warning before you do that shit would be nice!" Hex hissed before scrambling out of her hiding spot.

She raced around the tree-line that surrounded the tower until she was facing the back of it. Then pulled out two small cubes from her bag of trinkets and threw them into the snow pile. Two hyper-realistic holograms of Atlas soldiers appeared in a pair, she then coughed until her throat was slightly hoarse and spoke in the deepest voice she possibly could.

"Hey! You there atop the tower!" she said loudly.

All three guards' heads turned to the sound of the voice but before the two at the front gate could properly turn, Blake was directly behind them. Their shadows began to take form, creeping up from their legs and covering their eyes, effectively blinding them.

While they panicked Blake was able to successfully knock them out by chokehold and hide them in a nearby shrubbery.

Once Hex noticed the guards were gone she dropped the holograms, disorienting the guard above

"Huh what?" he voiced in confusion, "What's going on…" before he could turn around Blake was already on him.

She used Gambol Shroud's ribbon to grapple her way up the tower and deliver a swift blow to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

Once that was done, Hex made her way through the gate and up the tower to Blake, they now stood on a grey metal platform of grated steel, and before them was what looked to be a control panel box.

"We make a pretty purrrfect team don't we?" Hex asked, stifling her giggles.

Blake shot her a blank look, "Please don't ever do that again."

Hex shrugged, "Sorry, I'm dating the pun queen herself. I think it's growing on me."

"It started with Nova and then spread like a disease. THE PUNS WILL NOT HAVE ME!" Blake threatened to the sky.

Hex rolled her eyes, "Alright calm down," she turned to the panel box, unscrewed the face, and observed the keypad accompanied by wires. She then pulled out her own device, it was rather bulky, like a hard-cover novel, but made entirely of metal with a digital display screen and its own keypad to the side. Hex took some wires from the panel box and hooked it up to her device and ran some program that Blake had no clue about. The program then prompted her to enter a passcode to which she inputs the code Tera had sent them.

"Aaaandddd… done!" she said chirpily, before closing back up the box and making her way down the tower.

Blake blinked rapidly, "What that's it?"

"Yup! Now we get back to Yang and rendezvous with the others. Mission accomplished."

Blake was about to mouth her concerns when her Faunus vision spotted something in the distance to the West, far off in the sky.

"Kitty? What's wrong?" Hex asked concerned by why she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

Blake saw on the horizon, a quickly approaching black cloud, or at least what appeared to be a cloud. Upon her eyes' adjustment, they widened in horror, and her skin went pale.

"Blake…?" Hex asked again.

The Faunus girl looked down in panic and immediately leaped off the tower, "GET GOING! BACK TO YANG BEFORE THEY CATCH US OUT!"

"WHAT? WHAT'S GOING ON?" Hex yelled back.

"Grimm! LOTS OF THEM!"

Hex felt a surge of panic. Grimm weren't supposed to be this close to the city, let alone be travelling in hordes. This threw their entire plan for a loop.

Then Blake smacked her forehead, "SHIT! THE GUARDS! WE NEED TO GET THEM TO SAFETY!" the cat-Faunus then clambered back up the tower to grab the guard. She hauled him down and was making her way to Hex when the Grimm came down.

They weren't normal Grimm, not anything that Hex had seen before. They resembled Nevermore, but they were just barely bigger than normal ravens. The only distinctions between them and birds were the clearly defined white Grimm mask and multiple red eyes that adorned them.

"Oh fuck…" Hex mouthed as the flock swarmed around them. There were dozens of birds swirling around the two girls, forcing them to huddle together back to back, weapons drawn. The birds however weren't attacking, nor did they seem interested in anyone besides them.

"What's going on? Why aren't they attacking…?" Blake asked shakily.

Hex shook her head, "Hell if I know how Grimm work!"

Suddenly the flock began to condense and coagulate until they became three concentrated black masses that slowly came into being.

They were all identical, with vaguely humanoid figures, wide waists, and thin bird-like feet. Their skin was covered in black feathers and their hands had talons for fingers. Their masks were elongated like bird beaks. The birds that made their body seemed to occasionally peek out from their body, squawking as if they were a writhing mass of corvid death.

"I'm going to second that, Oh fuck…" Blake said raising her blade.

* * *

**-With The rest of the team-**

Nova stood checking his scroll as he leaned against a pine tree, "Where the hell are they? Something's holding them back."

Ruby took his hand in hers, "Hey, it's going to be fine. It'll work out."

"When has anything we've done ever worked out perfectly? All our plans always end up the wrong way somehow." Nora pointed out casually.

"Now's not the time…" Ren berated her.

In the distance Jaune spotted the ship, "Hey! Look I see them!" then he paused, "And… something else…"

Elain peered into the distance with her Faunus eyes and uttered the words, "Holy. Fucking. Shit." As she pointed toward a giant looming shadow chasing them.

-Back with Weiss' party-

Maria sat at the cockpit of the aircraft and had already taken off while Luna and Oscar sat behind, with Weiss as co-pilot. They were well away into the air, a solid distance from the base when they received a call on the radio.

At the base, one of the soldiers who'd been monitoring air traffic notified Cordovin, "Ma'am it appears a vessel has entered our fly zone."

Cordovin scoffed, "Who the hell would be stupid enough to enter our air space?"

The soldier looked confused, "Well, ma'am… apparently… us?"

This prompted him to call the craft through the local channels, "Manta 5-1 you are unauthorized to be in this air space at this time, please state your situation."

Maria smiled cockily and picked up the radio on her end, "Argus base this is Manta 5-1, feel free to gaff-off. We thought we were going to scrub due to FOD but we're back up and green across the board. Over."

Oscar almost choked on how well she rattled off that complete rubbish.

"Manta 5-1 return to base or you will be treated as hostile over." The soldier responded.

Weiss widened her eyes, "I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU KNEW THE JARGON!" she said not noticing Maria had clicked the talk button on the radio.

The voice came over, "The jargon was fine but none of our pilots are old women."

Maria laughed aloud, "Fucking hell why'd you kids let me drive this thing?!"

Back at base Cordovin was in a rage, "MARIA! You have undermined me for the last time. You think you can just come here and trample on my authority on my territory?! YOU WILL TURN AROUND THAT SHIP IMMEDIATELY OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!"

There was just crackling on the other end, like someone eating potato chips.

"What. Is. That?" Cordovin seethed through the radio.

Maria laughed, "That's the sound of me not caring!"

Weiss looked shocked, "Do we really need that right now?!"

This seemed to set Caroline off, "That's it. I am going to set an example out of you. Show them the true might of Atlas!"

On the ship they were casually sailing, bickering about antagonizing Cordovin when the sound of thundering metal was heard in the distance, resonating far throughout the land. They all observed the rear to see the mountain base of Argus open up to reveal hollow interior. The rock and snow caving away like a door, and out of it strode the largest robot they'd ever seen.

It was wide at the torso and thin at the wait with beefy arms and no head, instead, the face was mounted to the torso.

"What the fuck is that?!" Weiss screamed.

Suddenly the machine raised its arms and a cannon opened up from its right arm, and a blast of yellow energy flew out, rocketing through the air and narrowly missing the ship, landing in the ocean beside them.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT MARIA?!" Cordovin said through the coms.

"She's piloting that thing?!" Luna exclaimed incredulously.

"And apparently lost her goddamned mind! I swear with her it happens all the time but this takes the cake!" Maria threw down her chips and initiated battle mode, sending the ship into high gear.

"That was a warning shot Maria, the next is heading straight through your hull!"

* * *

**-With Blake and the others-**

They were currently staring down three corvid-like manifestations of darkness in the form of Grimm. They were making clicking sounds out of their beaks as if talking to each other. No signs of attack were being made by the monsters, but Blake could feel the radiating intent from them. It was like a thick tension in the air, the first person to move would be cut down.

"We're outnumbered…" Hex muttered to Blake.

"Not if we make it back to Yang…"

"I don't think these guys are going to let us get that far," the purplette grimaced.

Blake bit her lip, "Me neither, but we can disengage. Ready?"

Hex didn't know what she was planning but she nodded.

Blake then instantly dropped her hands to the floor and shadows erupted from the birds' feet, knocking them back as pillars of pitch-black shot up from the floor. Hex then threw down her holograms and began sprinting toward the direction of Yang with Blake in tow.

They barely made it a few meters when the sound of angry cawing and flapping was heard. Hex turned just in time to see the three monsters in the sky above them taking a nose dive toward their location.

Blake spun around and summoned another wall of shadow to block them. Thankfully by the time they made it over the ridge, Yang could see the commotion.

"Holy shit I leave these two for TWO MINUTES!" she yelled leaving Bumblebee parked against a tree and charging up the hill to join them. She spotted the beasts and instead of asking questions, fired off shots of Ember Celia toward the middle creature. It seemed to react violently toward the bright bursts and narrowly dodged them mid-air, dropping to the ground.

"Should I ask?" Yang said as she grouped up with them, huddled together the three stood back to back each squaring off against one of the Grimm.

Hex just showed a nervous smirk, "We don't have a clue either. Glad to see you join us, babe," she said preparing Loki and Eris' chains.

Yang didn't utter a word as she ducked low and threw her fist out, sending off a shot of her gauntlets, even with her speed the monster was too nimble, sidestepping it with ease and doing something a Grimm had never done before. It grabbed the weapon and held her in place.

The brawler's eyes went wide as she realized the beast had caught her and before she could wrench herself from its grip, it landed a solid punch to her gut and sent her flying into a tree. As she was crashing into the tree-line, the thoughts rang out in her head like an undeniable truth.

The Grimm were intelligent. These things knew how to fight, they understood combat. They weren't normal Grimm.

"YANG!" Hex yelled out as she saw the blonde get thrown into the trees, the Grimm following after her. The moment she called out, however, her own opponent thrust its long, razor-sharp claws into her face, forcing her to counter by throwing up her chains, wrapping them around the hand, and throwing the Grimm over her shoulder.

The beast let out a loud squawk as it recovered, the feathers on its body began to writhe before dozens of pitch-black smaller Nevermore shot out of its body.

Hex let her instincts take over, connecting her blades into the Glaive form and spinning it to block the attack. It seemed as though the materialized birds were made of black ooze that splashed around as they died, evaporating into black mist seconds after coming into contact with the ground.

She didn't have much time to ponder on it as the bird launched itself again at her, covering the distance in a fraction of a second. She tried to reactively dodge but speed wasn't her strong suit and she ended up taking the blow to her right shoulder, the impact severely draining her aura.

"Alright birdy, is that how it's gonna be?" she asked the thing. It just clicked and tilted its head in a jittery fashion, making crackling sounds from its throat.

She wasn't an expert on Grimm but this thing was definitely mocking her.

"Think you're some kinda wise guy eh? I'll tear that beak right off your face…" she glowered.

The two met in combat half-way, as it threw feathers at her like a Nevermore, the bladed plumage slicing at her skin as if cutting through her aura. She was now bleeding from her face and arms as they began swiping at each other. She would swing her glaive at its head only for it to duck and throw its sharp wings at her.

She jumped out of the way and kicked it on its back. For some reason, though its movements were fast and precise but highly uncoordinated as if it was just given a crash course in fighting rather than trained in it.

Meanwhile, Blake was having her own trade-off with her opponent. This beast seemed to gauge her wearily as if it was preparing itself for unexpected assaults by her shadow powers.

It dashed toward her but stopped itself just before her face as Blake was prepared to drive Gambol Shroud's blade into its stomach. It lurched backward and somersaulted into the air, sending flying feather daggers at her. Blake blocked it with her shadow wall, just before it dropped, she used her semblance to place a clone of herself in her exact position.

During her stalemate with it, she was able to at least observe the one fighting Hex out of the corner of her eye. She was not about to be caught off guard by its bewildering attack patterns and instead went for the killing blow.

When the wall dropped the creature saw Blake's clone and went in for a straight blow but was unprepared for what happened next. With her cat-like agility, she was able to almost blink behind the creature, rooting it in its own shadow with her powers.

Hex saw her seemingly freeze the creature in place so she hatched an idea.

"Hey, Blake! Remember what you and Yang did at the Vytaal tournament?" she called out, referring to their team battle.

Blake caught on instantly. Instead of responding she wrapped Gambol Shroud's Ribbon around her opponent and sent it spinning into the air such that it was unable to open its wings and steady itself. Hex disconnected her Glaive back into the chained weapons and threw Loki at the creature's feet, anchoring the blade into the ground.

While the Grimm was distracted, she kicked off her legs and slide along the snowy ground before picking herself up and entrapping the creature's legs. She then yanked the chain ripping both Loki and the Grimm out of the ground and flinging it into the sky.

The two Grimm collided head-on as the two fighters simultaneously stabbed them from the back, dissipating them into mist.

"That was… so much harder than it needed to be." Hex groaned as she panted on her knees.

Blake nodded, "Those things, they knew how to fight. How the fuck do Grimm know how to fight?!"

The purplette grimaced, "Wouldn't be the first time. Remember that thing we fought back at the lake? It had weapons."

"Grimm are evolving faster… this isn't good," Blake muttered.

Hex then realized they were missing a person, "We need to find Yang!"

The blonde brawler was having her own tussle in the forest. Branches broke and tree trunks cracked as the two enemies brawled in hand to hand combat.

The one she was facing seemed to be different from the others, it was definitely stronger, and a lot smarter. It knew it was fighting in an enclosed space, not enough room to fly due to the trees so it stuck to what it was good at. Strength and speed.

Yang wasn't as eloquent at dodging while maneouvering her environment as her opponent, as sometimes she would trip on a tree root or patch of snow. Sometimes it worked in her favour but others she was forced to collect a clawed hand to the arm or torso.

The Grimm's fists connected with her aura, but its bladed talons and feathers seemed to pierce her defences, which terrified her. She was essentially fighting for her life from the get-go.

Her skin was scratched and bleeding along her arms, and there was a deep cut on her stomach where her skin was exposed. In other places, her clothes were torn.

The Grimm seemed to be taking no damage from her physical blows, but whenever she tried to hit it with Ember Celia, it dodged, as though it were afraid of the explosion.

As the creature ran at her through the snow, expertly placing its footing over roots and failing to trip, Yang held up both Gauntlets and let out a single shot from each, and, just as she theorized, the creature dodged it like the plague.

"So, you're afraid of my shotgauntlets huh?" she taunted.

The creature made what she assumed was an angry series of clicks, the multiple eyes on its mask seemed to glow violently.

Given her environment and style of fighting, there was only one way she was going to land a proper attack on a creature more agile than she was. "Time to get up close and personal."

She let her arms drop, unloading the empty shells of Ember Celia. They fell almost in slow motion toward the snowy ground, making no sound upon contact. She took a deep breath and generated her aura into her hands.

If Aura wasn't going to stop its blades, then she didn't need it for defence. She recalled her training, letting the bright yellow light concentrate on her fists.

The creature didn't know what she was doing but it knew instinctively that it was in danger. The sound of battle outside the tree line stopped, followed by rapidly approaching footsteps and human yelling. Its comrades had been defeated.

It now had two options, fight or flight. It hadn't been born for long, but it had one purpose, one mission, to kill the humans or die trying, so, it followed its basic instincts, as all beasts do, and threw all caution to the wind in an all-out assault.

"Wrong decision…" Yang said, her hair covering her eyes. The creature didn't care as it came in talons swinging wide, unleashing a rain of feathers as it closed the distance between them.

Yang let out the breath she'd been holding, the hot air swirling in a white mist in front of her face just as the creature was at arm's length.

She threw herself into the line of its attack, tanking the feathers and getting into its range. The blades came down on her back but she didn't care, it only fueled her semblance, her hair igniting a bright yellow as her eyes went from lilac to red. With a single decisive blow, her fists loaded with all the Aura she could muster, collided with the creature's torso.

There was a fraction of a second where nothing happened, but it was merely a fraction, as the blast ripped a hole through the creature, yellow light exploding from her fists. The force of the impact sent waves of wind rippling through the trees, the ground cracking and then breaking open, forming a crater at her feet as the creature dissipated into black mist.

The blonde brawler then collapsed onto her knees in exhaustion, blood pouring from her wounds, soaking the snow in red.

Hex rushed up to her and caught her before her face fell into the dirt, "Holy shit Yang are you okay?"

The blonde shot her a weak smile, "Do I look okay?"

"You always look amazing babe," Hex said with a teary smile.

Yang snorted though she winced from the pain, "Look who's being cheesy at a time like this."

Blake finally caught up to them and wrapped Yang's right arm around her shoulder while Hex held up her left, "You look like hell," she commented.

"I feel like it, but I'll be fine. Let's head back to the others, Nova's mom will heal me," she said through the pain. The two then began their trackback to the others.

"I hope things are fine on their end, if the Grimm came after us who knows what came after them."

* * *

**-With The Giant Robot-**

Cordovin sat in the giant grey-brown metal mech, cannons aimed at the group standing on the edge of the cliff face. The ocean waters splashed upon the feet of the metal, barely making it above the feet, emphasizing the sheer size of the mechanical monstrosity. It's right arm cannon aimed directly at the team, charging its blast.

Maria and the others were flying just behind on the ship when they saw the situation, "DIVE!" Weiss yelled as she unbuckled her seatbelt in a panic. Maria did as she was told and the ship did a nosedive toward the cliff. Weiss then opened the door and jumped out landing just in time with her team to summon a giant wall of ice, blocking the blast from the cannon.

"That was perfectly timed Weiss," Nova said breathing a sigh of relief as they took cover behind the ice. It seemed that the cannons on the mech took time to recharge so Cordovin was unable to act while they were hiding.

"What's the plan? We can't get out of Argus if that thing is breathing down our necks." Weiss said composing herself with her team.

Jaune placed his hand on his chin, "That thing's not made for smaller targets, so she has a hard time hitting us. Why don't we spit up and give her more targets than she can deal with?"

"That's a brilliant idea but how do we bring it down?" Nova asked looking at him.

Nitro groaned, "If only Hex was here, she could probably tell us if this thing has a weak spot."

"Alright, we'll think about that later, right now just hit it hard and see what happens," Ruby said with vigour, unsheathing Crescent Rose.

The time simultaneously nodded before breaking off, splitting up into several directions, distracting the robot.

"OVER HERE!" Jaune yelled as he and Ren sprinted along the robot's left side in unpredictable patterns, Ren firing off blasts from his machine pistols that didn't seem to do much to the sturdy metal.

"GET BACK HERE!" Caroline yelled as she reared the mech slowly, aiming the cannon and firing off in rapid succession. Apparently, the recharge speed was dependant on the ammunition used, and in this case, it was using dust to raise the dirt and form rocks, which the team began using as cover.

Ruby and Weiss snuck onto the water, using Weiss' ice to form a platform around the feet of the mech. Ruby then began to draw its attention by firing from Crescent Rose, bullets harmlessly bouncing off the surface. The machine tried to swipe at her but with her semblance she was too quick, dodging through the air in a flurry of petals and sinking her blade into its armour, tearing down a long scratch on its right arm.

Nora saw the opportunity and began launching her grenades at it, the explosions detonating on its torso, knocking the machine back a little.

Cordovin wasn't amused, "So it seems you've chosen the hard way..." she then pushed a button on her control panel and thick layered dust shields enveloped it like a secondary layer of armour.

Qrow who was flying around the side to spot out a weak spot transformed back and latched his scythe onto the back of the machine, "Cordovin just activated shields, ranged attacks are going to be even less effective now." he said through his communicator.

Elain took behind one of the rocky barriers created by the blasts, she wasn't a combatant so she couldn't do anything in the situation, but she had an insight. "Qrow just said shields right? Shields have to have a generator. Generators of that magnitude need batteries and batteries need replacing. It would be too difficult to replace them from the inside since the Dust crystals would be too large so..."

Nova's eyes widened, "There must be a hatch on the outside!" he then pushed the button on his earpiece, "Can anyone spot a panel on the machine? Anywhere that looks like a shield generator?"

The ship flew around the machine while it was distracted with the others and Luna spotted the vague outline of a hatch-frame on the back, "Upper-middle back, there's a panel. It's right above you uncle Qrow!" she relayed.

"Alright if I can get the shields down, we probably get one shot at taking this thing out so hit it with everything you got at that point." Qrow relayed and began climbing up the side of the mech with Harbinger.

Cordovin noticed this and tried to swat him off but Ruby drew her attention again as she and Weiss began blasting the front with fire dust explosive rounds.

"RUBY LOOK OUT!" Oscar yelled into the earpiece as through the smoke they saw what appeared to be a missile launcher pop out of its cannon wrist and fire off several missiles at them.

Weiss barely pulled up an ice wall in time to block the blast, which Ruby used to gain elevation and clamber back up to the cliff where the others were.

Nova had been trying to draw attention with his semi-auto rifle but it wasn't exactly doing much good against the shields.

"This thing is tanking everything we throw at it!" she said frantically as she reloaded her cartridges.

Cordovin seemed to be growing tired of the incessant distractions and unleashed a flurry of missiles at the cliff face out of frustration, seemingly throwing all of her resources into eliminating them, no matter what cost it would have to Atlas. Ruby and Nova saw the missiles approaching them.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked as he raised Helios' scope to his eye.

She smirked and stood next to him, with Crescent Rose in sniper form, "Target practice."

Together they brilliantly executed perfectly accurate shots, detonating the missiles in mid-air in quick succession, creating a line of explosions that disoriented Cordovin.

This gave Qrow the edge he needed to make the last climb toward the hatch on the back of the mech, and with an enormous amount of effort, carved away at the thick metal plating exposing two large glowing dust crystal batteries. With all the strength he could muster, he ripped them out, effectively disabling the shields, much to Caroline's horror.

"SHIELDS ARE DOWN! TAKE HER OUT!" He yelled as he sheathed Harbinger, jumped off the mech, and into Crow form.

"HMPH, YOU CAN TRY!" Cordovin yelled out as she switched to cannons and fired at them, a range of blasts shooting out, forcing them to disengage. Now that the shields were down, they needed to disable the cannon if they wanted to take it out.

Luna observed the mech from the airship and she noticed something while it was firing, "GUYS! Cordovin's mech switches dust cartridges each time it needs to fire, there's a load time on everything except the missiles!"

"WE SEE THAT!" Weiss yelled back as she narrowly dodged a blast from the cannon.

"No! What I'm saying is, if you can get one good shot off on the missiles, it could blow the arm right off!"

Everyone facepalmed, of course, it wouldn't be easy. If what Luna said was right, then they needed to land a proper shot, someone would have to be in the direct line of fire as the armour platings on the side of the missile chamber would deflect any bullet.

"I've got a way you can get the shot off," Maria said as she pulled the ship alongside the cliff. Ruby spared no hesitation and instantly bolted off the cliff and onto the airship. "RUBY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Qrow yelled to no avail as he watched his niece take up a sniping position on the side of the ship.

* * *

As they flew through the air, Maria radioed Caroline, "Hey Cordovin, I got one missile left and I know exactly where I'm gonna stick it!"

Cordovin smirked deviously, "Try me bitch."

Oscar watched in horror from the front seat as they drove directly toward the mech, the barrel of its cannon raised at them missiles ready to fire, "ARE YOU INSANE?!" Oscar and Luna yelled simultaneously

Maria just had a mad grin, "Sometime's the best approach is the most direct!" and flew headfirst into danger.

Ruby readied her shot but as she fired, the missile chamber closed and her bullet bounced harmlessly off, much to their horror.

"YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD FOOL ME?! TRY AGAIN!" the Atlasian woman yelled with fever, switching over instantly to the cannon and firing off a preloaded shot of lightning dust.

Maria engaged evasive maneuvers but the beam still narrowly grazed the ship, disabling the controls and Maria's eyes, "I can't see!" she yelled out. The ship then began to swerve and spiral out of control, heading directly for the cliff where the team was.

The Calavera thrust the controls to Oscar, "LAND THIS THING!"

Oscar almost jumped out of his skin, "FUCKING HOW?!"

Luna decided she wasn't about to risk anything and grabbed Ruby and Calavera, pulling them close to her as Cyan aura covered the trio, their weights were suddenly glued to the seats and wall of the ship, the power acting like a superior seatbelt. Oscar on the other hand began wrestling with the controls, freaking out, "We're gonna crash!" he yelled out in panic.

There was a moment of disorientation before he blacked out.

Upon waking up he found the ship was intact and still more or less alive, and everyone, including him, was unharmed. "W-we're alive?! W-what happened?" he stuttered out, his legs like jelly as he clambered out of the ship.

"You somehow managed to crash-land us safely... if that's a thing..." Luna said with wonder, "How did you do it?!"

Oscar shook his head, "I... don't remember..."

* * *

Ruby was already ahead of them, wasting no time on recovery, she marched forward to the edge of the cliff looking pissed, in every essence of the word.

No one got a chance to ask if she was okay, she just walked past them all and stood staring down Cordovin's mech on the cliff edge, the massive hunk of metal towering over her.

"Surrender for your crimes and accept your punishment!" Caroline said, pointing a finger at her.

Ruby was undeterred, instead unsheating Crescent Rose and stabbing the hilt into the floor, taking up a stance, "We. Are. Going. To. Atlas. And you can either let us go... or else..." she glowered. Nova felt a shiver run down his spine. This was the first time he'd seen Ruby genuinely angry and it scared him.

"Or else what?" Cordovin mocked.

"You know something? Bigger people than you have tried to stop us and failed, and we're supposed to be on the same fucking side! We came to you for help, and you shut us out. You left us no choice but to steal from you. We didn't want to but we had to because even though we're supposed to be working together, to use our power to protect the people, you're just using yours to look down on everyone else!" Ruby was fuming, her eyes were glaring daggers at Cordovin and even the old woman was beginning to feel uneasy.

"I'm giving you one last chance to stand down and hear us out."

"I've heard enough..." Caroline responded, raising the cannon to fire at her.

Qrow and Yang both lurched forward to protect her, but the others held them back, even Nova, "She's got this." he said with confidence, even though he himself was feeling queasy.

Ruby then did arguably the most badass thing Nova had ever seen her do besides juggle a Nevermore in the air. She jumped off the cliff and petal burst into the air, dashing directly into the barrel of the cannon as it was charging.

"You had your warning..." Ruby said as she anchored Crescent Rose in the barrel and fired off an explosive dust round. The cannon exploded from the inside, blasting Ruby out of it, her Aura fizzling out as Nova leaped forward and caught her in his arms. The dust cartridges began to overload and mix together as rock, lightning, and ice broke out like growths on the arm, until it was so heavy that it anchored the mech.

"That was so cool..." he said as he helped her to her feet.

She shot him a smirk, "How's my style points on that one?"

"I'd give you a twelve out of ten," he said as he kissed her on the cheek.

The mech felt the recoil from the blast and loss of power and began to falter toward the cliff, its singular free hand clutching onto the earth for support, giving the team access to melee range.

"Alright guys," Nova said turning to his ready team, "Light 'em up."

Explosions echoed from all sides as Nora shot grenades, Ren with his guns, Jaune tried whacking his sword and even Ruby was tearing at its metal hide with her blade, but it seemed to just barely injure the inanimate object.

"Nitro, we need some heavy impact," Nova said as he unsheathed Helios in scythe form, placing it behind him the way Ruby does when she uses sniper recoil as a launcher.

The redhead's gauntlets encompassed his arm, the fins extending for jet propulsion, "Finally it's my turn," he said with a cocky smile.

Nitro activated full boosters on the gauntlets and fired off toward the mech. No one registered anything until the sonic boom of a sound barrier-breaking fist of destruction rocketed past them, crashing into the mech's torso, throwing the entire thing off balance, and placing a massive dent in the thick armour.

"NO! NO! NOOO!" Cordovin cried out as she began to lose all control.

Nova just chuckled as flames began to pour out of Helios' scythe head. The dragon eyes on the blade seemed to emanate fire as a raging inferno shot out of it, propelling Nova into the air at incredible speeds until he was face to face with the machine's windshield.

Cordovin watched in horror as the heterochromatic Faunus boy reared what appeared to be a flaming scythe before her eyes, "You should retire Cordovin, you're all burnt out!" he said before swinging Helios, pouring his fire into the blade and igniting the Incidium. The metal cleaved away, as a blast of explosive fire detonated through the previous impact made by Nitro, knocking the machine onto its rear. It was dead, but Caroline seemed fine as she was yelling profusely through the windshield.

* * *

Hex, Yang, and Blake had stumbled their way through the dense forest to the pick-up zone to see a downed mech and lots of ice and rock everywhere.

"What the fuck happened here?!" Hex exclaimed raising everyone's attention to the party coming from the forest.

Ruby's eyes widened upon seeing the state of Yang, she was somewhat healed from her Aura but she still looked pretty badly beaten up, "FORGET US! YANG!"

Elain saw the blonde girl and instantly rushed over to her, placing an arm on her shoulder and using her semblance. The brawler's wounds began to quickly close up as the scratches disappeared, and her pale skin returning to its usual glow. She wrenched herself free from their grip and did a stretch to make sure everything was working properly.

"Thanks, Dr. E, I needed that," Yang said as she threw a few test punches in the air.

"What happened to you guys? Did you run into a woodchipper by accident?" Nitro asked incredulously.

Blake sighed, "No, worse... much worse, but we can talk about this later, right now I just wanna pass out."

"You and all of us here I think..." Jaune groaned as he tried to dust off his armour.

Once Maria saw that it was safe to land, she parked the plane and everyone began climbing on board. They were fully prepared to pack up and leave Cordovin there, after all, she deserved it, but something made them falter.

"All that's left is to head on over to Atlas... what's that sound?" Luna asked as the team was suddenly drawn to the growing sound of thundering like something massive was stomping around. All eyes turned to the ocean before them.

As they cruised into the sunset, the band of misfits saw an uncomfortably horrid sight. Tremours began to shake the ground as they saw trees rattle violently, waves began to form more rapidly in the ocean as several meters off the coast of Argus, rising out of the water like a scene from a movie, was a Grimm.

It seemed as though the constant fighting and explosions woke it up. The team's fleeting relief upon the defeat of Cordovin, was changed to absolute terror as a hulking monstrosity, with the body of what looked like a reptile on two legs, a muscular build and crocodile-like mouth appeared out of the water, on its back was a large white spine. It was a Grimm, and it was heading straight for Argus. Then their attention was brought back to the downed mech, the very same mech that was Argus' line of defence for creatures like that.

"Uh... guys?" Oscar stuttered out as he pointed shakily to the front of the ship.

In the direction they were heading, a ways behind the colossal Grimm, was a flock of black, travelling like a cloud of death. It was a swarm of Grimm, Gryphons, Nevermores, and Manticores, travelling in what seemed to be a small army.

One name rang out in their minds, one thought. "Salem's made a move..." Nova said darkly.

Ruby looked back and forth between her team and the monster. They could avoid it, fly around, and head to Atlas, but... they couldn't just leave the city defenceless.

"Guys we have to save them," Ruby said adamantly.

"Well duhh, but how are we going to deal with that thing?!" Nora yelled incredulously, gesturing comically to the slow-moving behemoth.

Ruby bit her lip nervously, "I... have a plan..."

* * *

**-Argus Hospital-**

Pyrrha lay on the hospital bed, still in a deep sleep, as she'd been for several days. In her mind, she saw what seemed to be memories playing out in front of her like a movie. Everything was slowly being played out to her almost in real-time, filling in the blanks in her hazy memory, from the time she left Argus and her family, to her arrival at Vale.

Her experiences returned in sequence, she saw her first meeting of Jaune on the bullhead to Beacon, their conversation on the cliff just before they were launched into the forest for initiation. She remembered thinking that he was an interesting person, and perhaps the first real friend she would ever make. She remembered meeting Nova, their squabbles, and then their eventual duel, the feelings of exhilaration as she finally fought someone on equal footing as her. The laughs they shared together afterward.

Of all the moments she remembered exactly when she fell in love with Jaune, those fluttery feelings surging toward her, replacing one of a desire to help him grow, and the feelings of pure love that followed. When Jaune confessed to her under the starlight of Beacon cliff after they were done with nightly training. She never expected him to ever reciprocate the feelings she felt for him, given how dense he was.

The sweet memories began to fade as the darker times came, visions of fighting Penny at the tournament, panicking in combat and her semblance slicing her to pieces. The emotions swarmed her like it was her first time feeling it again, the pain and anguish, the guilt.

She was thrust even further when she saw the Grimm come, she, Jaune, and Nova working to defend Beacon... to eventually watching Cinder take the Fall Maiden's power and eventually kill Ozpin. She remembered locking Jaune away in a rocket locker so he wouldn't stop her or be in any danger when she confronted Cinder alone. The feelings of shock when she found out there was another powerful entity with Cinder atop Beacon's tower, the feeling of relief when Nova showed up almost out of nowhere to fight alongside her, and the eventual horror as they were both defeated.

Pyrrha remembered being helpless, unable to do anything as Cinder threw a glass spear at her, and Nova sacrificing himself to save her, and then nothingness.

She woke up with a start, glancing around the room frantically as all the memories flooded into her mind, taking their places and patching up the missing information. She wanted to burst forth in tears.

Jaune was there, in the hospital room, she remembered the look of complete emotional death on his face when she told him she couldn't remember him, she wanted to say she was sorry, to hold him in her arms and tell him that she remembered everything, but the room was empty.

Suddenly there was a click of the door handle as a red-haired woman walked in wearing glasses, it was her mom.

Upon seeing her awake, her mother burst into tears and hurried to her bedside, "Pyrrha! Sweety! You're awake!" she sniffled clutching onto the bedsheets.

Pyrrha's expression softened, "Yes, and... I remember everything."

Her mother looked up at her with tear-filled eyes, "Oh honey thank god... I..."

"Mom, I'm sorry to cut you short, but... my friends... where are they?" she asked.

The mother wiped away her tears. She knew her daughter loved her, but she had her own life and was eager to get back to it, "I'm not sure, I never got an address but I have a number for that Nova fellow..." she pulled up her scroll and gave Nova a call, after a few rings he picked up.

"_Hello?"_

"Um, Mr. Flareheart? This is Pyrrha's mom..." Chrysanthemum said with a still sniffly voice.

"_Pyrrha's mom?! Oh good I was worried, listen I don't have much time *CRASH* It's pretty bad *BOOM* You need to evacuate the city! NOW!"_

"Why what's going on?" she instantly composed herself with a worried look. Pyrrha saw her mom's expression change as well.

_"Grimm! Lots of them! *Gunshots* Heading for the city from the Ocean! TAKE PYRRHA AND GET OUT!" _

His voice sounded loud enough through the scroll speaker. Pyrrha heard him completely and looked to her mom with a strong gaze.

"Pyrrha I know that look. You are not going out there!" Chrys said sternly.

The champion responded by ripping off her monitors and hospital sheets and getting up. It was the first time she'd properly gotten up in a long time so her muscles felt wobbly, but given her master control of Aura, she was able to use it to begin repairing her body.

"I can't stop you can I..."

"No, you can't."

"Then at least take some weapons with you," she handed Pyrrha the keys to their house, "Your father's armour and weapons are mounted on display in the study. They might be antique but they should still work."

Pyrrha took the key gratefully and gave her mom a tight hug, "Thanks mom, I love you."

The older woman just accepted the hug, "Love you too sweetie, just... be careful..."

* * *

**-On the ship-**

As the team finally made their way back to Argus, they saw that they were almost too late. The Grimm had already landed on the beaches of the city and the Atlas Military base had engaged all protocols. Ships were already in the air firing at the Grimm while soldiers were on the ground trying to stop as many stragglers as they could from getting into the city. The main brunt of the fighting was being done on the sandy beach while the base itself was firing from mounted cannons at the approaching behemoth, to almost no avail.

All the cannons seemed to do was slow down its pace minorly as the giant electrical antennae that surrounded the coast activated, raising two massive dust shields around the coast, preventing the beast from entering the city. There were currently two lines of defence separating the leviathan class Grimm and Argus.

"What's our plan chiefs?" Nora asked, looking to Ruby and Nova.

The dragon leader scanned his team and began to formulate a plan, "With the swarm of Grimm we can't get close enough, Ren can you mask the ship with your semblance?"

Ren nodded, "With his help, I can," he pointed to Jaune.

"Alright, Maria take us as close as you can get to the base, once we're there, anyone able-bodied goes down with me to help clear out Grimm that got inside the city walls. The rest of you stay on the ship and support Ruby's plan," he said glancing over to Ruby. "What is that plan by the way?"

"My silver eyes, I froze a Wyvern once, I can handle this," she said with half-hearted confidence.

Nova didn't like the idea, "How do you plan on doing that? What if it doesn't work? You could die!"

"I trust my training, I can do this... besides... what other choice do we have?" in truth Ruby didn't trust herself. She had two days of shaky training that was barely a sliver of what she was supposed to know, she still hadn't even mastered the basics of her eyes, but for the sake of protecting the people of Argus, she would do everything she could.

The Leviathan-class Grimm was wasting no time, upon seeing the first ring of shields, opened its mouth and a bright pale yellow light seemed to emanate from within it, growing bigger until it fired off a massive beam of destruction. The beam was initially blocked by the shield but as the monster shifted its head, the beam caught on one of the antennae and destroyed it, granting the beast passage to the second layer.

By now Grimm were being fended off by flying ships while Ren and Jaune worked in cohesion to mask the aircraft, guiding it to the beach. It was then that they spotted the sight of a red blur, tearing Grimm apart, leaving a trail of black smoke in her wake.

"That can't be... can it...?" Nova mouthed in awe as he couldn't believe his eyes.

Everyone on the ship turned to what he was staring at, Nora's mouth dropped open and she almost fainted while the rest were just too shocked to speak.

"Guys, what's going on out there?" Jaune called as he released his hold on Ren temporarily, and looked out the side window of the ship, what he saw almost gave him a heart attack. There on the beach was the distinct visage of Pyrrha Nikos clad in a full suit of golden armour, wielding a two-handed greatsword, cleaving down Grimm in a whirlwind. The ship was hovering just about twenty feet from the ground and Jaune didn't hesitate for a second. Without warning he pushed past his friends and launched himself out of the plane, diving onto the sand with his shield under his legs, using it to break his fall as he ran across the sandy beach.

Griffons tried to swipe at him from all sides but he just cut them down with single strikes, not even bothering to look as his eyes were fixated on one thing and one thing only, the beautiful girl who was viscously murdering Grimm in front of him.

Pyrrha had just cleared off a group of Grimm and was wiping the sweat from her brow, looking toward the horizon when she almost blindsided by a straggler, before she could bring up her defences a white shield came soaring through the air, crashing into the Grimm and knocking it into the ocean where it turned into a black mist.

She spun around just in time to see Jaune sprinting across the sand toward her, his golden hair glowing the light of the sun, "PYRRHA!" he shouted, stumbling across the uneven ground toward her, "What are you doing out of the hospital?!" he exclaimed as he finally stopped in front of her, slightly out of breath from all the running.

"And where did you get all that armour? You're in no condition to be fighting, you could barely remember how to use a sword when... MMPH!" he was cut off from his rambling when Pyrrha grabbed hold of his face with both hands and crashed her lips onto his in a passionate kiss, filled with longing and need. She poured out all of the emotions she'd built up inside her for so long into that one moment, and Jaune felt it. He reciprocated the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him by the waist, tears streaming down his face as he'd done what he so longed to do, just hold her in his arms.

When they finally broke apart for air they were both crying, "Y-You remember?" he choked out, with a goofy smile.

She nodded, "Everything. Jaune I... I'm sorry for not remembering you. I'm sorry for pushing you into that locker and going off on my own, for..."

Jaune silenced her by placing a finger on her lips, "That wasn't your fault, you did it to protect me. What's important is that I get to say these words right now... Pyrrha Nikos, I love you, more than anything in the world... and I've missed you so much..." he cried.

She choked up, "I love you too..." she was about to lean in for a second kiss when the sound of an airship engine was heard, "HEY! NOT TO BREAK UP THIS ADORABLE MOMENT BUT THERE'S MORE COMING!" Nova yelled over the loud engines.

The two broke apart embarrassedly and picked up their weapons, Pyrrha concentrated on her semblance and managed to pull Jaune's shield from where it landed after killing the Grimm.

Everyone besides Ruby, Weiss, Maria, Yang, Blake, Hex, and Elain jumped out of the airship and landed onto the sandy beach, each stepping out with their weapons drawn and intent to protect on their face, except Nora who instantly tackled Pyrrha crying about how much she missed her.

Nova was about to step off when he turned back to Ruby, "Don't do anything I would do okay?" he kissed her on the forehead before jumping off. She shot him a lopsided grin, "So don't do anything stupid and reckless? Sorry love, but it's in our nature!" she yelled back as the airship took off.

The dragon leader just wished her silent good luck before turning to his team, "Alright, we can reunion with Pyrrha later, right now... protect the citizens of Argus at all costs! No Grimm get into the city!" he yelled as they stormed into the fray.

* * *

Maria took off again with the others on board, preparing to leave the safety of the current airspace. Without Ren on board or Jaune, they would need assistance to cover Ruby until she got within range of the leviathan.

Just then a blast of energy shot past the rock of the base, bursting through the second layer of shields and even destroying the Argus Clock Tower.

"Fuck it's broken through!" Yang pointed out as the monster neared the base.

Maria picked up the radio on the dashboard, "This is Manta 5-1, we need cover to get one of our operatives to the Grimm, we have a plan to destroy it."

"Negative Manta 5-1, you are designated as hostile and will receive no help from our forces," the soldier on the other end responded.

Hex blew a gasket and grabbed the radio, "REALLY?! Are you being for real right now? We are trying to help you and this is the shit you're gonna pull?"

"Manta 5-1 we are not prepared to provide assistance to a hostile target when dealing with a Grimm invasion," the man said calmly as if orders were more important than the lives of people.

Hex was about to rattle off again when Ruby shook her head and took the radio, "Fine, we'll do it ourselves. Just don't get in our way." her voice was calm and cold, it was the most serious anyone had seen her in a long time and quite frankly it gave them all chills.

"What's your plan Ruby, how do you plan on doing your eye thing to that beast?" Weiss asked, shuffling around nervously.

"Can you summon a Lancer?"

* * *

Back at the crash site of the giant mech, Cordovin was fuming, trying desperately to get the machine up and running again. The blast had taken out most of the armour plating but left the main energy source intact, it was just a matter of getting it unstuck from the ice that was frozen over its cannon arm.

As she sat there, her rage was beginning to boil down, she had blamed the kids for causing this situation in the first place, and if anything happened to Argus it would be on their heads, but the more she raged, the more she began to calm down and realize the situation.

Yes, they shouldn't have stolen the ship and undermined her authority, but she could've been a bit nicer to them and co-operated. What reason would a bunch of kids have for harming Atlas? If anything they were probably speaking the truth about having credible information for Ironwood.

Blinded by her duties and role as an Atlas official, bound by the rules she ended up overreacting, losing herself in her anger. It didn't help that Maria annoyed her over the edge, but thinking back... was it really necessary for her to have used a giant robot against a group of teenagers?

The gravity of it all came sinking in. This was her fault, not theirs. If she had listened, if she had only taken the time to understand and think rather than act, this whole situation could've been avoided.

"Aeros, what is it you used to say? That I'm a patriotic rule book-obsessed idiot? I'm starting to think you might have been right..." she muttered to herself.

* * *

Ruby stood atop a giant Lancer Queen summoned by Weiss, fluttering just above the waters of the ocean, approaching her at a steady pace was the Leviathan Grimm.

"Ruby this is crazy!" Weiss yelled back from the ship as they hovered near her.

"Crazy... but I have to try..."

"NO! YOU COULD LITERALLY DIE!" Yang argued back.

Ruby was not moved by her words of anguish, "Just... trust me. Get out of here before the monster goes after you instead of me and Weiss? Yang?"

"Yeah...?" they asked simultaneously.

"If anything happens to me..."

"NOPE! NOT HEARING IT! You are coming back alive you hear me?!" Yang yelled out of the ship as Maria drove off. The monster saw Ruby standing on the wasp and began its advance.

She took a few deep breaths and began chanting, to herself, the relic of knowledge swinging at her side, "Okay Ruby, you can do this... remember your training. Your desire to protect..." she closed her eyes and began concentrating on her visualizations. She imagined that feeling of loss of her mother, wanting to protect her friends from a dark future. It hurt, seeing the horrid images again, the pain and anguish were driving her mad.

She opened her eyes as the silver light began to glow slightly, flickering like a dying light bulb. It wasn't enough, the beast was fast approaching, her heart hammering against her chest as she found her anxiety rising, she was afraid, that her stupid idea wasn't going to work.

"Come on! Come on! Please..." she tried again, this time when she opened her eyes, it flickered for a moment, but the beast was already upon her. All Ruby could do was stare in horror as the beast reared its head, jaw open wide for a bite as it came down hard and fast.

She didn't want to die, she couldn't fail now, not when the people of Argus were depending on her, so she did the one thing that came to mind at that moment, closing her eyes she inhaled, "JINN!" she called out.

Time slowed to a complete stop as Ruby peeled open her lids to see that the beast had frozen, its mouth mere inches from her face, seconds from closing down on her. The blue misty form of Jinn materialized onto view as the large woman floated next to Ruby, "What is it you wish to ask?"

Ruby faltered, "I-I'm sorry Jinn, I don't have a question for you... I just... needed time..."

The celestial being regarded her curiously, then saw the obvious massive creature towering above them. "Oh, dear... I see... I will overlook it this time... but you are never to summon me again without having a question..." Jinn warned.

Ruby cursed under her breath, "I'm sorry.. I really am..." she then began to concentrate again, "Please... work... please!"

Jinn saw her struggling and felt sympathy for the poor girl. Perhaps she had spent too long in the relic, and she was becoming soft, or perhaps it was because she genuinely admired the smaller girl's courage, she spoke, "A piece of advice, free of charge. Pain is not always the right way to go."

Ruby was struck for a moment, standing stock still as she remembered the words Nova told her before they started their mission, "The desire to protect a brighter future..." she mouthed quietly. Digging into her mind she began to push past the dark imagery she'd been focused on, and think of the future. She slowly began to manifest it, a world where they would all be able to live peacefully.

No fighting, no Grimm, just them, living out their lives without having to worry. She saw her dad and sister back at Patch, cooking dinner and laughing together, she saw her team sitting in the living room sharing smiles and stories. Curiously enough, on the living room rug next to Zwei were four children, each sporting familiar looks and around the same age, barely toddlers.  
Then she saw Nova, standing on the staircase, hand in hand with a little person, the features were blurred in her mind but she felt, a connection to them. Her mind was filled with joy and wonder, as she realized she wanted nothing more in the world than to see that future become a reality.

The reaper found her hands drifting to her necklace, clasping around the gem as silver light began to radiate off of her.

"Jinn... I'm ready. You can go now..." she said with confidence, no hint of hesitation in her voice.

The genie woman regarded her with interest, "So... you really have been chosen..."

Ruby didn't fully register her words as she was too focused on keeping that feeling inside her.

When the timestop dropped, Silver Light radiated from her entire body, as if her Aura itself was manifesting it. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing, even the monster as when the light came into contact with its body it shut its jaws and reeled back.

Even the team on the beach stopped fighting momentarily to see Ruby, standing onto the Lancer, her eyes glowing bright silver as the light radiated off of her. The crystal in Ruby's hands began to hum and suddenly she saw her cloak turn from bright red to pure silver-white.

A cloak of pure silver light enveloped her original one, the hood covering her head as it the light shot forth in a dazzling explosion. Every Grimm caught in the burst of light was instantly vaporized with white light and the Leviathan class Grimm, try as it did to avoid the blast, was frozen in stone.

"HOLY SHIT SHE DID IT!" Yang yelled from the ship as cheers of victory erupted all around.

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as the silver cloak dissipated into thin air, leaving her with her original red hood in its place. The relief was short-lived however as the stone petrification of the beast began to crumble bit by bit. The leviathan wasn't dead.

All hope would have been lost if, at that moment, the mech that was thought to be inoperational came striding across the ocean, wielding only a drill arm. Caroline's voice echoed over the radio, "FEEL THE MIGHT OF THE ATLAS MILITARY!" she yelled as she thrust the drill into the stone Grimm, crumbling it to dust.

It was finally over, the crisis was done.

* * *

Nova and the others were celebrating with victory hugs on the beach, the sun beginning to set on the horizon as the light of the world became a comfortable orange.

"Pyrrha, so you got your memories back huh?" Nova said approaching her.

The red-haired girl smirked, "Yeah, and I remember you taking a shot that was meant for me... thank you..." she held out her hand for a handshake.

Nova shot her a goofy smile, and slapped her hand, "I'd do it again too!" and embraced her in a tight hug, "Glad to have you back Pyrrha."

She was thrown off guard since she didn't think she was close enough to Nova to warrant such affection. He definitely seemed different from the last she remembered, but... a lot did happen between the Fall of Beacon and now, so she just accepted it.

The airship finally arrived on the beach with Ruby stepping out of the aircraft first, only to be tackled by Nova, "For the love of all that is good, Ruby Rose you insane, absolutely crazy, reckless maniac. Of all the goddamned plans..."

She rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile, "Well it seemed like a good idea at the time... and it worked!"

"Thank god it did or I wouldn't be able to do this..." he scooped her up in his arms and planted a firm kiss on her lips, dazing the hell out of her. "You were incredible out there red, but please don't do that again..."

"No promises," she stuck her tongue out at him. She then looked around and spotted Pyrrha who waved calmly. "PYRRHA!" Ruby then barrelled into the girl with a petal burst hug assault causing everyone to burst out in laughter.

It was then that Cordovin arrived on the beach from an airship, cutting their joyous celebration short.

"You're not going to arrest us now are you...?" Ruby asked meekly.

Cordovin held a stern gaze, "For everything that you just did? Violating several laws, stealing an Atlas ship, lying to an officer, destroying precious military equipment, and evading capture... I should very well have you all arrested right here!" she said scaring them all, only for her to follow up with a heavy sigh, "But I won't. See I don't have the authority to grant you safe passage to Atlas but... if by chance in all this chaos, a ship were to mysteriously disappear and head for Atlas well... we would be powerless to stop it."

Everyone's eyes widened at the implied statement. She was letting them go.

"You know for a stuck up bitch, you really do know when to do the right thing, Caroline," Maria said from the ship.

Cordovin's left eye twitched, "Just leave before I change my mind! And YOU CALAVERA! DON'T EVER COME BACK HERE OR I WILL ARREST YOU!"

Maria just cackled madly from the cockpit, "My sister sends her regards!"

They began packing up their equipment on the airship, when Nova noticed Jaune hanging back.

The blonde was holding Pyrrha's hands in his, Nova could see clearly on his face that Jaune didn't want to leave her. He knew, that if it was him in that position, he wouldn't want to leave either, especially after they were just reunited.

"Pyrrha would you like to come with us? I mean... it's not just me..." he pointed to the extremely giddy Nora sitting in the ship throwing thumbs up.

The red-head looked tempted, one could see the yearning in her eyes, but she shook her head, "With the Atlas military being down, Argus, my home, needs as much help as it can get."

Nova looked between them and he realized that they needed some time together so he looked Jaune in the eye, "Jaune, you don't have to come with us. You can stay here with Pyrrha, I know... that if that was Ruby and I was in your position, I wouldn't want to leave either. No one on the team would think less of you for wanting to stay."

The Arc boy looked at him with conflicted eyes, "I can't abandon our mission... not when we've come so far..."

"You say that, but your heart wants to stay, we take off in five minutes, take your time."

Once Nova was back on the ship, Jaune turned back to Pyrrha, and she held a knowing look on her face, "Go, Jaune, you don't need to stay with me either, I can handle myself."

Jaune looked down, "Yeah but... I don't want to be without you... I lost you once, and I don't wanna be away from you again..." he leaned forward and rested his head on her shoulders, savouring every moment they still had together.

"You _could _stay with me, we'd spend every day together, fix up the place, go on a few dates, maybe... other things in between," she said to which Jaune turned bright pink, "You could live the quiet life with your sisters and we'd be happy..."

"That does sound nice..." Jaune started but she interrupted him.

"But... you and I both know it won't happen that way. You'd spend every day worrying about them, that if something went wrong and you weren't there to help, you'd blame yourself, and ontop of it all, you're not the type of person to just abandon something you started. Face it, the choice has already been made for you." she finished for him.

Jaune sighed heavily, slowly raised his head, and kissed her tenderly on the lips, "I promise you, the minute we're done... I'll come find you..."

Pyrrha giggled, "Or, I could come find you huh? Call me when you get the chance alright?"

The two shared one final kiss before they parted ways, both wishing in their heart to join the other

* * *

**Yes, this was a lot, and it did take forever to right which I apologize for...again. I have a metric ton of assignments this week, again, but I'll be damned if I don't write a chapter for Halloween. Peace out guys.**

**Also if there are any suggestions on how to improve this chapter, I'd gladly take it. I need to adjust this at some point but I'm in a position where I neither have the luxury of time nor brain power to see it.**


	64. Chapter 64: Atlas and Mantle

**I wanna apologize for this being so late, but meh, pretty sure you guys know how I am by now.**

**Also thanks for the kind words lukienthebronzeknight and Astray-Tech and Legoupman for the understanding. I actually did get sick after staying awake for forty-eight hours to do my assignments. After which I had an exam the next day, AND I had to do prep work for another group project on the Thursday, and study for a quiz that I did yesterday. I feel like most of these days I'm running on fumes.**

* * *

**Chapter 64: Atlas and Birthdays**

* * *

The ship cruised through the dark skies over Atlas territory, fast approaching the city. As the vessel broke through the cloud cover they saw, hovering over a deep pit like a floating island, a majestic, breath-taking sight that could only be seen from the airship, the pristine metropolis of Atlas, and below it, Mantle.

Atlas was like a finely crafted, clean, ideal metropolitan city, with advanced technologies and lights galore, while Mantle looked like a grimy slum, bleak and dirty with pollution from the various mines clouding its atmosphere. The smog that hovered over Mantle hung low so it never broke through to Atlas, much to their people's delight.

"Everyone, I present to you… Atlas," Weiss said almost unwillingly, as she gestured toward her home city.

"And below it… Mantle," Blake finished for her.

Ruby gasped audibly, "That's Mantle?! People actually _live _down there?!"

Blake nodded silently, "Yeah… well the smog doesn't float up, the people of Atlas, the only ones with the ability to clean it, aren't affected. If they aren't affected, they won't care."

"That's horrible…" Hex said, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Yeah but… you gotta admit, the view's pretty sweet." Nitro pointed out, as they all drank in the majesty of Atlas.

Suddenly there was a call on the radio, "Manta 5-1, this is Atlas base. We have your pass-code, proceed to dock bay Omega-12, a security team will meet you there," a woman said through the radio.

This made everyone confused, "Security team?" asked Luna, looking slightly nervous. As they broke through the last bit of cloud cover they saw what looked to be the entire Atlas military deployed.

Ships were cruising the airspace as if patrolling it. "What's going on here? This is highly unusual," Maria said as she and everyone else began feeling the creeping anxiety washing over them.

"I've never seen our forces deployed in mass like this. If security is this tight, and we land in a stolen ship, it's highly unlikely we'll even get anywhere near Ironwood. They'd toss us in jail and maybe even carry me back to my father…" Weiss said, with a downcast gaze.

The others all shared worried glances, "Weiss, we'd never let anything happen to you, if we have to take on the entire Atlas military to do it, we will." Nova walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. Ruby followed suit and roped an arm around the Schnee's right.

"You've got all of us backing you, there's no way in hell we'd let them get you." The red leader chirped.

Weiss shot them a warm smile, "Thanks guys, you're the only family I need." She leaned into Ruby's arm. She pulled out her scroll and turned to Maria, "Put some distance between us and the fleet, I got a plan," she then began to contact Winter.

Maria smirked, "You don't have to tell me twice."

They flew the ship low, falling out of the Atlas space and onto Mantle air, despite the pollution, the city still bore a clear sky. It was exactly how it looked from the air as it did close up. Bleak, monochrome buildings, unhappy people, and lots of billboards.

The ship passed a few towering corporate buildings with large electronic screens on their frontal faces, most of them had advertisements but suddenly they all flashed on with the face of the unmistakable General James Ironwood.

The crew gasped as they saw the man, his hair was greying, his face sunken in and his eyes bleary, no amount of make-up could hide the bags that hung so heavily from his lids.

"Many discard these uncertain times, and while for the rest for the world that may be the case… The Kingdom of Atlas will remain strong. That is my promise. I will do everything in my power to ensure that." The general said, with his hands behind his back and his white suit, bright against his darkening features.

"General Ironwood… he looks…" Blake started.

"Like me after a few days in the lab. Damnit James what have they done to you… or rather, what are you doing to yourself…?" Elain spoke up, she'd been mostly quiet for the ride with the occasional comment, but she did spend most of her time snoring away. Her unusual quietness didn't go unnoticed by the team, but no one bothered to question it.

Nova could tell, for some reason, his mother was nervous.

"Manta 5-1, we have noticed a detour in your flight path. You are to report to bay Omega-12." The woman said on the radio, but she went ignored it.

"Ugh damnit! I can't get through to Winter, if we could just talk to her…" Weiss cursed, trying to dial again.

Before she could, Nora pointed to the window, "Uhh… Weiss? Isn't that your sister?"

They all saw the billboard outside change to the visage of Winter Schnee, her eyes stern and cold as ever, "Remember, failure to comply with Atlas military rule is a punishable offense. If your area is in lockdown, remain there until it is lifted." She said with authority.

"Winter…" Weiss muttered under her breath.

" Ugh Weiss? I'm not sure that's a good idea anymore…" Qrow said with a disgruntled expression. He was no fan of Winter or at least he pretended to not be, and this wasn't giving him a good feeling.

"But she…"

"Look, no offence, but I'm not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood right now. This whole thing smells rotten."

"Alright so anyone else got a plan?" Jaune asked meekly.

"Get lost in Mantle, buy ourselves some time until we can figure things out," Nova said thoughtfully.

Blake and Ruby nodded, "Agreed, we need to find out more on what's happening here," Ruby said.

"I may have someone who can help…" Maria said.

"MANTA 5-1, REPORT TO…" the woman said again but Maria picked up the radio, "Geez lady, take a hint!"

* * *

They took a detour and parked the ship in an alley before quickly evacuating the shuttle. They made their way down the sidewalks of Mantle, bypassing various citizens all looking depressed and disgruntled. Even more prominent than the citizens were the sheer amount of Atlas soldiers, thankfully no one was the wiser, despite them all sticking out like sore thumbs.

"This whole city feels… wrong…" Ruby said shuddering.

"The people wanted a shining beacon of hope, and what better than a home in the clouds, Atlas. The people of Mantle work hard to one day buy their way up there, but many can't afford it. To them, it's just a golden dream." Weiss said somberly.

"Unless you're the ones looking up at it…" Blake said appalled as a truck with miners loaded in the back drove down the streets at a steady pace, all the people covered in some type of black tar.

On the streets were a pair of drunken men, swigging away at flasks that looked like Qrow's but a lot cheaper. As they passed them, one of the men stood up. He was wearing a thick winter coat and a newsboy cap. He'd heard what Blake said.

"What you don't like it here? Well, there's plenty of fuckin space out in the Tundra!" he slurred.

"Hey, we didn't mean…" Blake tried to apologize.

"ATLAS IS THE GREATEST KINGDOM IN THE FUCKING WORLD ALRIGHT?!"

Ruby looked livid, "Hey…!" she would've begun mouthing off when Blake stopped her.

"No… it's alright. We can't cause a scene." Blake said sombrely.

"The…The embargo has us in a rough patch but we'll make it through, you'll see!" the friend slurred also joining in.

"We stuck our necks out helping the other Kingdoms and all we get was distrust! BUNCH OF BULLSHIT I SAY! They could all fuck off!" the loud one yelled.

Blake bit down on her lip fighting the urge to speak up, "We apologize."

The man began to unscrew his flask, "Eh stupid Faunus like you wouldn't…" suddenly he was cut short as Luna and Weiss suddenly glowed with power, as the man was picked up, into the air and thrown into a nearby dumpster.

Everyone on the team looked at them. They just shrugged and fist-bumped each other, "Meh it was worth it." Luna said waving her hand dismissively.

Before commotion could properly start, they booked it, running away from the scene before the soldiers could arrive to find out what was happening. If they stayed, questions would've been waved and it would've resulted in their instant arrest.

* * *

After a few minutes of continued walking, the team came across a strange-looking pharmacy, the doors were open and a warm, yellow light emanated from within. The place gave off a calm and inviting presence, as though saying all were welcome. A cheerful woman in miner uniform jogged out with a bandage over her right arm, a smile plastered on her face as she waved back at someone inside.

"Take care now! And watch out for any heavy lifting!" An amiable, gentle voice of an old man called back.

Maria calmly strutted in, leading the team.

The interior was brightly lit with bookshelves lining the walls, various charts and diagrams plastered on whatever free space was available. A desk sat at the corner of the room and behind it, a dark-skinned old man with a white beard and glasses perched, reading into a book. He wore a cream shirt with a red vest over it and khaki long pants.

"Hey old friend," Maria said as she approached the counter.

The man looked up from his book and regarded her, "Do I… know you…?"

"Well this is off to a great start," Ren said dryly as they all filtered in.

Maria tapped her eyes, "Mechanical optics? You tune them up for me every ten years or so?"

It took a moment before it finally registered, "OH MARIA! YES! Has it really been that long?!" he exclaimed.

"I know right? I age like fine wine. How've you been?" she said looking rather giddy, which was strange for her.

"Oh you know the same old, what about you? How come you're so late?"

"You wouldn't believe the drama I went through to get here. I would've been in sooner if I hadn't met these jokers." She pointed to the team.

"Um… are you going to introduce us?" Jaune asked, scratching his head.

"Sorry I didn't think I needed to introduce one of Atlas' greatest minds," Maria said smiling.

"Huh? In a place like this?" Weiss asked as she said that a panel from the ceiling fell onto the floor proving her point.

"He likes to keep a low profile, something I realize you lot don't have the slightest clue how to do."

The man chuckled, "It's alright Maria, you guys can call me Pietro."

"Don't sell yourself short. This man is a genius and has the biggest heart. He's down here helping people when he's not up there leading the future of Atlas, along with Ironwood," Maria praised him, which alarmed them to no end. Maria didn't praise anyone. Ever.

"I just like to give back to the people, plus it gives me time to have a little fun every now and then. Saves me from that stuffy place up there." He pointed upward, gesturing to Atlas.

Elain was the first to burst forth from behind the group, her eyes gleaming with a fire that only came out when she was working on something she enjoyed, even Nova was a little unnerved by his mother's sudden vigour, "Pietro? As in _the _Dr. Pietro Polendina?! The one who invented the first Atlas mainframe? The one who headlined the market with affordable bionic limbs?!"

Pietro scratched the side of his face in embarrassment, "That I am, though headlining is a bit of an overstatement..."

"Are you kidding me?! I am such a huge fan! Your earliest inventions on nerve responsive biometrics were what inspired me to pursue a career as a medical scientist! My name's Dr. Elain Flareheart, it's an absolute honor to meet you!" The wolf Faunus said scrambling forward and vigorously shaking his hand.

Pietro just laughed awkwardly, "I'm glad to meet a fan, didn't think I had any..."

"We were hoping you could help us? We need to talk to Ironwood." Yang said coming forward, she didn't want to ruin the moment but they were pressed for time.

Pietro stroked his beard, "That's going to be quite difficult. Since the Fall of Beacon, Atlas has been in a tough spot, losing the faith of the other kingdoms didn't help much either. Ironwood's been keeping a tight lockdown on everything. It's to make us as safe as possible but it's put major restrictions on the citizens, especially Mantle, and a lot of people are suffering down here because of it."

"What about Winter Schnee? You know anything about her?" Weiss asked feverishly.

Pietro shook his head, "She's been assisting the good General with everything. It's hard to trust anyone when our own security was hacked. To do that it would've had to be a genius or someone on the inside. Ironwood thinks it might be both… wait a minute… you're Weiss Schnee!" he exclaimed, making everyone in the room flinch.

He then noticed Yang's arm, and gasped audibly, "You! You painted it!"

Yang tilted her head confused, "Excuse me?"

He spun around, staring at the people before him, noticing the shining silver-haired dragons, "Oh my word… YOU'RE TEAM ASHNRWBY!"

"You know us, sir?" Nova asked, slightly alarmed.

"Well of course I do! My daughter has told me so much about you!" Pietro began. He came out from behind his desk and they all saw that he wasn't walking, but rather riding a mechanical chair with moving legs. It was like a spider.

"You're daughter…?" Ruby asked, but was interrupted when the sound of a loud blaring alarm was heard. It was like an air-raid horn, blasting through the air.

"GET OUT OF THE STREETS! GRIMM ARE ATTACKING!" someone said from outside.

* * *

The team instantly bolted out of the door and were met with the sight of running people and Atlas soldiers fending off packs of Beowolves.

Grimm, in the city, it wasn't something that was generally common. Most cities had borders to protect them, but Mantle was pretty open to the tundra that surrounded it. Still, Grimm tended to avoid densely populated areas like this, so an outright assault was strange.

Nova held them back for a moment, "Wait, maybe the authorities can handle this? If we draw attention now we're done for..."

Ruby flinched, clenching her hands around her weapon still sheathed, "But... fine..."

They observed the soldiers firing their rifles, killing a few Grimm but with their rate of fire and the number of monsters, they were about to be quickly overwhelmed, noticing this, Nova clicked his tongue, "Fuck it, go wild guys, they need help."

"The Grimm are becoming bolder… more aggressive…" Hex muttered. She and Blake still hadn't told the others about what happened at the Argus communications relay.

The team wasted no time, breaking off to take out the Grimm that seemed to be overwhelming the soldiers.

It wasn't proving to be much of a challenge, as the team easily cut through them, but they had to hold back quite a bit. If they used the full force of their power on Grimm, it wouldn't just be a waste, they'd be attracting more attention than they needed, so they stuck to old-fashioned blades and guns.

They were just about done with the pack when more suddenly began to sprout out of seemingly nowhere.

"Ugh do these things ever get tired of dying?" Nitro complained as he punched a Beowolf so hard it flew back, crashing into three of its kind and all of them disintegrating into black mist.

Nova drew Helios and cut through a line of Grimm with a single slash, before sheathing his weapon, "They just rush in and die with no hesitation. Makes me wonder why Salem doesn't send more of those hyper Grimm we fought at the lake. They seemed less, boring."

"Don't jinx it now, I for one like cutting down fodder," Weiss said as she stabbed two Beowolves with one strike.

"These kids are impressive," Pietro whispered to Maria as they hugged the pharmacy door, staying out of the line of fire with Elain.

"Meh, I was better in my day." The older woman shrugged.

Suddenly as they were cutting down the monsters, two green lasers shot out of the sky, evaporating a hoard of the beasts instantly.

"What the…?" Yang questioned as suddenly the sound of roaring jets were heard.

"AH, There she is, my daughter! Sweetie why don't you come to say hi to your friends!" Pietro called out to the sky.

They all looked toward the person of interest and instantly shock formed on the faces of team ASHNRWBY. Ruby's eyes went wide as she couldn't believe what she was seeing, it was like watching a ghost walk the earth with her own eyes.

Landing calmly on the ground was the unmistakable figure of Penny Polendina. She was wearing pretty much the same thing they saw her in the last time, except her skirt was darker and her hair was much longer, and fluffier, extending to her middle back rather than her shoulders as before.

Penny's eyes landed on Ruby and they swore they saw her irises widen as well.

There was a brief moment of tense joy before Penny got down on her knees, leaving Ruby confused. Confusion slowly morphed into horror as she saw Penny take up a running start pose.

"Sal…" Penny started.

"Oh no…" Ruby mouthed.

"U…"

Ruby began frantically waving her arms, "NO! NO WAIT!"

"TATIONS!" Penny finished, propelling herself forward like a rocket, crashing into Ruby with a tight hug, skating them across the asphalt, and Ruby possibly taking a sizeable hit to her Aura levels, causing the rest of them to wince.

Once the red leader recovered, Nova walked over and helped her up.

"Penny! I thought… we thought…"

"She was dead?" Pietro finished for them. "In a manner of speaking she was, her core survived thankfully. It took me a while but I was able to restore her, and she's better than ever."

"Oh! I missed you guys so much!" Penny wrapped her arms around Nova and Ruby, "I have so much to talk about!"

"Penny's been quite busy these past few months," Pietro explained.

"Yup! I'm now the official protector of the people! I can't wait to hang out with you again," the android chirped.

"Us too! I mean, it's really good to see you again Penny." Nova said with a warm smile. He wasn't directly friends with her as Ruby was, but he regarded her as a close ally, someone he cared for because Ruby cared for her.

"Mr. Dragon I see you're looking better! Or... Miss Dragon?" Penny titled her head as she regarded Nova.

Ruby and Nova both blinked, "How can you…?" the dragon was confused as to how she could tell he was both when his body was currently male.

"Your DNA composition is wildly erratic, comprising of an extremely complex combination of…" Penny began to ramble.

"Nevermind, forget I asked," Nova said with his sweat dropping.

The air-raid sounded again, this time from far away, "That's my call, gotta go! I'll catch up with you guys later BYE!"

"PENNY WAIT!" Ruby tried to stop her but she was already gone.

Pietro chuckled, "Look at her go. I'm so proud of her… come on, you all have some important matters to discuss with me."

They were about to walk off when, out of nowhere, the bare brief sensation that lasted a millisecond prickled the back of everyone's necks. At first, they disregarded it as the Grimm from earlier, expecting something to pop out, but they were blindsided by the sound of whirling wires.

"GET DOW-!" Nova called out but it was too late. Metal bolas flew out from the shadows wrapping around everyone, knocking them all to the floor one by one.

It wasn't difficult to break out off, Yang and Nova could brute force or melt it, Luna could've broken it with her powers but they didn't need to.

As they were about to free themselves from their wire-trapped restraints, five people emerged from the shadows of a nearby alleyway.

A tall, well-built man with a clean-cut, he looked like the definition of a boy scout as an adult, on his uniform was a green four-leafed clover pin. Following this man was a canine Faunus, probably wolf from what Elain could tell, he had dark blue hair and dark skin, behind him stood a thin and extremely pale man with a bald head. This pale man had many piercings on his face and his gaze was something that warranted distrust, he reminded Ruby of a snake for some reason.

The last two individuals were an extremely tall tan woman with heavily built muscles and brown hair, and a shorter girl around Ruby's height with a shaven had save for blonde mohawk, she somewhat reminded Nitro of a rabbit, though he wasn't sure why.

They ignored any struggling cries from the team as only the armed combatants of Team ASHNRWBYJNR were shoveled into an Atlas prisoner transport ship, their weapons were seized and so was the relic.

* * *

"Just great, we're here for what, not even a full two hours and we're already arrested!" Weiss hissed. They were sitting side by side in the vehicle, their hands bound by cuffs.

"Well, who would've expected the fucking black ops squad to come barging outta nowhere and take us out!" Hex blurted clenching her fists.

"Tell us again why we aren't just breaking outta these things and commandeering this ship?" Yang asked Nova, after which the two drivers looked back, "HUH?!". Yang quickly corrected, "N-Not that we could…?"

Nova leaned close so the escorts couldn't hear, "Because one, those guys seemed kinda strong and fighting against Atlas military forces are probably not in our best interest. We'd be labeled as outright criminals or worse. Secondly, even if we _did _break out, I doubt we'd be able to escape unscathed, and we'd be on the run for god knows how long..."

Everyone mouthed an 'O'.

"Who were those guys anyway?" Ruby asked, referring to their captors previously, "They were good."

"What you don't know who the Ace-Ops are?" A male voice said drawing their attention to a rather uninteresting man sitting with them, reminding them they weren't the only prisoners.

"The who?" Nora asked.

"The Ace-Ops duh, only the best, most elite Huntsmen in all of Atlas, not to mention Ironwood's personal lapdogs?" the man said again.

"Nope never heard of 'em," Blake said.

"Hmph, what are you, tourists?"

"Why were you arrested exactly?" Weiss asked confused as to why an annoying man was here.

"I was arrested for speaking out against Atlas' exploitation of the people of Mantle," He said proudly.

"You threw a brick at our ship," one of the drivers responded dryly, to which the team just shot him irritated expressions.

"BUT IT GOT YOUR ATTENTION! ANYTHING TO MAKE YOU TALK ABOUT OUR CAUSE!"

"Oh boy…"

* * *

The ship cruised through the cloudless Mantle air, past the pollution, and into the territory of the shining city of Atlas

"Wait this isn't the police station…" the man said warily, "This is…"

"Atlas Academy," Weiss finished for him.

He looked back in wonder, "Just who are you, people…?"

"The less you know the better," Nova said grimly.

The team was escorted off the ship, everyone filed into the academy with their hands still bound by the wire hand-cuffs. They were surprisingly sturdy. Yang was prepared to brute-force her way out of them but now that she was standing upright, she could gauge that the cuffs would need at least 100% Aura augmentation to her fists.

They were escorted by two armed guards through the grey, "I seriously hope getting arrested doesn't affect my future eligibility for a certificate of good character," Nitro joked lightly, though the atmosphere felt slightly heavy.

It was a shot in the dark by Nova, he was thirty-percent sure they were being brought to a council to stand trial for stealing an Atlas airship, and fifty-percent sure they were being taken to Ironwood. The other twenty-percent was that they'd be taken to Winter, either way, it was a risk he was taking for his team.

After about thirty seconds of walking through the halls of Atlas Academy, Nova's fears were somewhat abated as curiously enough, his Faunus hearing picked up the distant conversing of Ironwood and Winter. They were right around the corner if he were to judge. Blake's ears were also twitching so he was sure of it now.

As if fate played its hand, at that very moment, Ironwood, Winter, and Penny rounded the corner just as the team was escorted inside. The former of the three ignored the soldiers but the latter spotted them distinctly, "Oh good! You're here!" Penny chirped, causing Ironwood and Winter to turn around.

Ironwood's eyes met the team's and his widened with surprise. Weiss stepped forward from behind Ruby, "Winter…?" she called out meekly.

The woman in question froze as she spotted her sister.

"Uh… anyone wanna help us with these…?" Nora asked raising her cuffed hands.

Winter glared sternly at a guard, "You have ten seconds to remove those things or I will begin hurting you…"

"UH YES MA'AM!" the soldier saluted before rushing to un-cuff everyone.

Once they were freed, Nova and Ruby approached the front, "This is one hell of a warm greeting James," Nova said with a devious smile.

Winter and Ironwood both almost choked on air, "YOU! You're alive?!" Ironwood exclaimed, losing his composure.

Nova shrugged and gave them a cocky grin, "Hey what can I say? I'm a hard man to take down."

Ironwood coughed into his fist, "Ahem, yes of course… come with us… we have much to discuss," he gestured toward the entrance to the academy.

* * *

Inside Ironwood's office was very open, large floor space with the Atlas crest tiled in a circle around what was reminiscent of a glyph. At the back of the room was not a wall, but a large glass window, a single desk sitting on an elevated platform just in front of it.

James sat at the desk with Penny and Winter on either side of him.

"It's good to see you all again," Ironwood said with a gentle expression, his tired eyes, and sunken cheeks, it was hard for him to hide the relief on his face. To team ASHNRWBY who knew him previously, it was like looking at a completely different person. "Especially you, Prince Flareheart," he gestured to Nova who shuddered at being called 'Prince'. He knew Ironwood was just trying to extend his courtesy but, it didn't really make him feel any better about it.

"Please… just call me Nova, James. After all, we've been through, pretty sure we can drop the formalities, or would you have me call you 'General Ironwood'." Nova said with air quotes.

Winter looked slightly peeved, "That would be preferred-" she was silenced by James.

"Calm down Winter. He's right, if any of them were to call me by my role at this point it'd be strange. They earned the right to be treated as equals, especially after what they did at the Fall of Beacon." He said.

"You say it's good to see us, but our welcome party could've been… better?" Yang pointed out, still rubbing her wrists from where the cuffs were.

"My apologies, with everything that's been going on, receiving word that an unaccounted ship heading for us, we assumed it was stolen." Ironwood explained.

Ruby began to chuckle nervously, "Stolen? PFfftt… what…"

"We totally stole it," Nova said plainly.

Winter was furious, to say the least.

"YOU DID WHAT?! YOU STOLE AN ATLAS MILITARY SHIP?! YOU COULD'VE BEEN SHOT DOWN! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RECKLESS AND IRRESPONSI-" Winter was cut off when Weiss ran up and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry I worried you… but, we had good reason," Weiss said, holding onto her sister. Winter sighed and hugged back, "I'm sure you did…"

"AND YOU!" she started again.

"Oh boy…." Nora groaned.

"QROW! How the hell could you let them go through with something so reckless?!"

Qrow shrugged, "Me? Stop them?! What are you crazy? You try talking them out of it when they've set their sights on something. I'm lucky to be alive!"

Nova threw a thumb at him, "He's right, I did kick his ass,"

"No you didn't, I totally…"

"Kids please," Winter seethed, "We have important issues to discuss."

Qrow nodded, "Exactly, some which require, discretion?" he looked at Ironwood.

"You mean about the Maidens?" Penny prompted curiously.

"Or the relics?" Winter followed suit.

Qrow almost choked, "YOU TOLD THEM?!"

"I should be saying the same thing to you," Ironwood gestured toward the teenagers who rubbed their heads embarrassed. "Ozpin kept things a secret because he thought it was beneficial for him, but, he's gone now and I think it's time we…" he felt all of them suddenly grow quiet.

"What is it…?"

Oscar was nervously rubbing his arm, "Well… actually…"

"This kid is well… the next Ozpin," Qrow explained for him.

James instantly grew slightly happy, "Oz? I had no idea…" he was on one knee before Oscar, making the poor boy rather nervous.

"Not really. The truth is… he's not exactly here right now…" Oscar said shakily.

Ironwood blinked rapidly before standing up, "What…?"

"There was a train crash, we got derailed on our way to Argus and after some conflicts with Salem's forces, Oz went dark, we think it may have been head trauma, but…" Ruby started, she lied as easily as she breathed which was rare for her, Nova was genuinely impressed.

"That's not normal… well no matter. Until we can somehow get Oz back, we'll just have to operate as I planned." He looked concerned but not worried, as if he was almost grateful Ozpin wasn't back.

Nova looked between his team and then to Ruby, when their eyes met, they shared a silent conversation.

'_What should we do? You straight-up lied to him!' _ Nova said with his eyes.

Ruby shrugged and shook her head, '_What did you want me to do? Tell him outright?! BAD IDEA!'_

Nova rolled his eyes but then pinched the bridge of his nose, _'Fine, I see your point. We might not be able to trust him. Let's hear him out first'_

Ruby thought for a moment before nodding vigorously.

Nitro, Luna, and Weiss watched them with unimpressed looks. To them, Ruby and Nova were just subtly glancing and expressing to each other just out of Ironwood and Winter's view.

"Are they… talking to each other?" Luna asked tilting her head.

Nitro fake gagged, "If they weren't couple goals already, they can now reach each other's minds…"

Weiss rubbed her temples, "I simultaneously feel jealous and the urge to strangle them, anyone else?"

Luna and Nitro both raised their hands. Penny's also shot up, "I don't know why we're raising hands but this is fun!" she chirped.

They went ignored.

Ironwood turned to them after walking to his desk and picking up a remote. He then clicked a button and the glass window-wall shrouded with a cover and the room went dark, the center glyph opened to reveal a table, with a holographic projection of what appeared to be Amenity Arena.

"Do you all know what this is?" Ironwood asked.

"Amnity…Colosseum?" Hex prompted, "But I thought it was destroyed when Beacon fell?"

"Correct, but what you're looking at isn't just Amity Colosseum, it's also…" the hologram shifted to zoom in on the top where a long antenna stuck out.

"A CCT TOWER?!" Hex gasped.

"Exactly, well done Miss Zephyr, forgive me I don't know your first name."

"Hex."

"Miss Hex, what you're seeing is a new and improved Amity Tower. With this tower launched into the atmosphere, not only will we be reconnecting the Four Kingdoms by its symbol of peace, but also re-establishing cross-continental communication." Ironwood explained.

Qrow gaped in awe upon realizing the implications of this, "James this is, incredible… but for something of this size to me made…"

Ironwood chuckled, "Oh it's already _been _made. All that's left is to launch it, but to do that we need the council's permission as well as preparing the launch site. We need to get a few more things up and running before we can establish a launch."

"This is all well and good but… you don't need the entire military for this. What you're doing, it's affecting the people of Mantle, they're paying the price for this military force." Yang said.

Ironwood sighed, "A regretful side-effect, but the military is needed for what's to come after it's launched." He turned to them and folded his arms behind his back, "With the communications working again, I plan to relay a message to the entire world of Remnant, to let everyone know about… Salem, and the truth."

Qrow almost fell over in surprise, "James! You can't be serious! Oz spent his whole life, many lives, to protect this secret. If the people found out it'd cause intense panic."

"And brings more Grimm! Everything would fall apart!" Weiss exclaimed. It made no sense to her why Ironwood would want to encourage something like that, but on the other hand, she was slightly rooting for the idea of spreading the information.

"Which is why Atlas is fully prepared to offer its military support. It's time the people knew, the first step to overcoming our enemy is to band together and unite." He clicked off the hologram. "I don't expect you to…"

"How can we help?" Ruby asked quickly, with a strong gaze.

Everyone turned to her so she sighed, "The general is right. We need to unite and stand against Salem, if we remain divided, if the people remain in the dark, then when everything falls, it'll be worse than where it began."

There was an intense moment of pause before Nova inhaled sharply and walked up to her side, and took her hand in his, "If that's what you think is best, then it's what we're going to do to," he turned to Ironwood. "Talk to me James, what do you need our team to do?"

Ironwood smiled, "Well, for starters, how about getting you guys up to par huh? We'll have the Ace-Ops train you, and help you finish what you started at Beacon."

"The..Ace-Ops?" Blake looked slightly irked.

Penny glomped Ruby, "OH THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN! I'll show you around campus!" she extended her arms and grabbed the closest three people, which happened to be Nova, Weiss, and Luna, into a group hug, much to their distress.

Ozpin reached under his desk and pulled out the Relic of Knowledge which had been confiscated previously, "As a sign of trust, you can have this back," he said handing it over to Ruby.

"Sir? Why..." Ruby was confused as to why Ironwood was just handing a teenager back one of the most powerful artifacts in all of Remnant.

"Because I have full faith in you all. You've protected it thus far, and so I believe it belongs to you know," he affirmed, folding his arms.

Nova was surprised, he hadn't expected the general to outright place his full faith in them, given the circumstances. He'd assumed hostility and mistrust, perhaps even a few lies, but the General held nothing back from them... maybe it was them growing accustomed to Ozpin, but having genuine faith placed in you was something foreign.

* * *

The team was escorted into the main room where they came face to face with the very same people who captured them previously, and an extra plus two very familiar faces.

Next to the Ace-ops, clad in similar uniforms, were a distinctly familiar Red-Macaw Faunus and A black-haired Fox Faunus.

Ragnar Faux, with his bright, pink eyes and Krome with his scarlet red wings, chatting away with the Ace-Ops, lightly laughing with the large woman and Wolf-man.

Ironwood coughed into his fist, "Ahem," he said getting the attention of the other party in the room. The Ace-Ops instantly stood at attention facing the general, "I would like to introduce you all to our new comrades, they were students of Beacon who fought bravely at the Fall, and some of the very few people in the world I would place my whole-hearted trust in. They may still be kids, but they are some of the brightest and finest Huntsmen and Huntresses I know, even if they still have a lot to learn." He stepped to the side and gestured to the team.

Ruby waved nervously while Yang folded her arms looking rather annoyed. Nova elbowed Ruby for her attention so she would stop waving and actually greet their new allies.

Before they could, however, Krome yelled out, "OH! MY! GOD! IT'S YOU!"

All eyes turned to him and Ragnar, and it barely took a moment before Nitro's eyes widened in surprise, "KROME?! RAGNAR?! HOLY SHIT!" the red-head said zipping past his team and meeting the two, giving them both big hugs.

"I thought we'd never see you guys again!" Ragnar exclaimed, taking a light bow, much to the Ace-Ops surprise, as he approached Nova, the latter of whom just chuckled nervously.

"You thought that? Dude, after it all went to shit, we weren't even sure what to do with our lives… we would've looked for you but… with everything going on…" Hex said with a sad smile as she remembered what happened back then, the painful memories that were resurfacing.

"You know each other?" Ironwood asked confused, looking between team ASHN and the two junior Ace-Ops.

"Yes sir, it'll be a pleasure working with them again," Ragnar said with a chirp.

"Um, General Ironwood sir, are you going to introduce us…?" the male wolf-Faunus asked.

Ironwood nodded, "Students of Beacon, meet the Ace-Ops, Clover, Vine, Elm, Harriet, and Marrow," he introduced them in order, of the boy-scout leader, the pale man, muscular woman short girl, and Faunus man.

Clover walked up to meet them, "A pleasure to meet you, sorry for uh… before, just doing our job you know?" he apologized with a smile that looked like it made Krome swoon.

"I assume you're the leader?" he asked, extending a hand to Nova who took it and instantly put strength behind it, making Clover respond by resisting his strength, the veins on his hand becoming more defined from the force he was resisting.

"Actually, we're both leaders of this team," Nova responded with a dangerously cheerful smile and nodding his head to Ruby. "Name's Nova Flareheart, and No hard feelings," Nova said genuinely releasing his firm grip.

Clover felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his face, he wasn't sure why but he got the feeling that this kid didn't take kindly to their previous encounter. He extended his hand to Ruby who shook it once, "Nice to meet you, I'm Ruby Rose, I hope we can get along," she said with genuine kindness.

Clover sighed with slight relief, at least someone on that team was sane.

"Ace-Ops, you will be in charge of training them up to standard, they might've made it this far but they never got to finish their Beacon training," Winter instructed sternly.

"We're training rookies? Huh, and I thought these two were a handful…" Marrow said glancing at Ragnar and Krome.

Qrow smiled, "Don't underestimate them, there are things they can do that would probably blow your minds," he said before stepping away from them, "James, I'll be heading to take a snooze," he waved.

"But you don't even know where…" Winter tried but he was already gone, making the elder Schnee pinch the bridge of her nose, "That man…"

"No Qrow's got the right idea… I think they all deserve some rest after what they've been through. Penny will show you to your quarters. You begin the day after tomorrow." Ironwood said with a tired gaze, thinking that he himself also needed some sleep.

"James, we left…" Nova started, referring to his mother and Maria who were left back in Mantle when they were captured.

"The old woman and your mother? Yes, I just received word from Pietro, the situation has been explained and arrangements will be made," Winter said as she tapped on her scroll. "For now just get some rest."

Nova scratched his cheek nervously, "Well there's that but you guys also seized our weapons?"

Weiss hugged Winter again, "Thanks, Winter."

The elder Schnee gave a rare smile and hugged her back, "Of course sister."

As Penny escorted the team, Nova waved back at Winter, "Yeah thanks Cousin!" which caused her to shake her head, flabbergasted.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

The teams were given separate living quarters, with Oscar bunking with JNR, much to their disappointment. It would be hard getting used to sleeping away from their significant others in the case of Nova, Ruby, Yang, and Hex but the accommodations were flexible...sort of. Ruby had moved inside her room with her team and just before Yang and Weiss could follow her in, Nova pulled them aside.

"What?" Yang asked as they were now alone in the narrow corridor.

Nova looked around the doorframe to make sure Ruby wasn't listening, "Yang what time is it?"

Yang opened her scroll and checked, "About... ten o'clock?"

Nova sighed, "Okay good we have time I think... Weiss, what's a good restaurant, or something like that here in Atlas?"

Weiss blinked rapidly, "Huh?! What's this about?"

The dragon leader groaned, "Guys, I know things have been crazy but... what day is it?"

They both stared at him confused, "October 30th why?" Weiss responded.

Yang instantly paled as recognition dawned on her face, "Oh... my... god..."

Weiss was still confused, "What's so special about today?"

Nova shook his head, "Not today but tomorrow, October 31st, is Ruby's birthday!" he hissed in a whisper so no one could hear but them.

Weiss instantly pulled out her scroll and began scanning her contact list, "Okay Atlas has a nightlife so most places are still open even with the embargo..." she then found a number and took off around the corner to talk on the phone, while Nova and Yang began hatching plans.

Yang paled, "Oh please tell me you did not just say that..."

After a few moments, Ruby came out of the room, "Uh... guys? What's up? Why're you standing outside in the halls?"

Yang began frantically straightening herself, "Oh just um... Nova was showing me this funny cat video on his scroll...? Yeah, that's it!"

"OOOH I WANNA SEE!" her eyes gleamed.

Thankfully, the dragon did in fact have a few videos of cats doing cute things on his scroll downloaded, for his own enjoyment, so he showed her one, "OH IT SHHOO CUTE WITH ITS WIDDLE PAWS!" Ruby cooed as she observed a kitten lying on its back and slowly caressing the empty air with its paws.

Once it was done, Nova made his way to his room, which was next door to RWBY's, "I think I'm just gonna hit the hay, see you in the morning," he waved to Ruby who pouted at him leaving so soon, but she had to admit, even she was exhausted. She was pretty sure the moment she fell on a bed, she'd pass out.

* * *

Passing out was apparently not in the reaper's agenda as Ruby found herself staring up at the ceiling of their darkroom, clad in her pajamas as she hugged a pillow. Her eyes were in pain, her head was killing her, but she just couldn't sleep, something was missing and it was killing her inside.

"Ugh!" she let out a growl as she threw off her blankets and trudged to the door. Maybe splashing some water on her face and a walk down the halls would help her mind.

The moment she stepped out, however, she was met with a peculiar sight, as to her left, coming out of his own room, was none other than Nova Flareheart.

The two stared at each other in surprise for a moment before bursting out into a fit of quiet giggles, "Couldn't sleep either?" she asked.

Nova shook his head, "Yeah, the bed's fine but... something's just... missing... you know?"

"Something or someone?" she asked turning pink.

Nova rubbed his right arm with his left, "You caught me there. I don't think I can sleep without you next to me."

She smiled warmly, and walked up to him, taking his hands in hers, and resting her head against his forehead, "Me neither. Do you think we could get Ironwood to give us private rooms?" she asked quietly.

"You know he won't... that'd be unprofessional, of us and him."

"Yeah I know... but..."

"Wanna get late-night snacks instead? I memorized where the kitchen was when Penny was giving us a tour," he said with a smirk.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" Ruby asked teasingly.

"No, please do tell," he said smugly.

She just laughed and pushed him forward so he could lead the way.

* * *

The dormitory kitchen wasn't like Beacon's at all. It was almost futuristic with high-tech machines and electric stoves. Even the common fridge was massive enough to hold all kinds of goodies. On the other hand, similar to Beacon, the common room was connected to the kitchen so it wasn't all unfamiliar.

As Nova began whipping something up in the kitchen, Ruby found herself reclining on one of the plush sofas in the common room. It was a decently sized grey and blue room, much like the rest of the academy, with four three-seater sofas around a glass coffee table. There was a mounted Dust Display Television on the north wall and two potted trees in each corner. A large blue and white rug with the Atlas crest was laid out in the middle of the room.

"It almost feels like Beacon..." Ruby muttered to herself, "Almost..." memories of their time at the Academy came back to her. Those peaceful days of lazing around the dorm, playing video games with their friends, laughing with each other as they told stories. She missed those days when all she had to worry about was passing her next exam. This longing for them caused her to let out a loud sigh, a ghost of a frown playing on her lips when she remembered that things would never be like they used to.

They'd come so far, and so many things had happened, she was pretty sure that if she were to look at her past-self, from Beacon, she'd be unable to even recognize her.

"Ruby, are... you okay?" Nova asked as he came into the room. He set down their food on the coffee table and took a seat next to her on the sofa, sitting on the right between Ruby and the chair arm.

She wiped her eyes and turned to him, "Yeah... just remembering Beacon. I... really miss those days."

Nova's expression fell, as he too began to remember, but he quickly brightened it, "Well if you want to feel even more like Beacon..." he pointed to the coffee table, "TA-DAH!"

She looked over to see two plates of what appeared to be full stacks of chocolate-chip pancakes, and two mugs of hot chocolate, "WOW! They really had all the ingredients?!"

Nova smirked, "Right?! That fridge was so stocked it's stupid. Anyway, dig in, I learned the recipe from Nora so..."

Ruby stabbed her fork into the stack and took a solid bite, "MMM! ITSH SHOO GOOD!" she said with a full mouth, swallowing with glee.

"I'm glad you like it... where did the stack go?" he blinked and in that split second all the food was practically inhaled into the red reaper. She just gave him an embarrassed smile, "Heheee!"

They sat in silence for a bit as Nova finished off his food. Once he was done, Ruby scooted closer and leaned on his shoulder, wrapping her right arm around his left, entwining their fingers, "Thank you for this, it really did make me feel like we were back at Beacon. Things have changed, and it might not be the same academy, but we can still try to make it work," she nuzzled into his arm.

Nova smiled warmly and stroked her hair, "No thanks needed, I gotta treat you like the perfect queen you are every once in a while right?"

She giggled and slapped his arm lightly, "You always treat me like a queen, what makes today so special."

The dragon placed a hand under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his, "You really don't know?" he asked.

She hummed, "Is it like a holiday?"

He chuckled and leaned down, pressing his nose up to hers, "Happy birthday, Ruby," and he closed the gap, for a sweet, long kiss.

When they broke for air she smiled brightly, "I-Is it really today...?"

"Yeah, I could never forget, even if you paid me," he answered honestly, pulling her into a tight hug where she rested in his lap and leaned her head into the crook of his neck.

"Thanks for remembering, even when I forgot," she said with a cute yawn.

Nova just wrapped his arms securely around her as he leaned back, the two falling into a long sleep.

* * *

-**Atlas City-**

"Alright Ruby, it's your birthday so, where do you wanna go?" Nova asked as they paraded down the streets of Atlas city in broad daylight. According to Ironwood, they were allowed free-roam within the confines of the city, and Nova was thoroughly enjoying the opportunity, and from the look on Ruby's face, she was too.

The red leader smiled, "Let's just go for a walk? If we find somewhere fun then we'll just go there."

Atlas being the shining majesty in the sky lived up to its name entirely. Skyscrapers lined the city like pillars holding up the clouds, the air was clean and so were the streets. It was almost like a blemishless society, not even a piece of candy wrapping could be seen on the side-walks. On the surface, it seemed to be the embodiment of perfection, but Nova knew better.

He felt it in the eyes of the people as they walked through the bustling streets. Most of the citizens wore expensive or fashionable clothing, if he were to guess, he'd say the average person's underwear was more expensive than his whole suit of clothing combined.

Pompous people and fancy cars, luxurious clothes, and the self-important were what truly defined the city of Atlas. Ruby seemed to not notice the strange looks they were getting as she merrily walked down the concrete side-walk, swinging her arms as Nova was subject to carrying her shopping. They probably stuck out worse than sore thumbs since Faunus were extremely rare in Atlas, they'd not passed a single one since leaving Mantle. It wasn't that there _was _a no Faunus policy, just that most Faunus people despised Atlas because it symbolized everything they hated and that most were also too poor to afford the living expenses.

The red reaper wasn't usually one for shopping for clothing, or accessories like most people... no... these bags were loaded with various cases of Dust, ammunitions, gun polish, key-chains, and snacks. Anything she saw and liked, Nova bought because money didn't mean anything, not to him or her in their line of work. He figured he'd have to get legitimate pay at some point, but he didn't see himself burning through his ill-gotten gains anytime soon.

The idea that it was originally Jacques Schnee's money that was paying for all this made him chuckle. He'd never met the man in person, but from all the stories circulating, as well as from Weiss herself, he didn't feel a shred of guilt about spending the money... or having Hex plug them in for a few more dollars

Maybe one day he could use the money that was gained by the exploitation of the Faunus, and give back to the Faunus, though he wasn't sure how. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the feeling of his scroll vibrating in his pocket, on it was a message from Luna that read "Ready."

He quickly tapped out a response of "On our way."

"Hey, Nova?" Ruby called out as they supposedly aimlessly walked through the streets. In truth, Nova was subtly guiding them in the direction of the restaurant that Weiss booked.

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad we could spend today together. It's not the seventeenth birthday I imagined, but it's been wonderful. I'm just... never mind..." she said with the last part trailing off.

Nova flinched, "Nope! You don't get away with that. If something ain't perfect, I need to fix it. So, what do you need?"

"I just... I wish everyone was here to enjoy it with us," she said seemingly forlorn. She'd asked the others to come with her this morning, but they were all busy, and not one of them remembered what day it was. She didn't blame them with all the chaos of recent events, hell even she herself forgot, but it still stung a bit.

The dragon saw her crestfallen face and felt bad. It was technically his fault their friends were all busy, but Ruby would see why when they arrived... which was right now. Standing before them, a block ahead, was a quaint looking restaurant, It wasn't large like the multitudes that lined the tourist traps of the city, nor was it luxurious and plush like the town.

It was a simple one-floor building with sunny-yellow walls and a large double door at the front and cute windows with potted plants on the window-sills, Rose bushes lined the outside the building which occupied the street corner, giving it a natural, earthy feel, compared to the highly advanced city. On the front of the building, just above the doors which were on the corner of the street, was a sign that said 'The Bonfire'.

Nova took the lead, shifting all the shopping bags to his right hand and tugging Ruby with his left, "Come on, let's go grab a bite in there," he said pulling her toward it.

She blinked, rousing herself from her sadness, "Huh? Oh sure, why not, I'm getting hungry," she said, forcing a smile.

They opened the doors to find a cozy interior. Slightly dimmed warm lighting, caramel coloured flooring, and walls that matched the sunny exterior. There were several tables with joint seats, the types you'd find at a family restaurant, lining the wall opposite to what seemed to be a diner-style counter.

A singular woman stood at the entry-way inside, behind what appeared to be a wooden podium. She was wearing a black waitress uniform with a white undershirt over a black vest.

"Are we supposed to be in here? This place looks closed..." Ruby said as she looked around to see no sign of other customers.

Nova waved his hand dismissively, "Nah it's fine," he approached the lady and she regarded him, "Hi, we're here for the evening special?"

Ruby blinked in surprise. Why was Nova acting like he'd been here before?

The woman nodded firmly, "Of course! Right, this way sir," she said as she lead them off. Ruby just awkwardly followed, confused as to how Nova seemed to know this place.

The waitress sat them down at a large family table booth that seemed to have been specially organized. It was one of two semi-circular booths that were joined together, with enough seating for more than ten people.

"Did we get the wrong seating? It's just the two of us..." Ruby pointed out as she and Nova sat on the spacious seats.

The waitress just smiled and place down two menus and left wordlessly.

"As I said, it's fine. Any minute now..." he said aloud, tapping his right-hand index finger on the table.

Silence followed after making Nova's eyebrow twitch, "I SAID, ANY MINUTE NOW!" he announced loudly, and the sound of a soft male voice saying 'Oh shit right' behind them was heard.

Ruby's question barely had time to form as a thought when out from behind the booth popped Luna, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Hex, Nitro, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Elain, and Oscar, each holding up balloons and Yang and Hex popping confetti, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUBY!" they all yelled simultaneously.

"WAHHHH!" the red leader almost jumped out of her skin from surprise. "W-What's going on?!"

Yang roped an arm around Nova, "It's a surprise party, duhhh!"

"I-I don't understand... how... where...? I thought you were all busy today!" Ruby said exasperatedly.

Nora smirked, "What you think we're too busy for you?! That we'd forgotten your birthday? HELL NO!" she then proceeded to pop more confetti.

"To be fair, we didn't actually know until this morning, when his royal highness told us," Ren said pointing to Nova who smiled sheepishly.

Ruby was beginning to choke up, "You did all this... for me?"

Nova shrugged and smiled warmly, "Not all of it. Ice princess organized the venue, Yang co-ordinated the surprise, and Luna and the others got decorations. I know it's not much but... it's the best we could do with only a few hours..."

The reaper was silent for a moment, and they all were worried that they'd done something wrong.

"You guys..." she started.

"Oh boy... did we do something wrong...?" Hex asked nervously.

Ruby just let out a sniffle, "YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST FRIENDS I COULD EVER HOPE FOR!" she let out a cry as she launched herself at them, tackling Nova, Yang and Weiss to the floor, followed by Nora diving into the pile.

"Alright, while you guys hug it out, I'm going to order us some food," Hex said with a light right chuckle as she walked toward the counter.

"We didn't exactly have time to do shopping for presents so you'll just have to get an I.O.U from us," Jaune said rubbing the back of his head.

Ruby just lightly punched his arm, "Are you kidding? Just you guys being here is the best present in the world, the only thing that could possibly make it better is if..."

The door to the restaurant opened and in came a very familiar orange-haired android with a wrapped present in the shape of a box, with a red bow on the top. "Sal-u-tations, friend Ruby! I hear it is the anniversary of your birth, and according to my knowledge of humans, it is customary to bring gifts!"

"PENNY!" Ruby squealed as she ran up and hugged the android, "How did you... who...?"

"Prince and Princess Flareheart told me to come, and as your friend, I would never miss the day of your birth. Congratulations on aging one more year, you are now older. It is strange, I don't get why humans celebrate being older but..."

"Oh can-it Penny, I'm just glad you're here," Ruby said rubbing her face into her clothes before releasing.

Penny smiled, "You're welcome, this is for you!" she handed Ruby the box.

Ruby curiously opened it and let out a squeal of delight, "WOW! THESE ARE AMAZING!" she cried as she pulled out from the box, a belt with a rose symbol on the front, along the strap, were dust cartridges and what appeared to be throwing knives. It was essentially a utility belt, specially designed for Ruby.

"Woah, those are some impressive blades," Blake said as she admired the daggers. They were small and thin, but the blades seemed to radiate energy as if they could be powered by something.

"Dust powered energy throwing knives, made by my father. They're prototypes but he figured you should be the one to have them," Penny explained.

Ruby broke into a wide grin and hugged the android again, "Thank you so much, Penny!"

"Ahem!" Elain said, coughing into her fist, "After you all left me in Mantle, and then escorted me to Atlas, only to be told that today was your birthday, it didn't exactly leave me with much time. That being said..." she reached into her bag that she carried around and drew out a black canister, like an under-barrel flashlight, except it didn't have a bulb. It was filled with a translucent gel-like substance and had a compartment for dust shards, and a single switch was situated at the back.

Ruby took it and rolled it around in her hands, "What's this...?"

"It's a little something that I was working on. Bioluminescent nano-machines. It's a gel made of a different type of nano-machines from the ones flowing through his veins," she jabbed a thumb toward Nova, "This stuff, when activated by any energy source, including Dust, emits a light. Sort of like a flashlight except it doesn't produce heat, will work exceptionally even under-water, can detect things only visible through ultra-violet rays with electric dust, and it won't run out of power once it's been supplied an initial charge. It should come in pretty handy if you attach it to your weapon.

Ruby gaped, "This is... incredible..." she mouthed.

Elain folded her arms proudly, "Heh, it's the only one like it in existence, for now, so don't lose it alright?"

"Is it really okay for me to have something so precious?" Ruby asked earnestly.

Elain just pulled the girl into a hug, caressing her head, "Sweetheart, you're definitely worth the investment. Besides, I already trust you with something even more precious,"

Ruby hugged back, "What's that?"

"My son," the older woman answered, "Don't feel pressured though sweetie if things don't work out with that idiot, you're still family to me."

"HEY!" Nova yelled in protest at being called an idiot.

Ruby stifled a giggle, "Don't worry aunty, he's the best boyfriend in the world. I'd be a fool to give him up,"

Elain groaned, "What did he do to deserve someone as amazing as you?"

"That's the same thing I ask myself daily, mom," Nova said sheepishly.

"Honestly guys, this is the best birthday I could've asked for. We've fought to come so far, and there are no people in the world I'd rather be with than you guys. My only wish is that my dad could be here," Ruby said with a bitter-sweet smile.

Nova approached her and took her hands in his, "Hey, when this crazy mission to save the world is over, we can have a proper birthday for you, and pops will be there too."

Ruby wiped a stray tear that threatened to leak from her eyes, "Yeah... though this impromptu party seems exactly like our style, I can't say I don't love it."

"True, we do specialize in the area of not planning."

"AMEN TO THAT!" Nora said as she waved what appeared to be a pitcher of beer, how she obtained that no one will ever know. "NOW LET'S PARTY!"

* * *

**AND THAT'S A WRAP! I feel like these chapters never go as I originally plan because of conflicting ideas in my head, but hey I kinda like how this one turned out. Also you're probably like "This author really likes having them fall asleep on couches" to which I say: Couches are the superior beds. Give me comfy couch and a blanket over a bed any day, it's so much cozier.**


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